Elsanna Secret Santa

[elsannasecretsanta]

Northern Lights - gift for Karolina

Happy Late Holidays, I’m sorry this took so long (╥﹏╥)

***

Northern Lights

One second, Anna is staring into the food on her plate, desperately trying to tune out the increasing noise. The next, it all goes to hell.

The first thing that breaks through her haze is the sound of the utensils falling on the floor. Then, the chair being pushed away so hard it almost hits the wall behind it. Then, the blurred mess of black and blue rushing out of the room.

She opens her mouth and says something, she’s not sure what, she’s not sure if it makes any sense but she doesn’t have time to think because her mother is already rising to protest, and her father is yelling at her uncle and she needs to get out of there and find Elsa right now.

She runs out of the dining room and follows the carpeted corridor to the front of the rental cabin, where the door is not quite yet shut, and she catches it just before the latch clicks in and she has to struggle with the old mechanism.

“Elsa!” she yells out as soon as the cold winter night hits her in the face, and the blurred shape stops, then turns around.

She’s crying, she’s furious, and Anna practically jumps down the short flight of stairs to get over to her, fighting her instinct to envelop her in a bone crushing hug.

“I can’t fucking stand it there,” she hisses angrily, clearly also fighting her own instinct to scream out in frustration. “I-I just need to get away— if I hear one more word from Fred I’m going to commit a crime of some sort.”

Anna nods in understanding, then lets out a hot breath and lets a shiver overtake her. Elsa’s eyes scan up and down her body, taking in her bare legs and arms, her definitely not winter dress, her high heels almost fully buried in the fresh snow.

“You should go back inside,” she mutters, tugging at her own cardigan, as if to prove a point that she was better dressed to be outside right now. “You’re gonna freeze out here.”

Anna shakes her head vigorously in protest. “I don’t want to. I wanna go with you.”

“Anna…”

“Nuh-uh, I’ve made up my mind,” she asserts. “They’re having a full blown screaming match in there and I don’t think I can take it anymore, either. I was already just completely spacing out and waiting for any excuse to leave.”

For a moment, Elsa just stands there, looking at her and considering, the only sound coming from her a soft jingle of the keys in her hand. Then, with a defeated sigh, she wipes the angry tears off her cheeks and says, “I’ll go get the car closer so you don’t have to walk through the snow. Can you go back and grab our coats?”

***

The gleam of the headlights makes every snowflake sparkle as they slowly make their way down the meandering road. In the otherwise complete darkness around them, it almost feels like they drove through a wormhole that will, hopefully, take them to the nearest town just a few miles from the cabin.

That, or Anna just had so much wine so far this evening that her head is spinning and her veins are buzzing, and the world feels just a little more four dimensional than usual.

The phone vibrating in her lap takes her mind off the dancing snowflakes.

“It’s mom.” It’s the third time she’s called since they left, even though it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes. The car isn’t even properly warmed up yet. “Should I pick up?”

A soft shrug is the only sign that Elsa even heard what she said.

She grabs the phone and turns it upside down so the accept call button can’t bother her anymore.

“Do you have anywhere you wanna go?” She tries for a change, too bothered by the now overwhelming silence. “Or are we just driving aimlessly?”

“Just driving,” Elsa’s voice still bears a trace of anger, and Anna needs to remind herself she’s not angry at her. “I just…need to clear my head, and then we can go back.”

Anna nods, though she’s not sure Elsa can even see it from the corner of her eye, not with how dead-set she is on staring directly ahead with her hands gripping the steering wheel like it’s uncle Fred’s throat.

Or she’s just looking into it too hard. The road is difficult, not made any easier by the snowfall, and Elsa is just focusing on not driving them into a ditch.

Another, shorter vibration makes her pick the phone back up.

“Text from Rapunzel,” she says, casting quick glances between the screen and the windshield to make sure her dinner stays inside her. “She says she’s really sorry for her dad’s big mouth and asks when we’re gonna be back.”

Elsa huffs. “Tell her she shouldn’t have to apologize for her father, she’s not responsible for his actions.” She takes a sharper turn out of a side road just a little too fast and Anna feels the wine slosh in her stomach. “And I don’t know, just—just tell her not to worry, we won’t be long. And ask her to tell mom the same.”

Anna quickly taps almost word for word what Elsa dictated, hitting send just in time to avoid looking down during another turn.

“Now put your phone down, you’re gonna be sick.”

“I’m fine,” she lies, taking a deep breath in hopes of fighting the vertigo. “You’re not driving that fast.”

“No, but we’re about to hit that series of turns, and I can see you’re a bit more than just tipsy. I don’t want you to throw up in the car.”

Anna opens her mouth to protest, but just as she turns to face Elsa they hit the first turn, and the contents of her stomach swirl around dangerously.

She falls back into the soft embrace of the car seat with an annoyed huff.

A few disturbingly quiet and rocky minutes later, her phone vibrates again.

“Leave it,” Elsa’s voice cuts through the hum of the engine before she can even reach out for it. “They’re fine, they can deal with it.” Despite the harsh tone, she puts a comforting hand on Anna’s knee. It’s cold, and sends a shiver up her thigh, but still Anna wishes she could compact her entire body into the cup of Elsa’s hand. “Keep your eyes on the road.”

She nods, mouth suddenly too dry to speak. Her eyes transfix on the sparkling swirls outside again while her mind transfixes on the small, but overpowering tether she has to Elsa now.

She’s only marginally aware of the moment the contact is broken, and quiet, barely even audible music starts; the warm air blasting in her face from the heater, the soft rocking of the car and the six glasses of wine take over her, and god even knows how much rum take over her. Every inch they cut through the mesmerizing blizzard outside, the stress of the evening leaves her body, bit by little bit.

She doesn’t even know when her own hand shoots out to grab Elsa’s, where it’s enthusiastically welcomed, their fingers intertwining atop Elsa’s thigh.

The slow strokes of Elsa’s thumb across her skin are the final ingredient. Anna’s eyelids grow heavier with every breath she takes, and though she tries to fight it, she soon dozes off to a dreamless sleep.

***

When she opens her eyes again, it’s because Elsa’s touching her cheek; the world is light now, and instantly her chest tightens because something is off, but a quick scan of her surroundings reveals the bright, cold lights of a gas station.

For a moment, she’s not even sure why they’re there; the events of the past few hours— days, really, are just a jumble of images in her mind. Slowly, she constructs a somewhat coherent timeline, and when she finally gets to where they are now, she moves her wide, still confused eyes to look at her sister.

“I just need to gas up,” Elsa says when she assumes Anna is awake enough to understand her. “I wanted to let you sleep, but I also didn’t want you to wake up and freak out when I’m not here.”

Anna nods with a hum, and leans into the touch, earning a sly smile in return. “Don’t be long,” she whines, and internally blames the sleepiness for making her such a little bitch. “And can you get me something to drink?”

Elsa laughs, then pets her on the head before promptly leaving the car, slamming the door shut behind her.

Suddenly, Anna realizes just how loud the outside world was, as she’s left in the lonely silence of Elsa’s car.

She picks up her phone—she makes note of the low battery level, but there’s not really anything she can do about it, not when she so carelessly ran out of the cabin without grabbing the charging cable—and checks the notifications.

Five new messages and as many missed calls. Elsa had to ignore them really hard while she was knocked out.

She opens the first message and groans. A passive aggressive text from uncle Fred is the last thing she needs to be reading right now, and she immediately decides she’s not even going to mention this to Elsa. She scrolls past, not dignifying it with a response, to the next few; she takes a moment to send a quick ‘We’re okay, we’ll be back soon.’ to Rapunzel and her mom.

For the first time since Elsa left, Anna’s brain registers the hour. It’s already past 1 a.m., and now she’s not exactly so sure the messages she’d just sent were any close to the truth.

Before she can worry about it, the driver door flies open and in comes a flurry of snowflakes that bite into the bare skin of her ankles and calves, followed quickly by Elsa.

She mutters something about the price of the gas, but Anna’s brain is too tired to try and decipher the precise words through the howl of the wind.

Finally settled into the seat, Elsa closes the door behind her and the noise dies down. “I got you some water and an energy drink,” she says, passing the bottle and the painfully cold can over to her. “I figured you could use some pick up, you’re looking a bit pale.”

Anna gives her a brief smile, before placing the bottle between her legs and the can carefully down on the floor; she forces herself to keep the hiss of discomfort at bay when it touches her ankle. “Thank you. I’m sorry for falling asleep before.”

Her head snaps back to Elsa when she hears the crack of a can, and she watches her take a sip of her coke. “It’s really fine,” she says after a moment, but Anna can’t really tell for sure the tone of her voice. “It gave me some time to think and fume in peace, I didn’t want to accidentally be mean to you—”

“You weren’t mean to me,” she protests quickly. “And even if you were, I’d have known it wasn’t because of me.”

Elsa’s cold hand on her knee shuts her up. “I know you’d have known that.” Her voice is calm, but there’s a certain urgency to it. “I still didn’t want to be mean to you. I don’t wanna take my frustration with Fred on you, you don’t deserve that.”

Her hand gives a soft squeeze, and Anna’s mouth runs dry again. She picks up the water bottle and hastily takes a big gulp.

It’s only a few seconds later that Elsa sits back straight in her seat with both her hands on the steering wheel, but Anna feels like the skin just above her knee had been branded.

“Do you want me to drive back?”

The question catches her off guard; there’s something unsure in Elsa’s voice, something almost like a plea.

“Do you want to go back?”

A moment passes. Then, Elsa shakes her head.

“Then I don’t want you to.”

“Are you sure?” She sends her a puzzled look. “We’re already quite a bit away and it’s almost half past one. It’ll take a good while to drive there.”

Anna sighs. “I’m sure, Elsa. If you don’t feel like you can go back now, then I don’t want you to force yourself.”

“I just feel like I kidnapped you.”

“I literally chased after you and pretty much begged you to take me.”

Elsa rolls her eyes. “You didn’t beg,” she claims, but to Anna it still honestly feels like she all but did so out loud. Then, her face softens, and she runs her fingers along Anna’s knuckles. “But I am glad you came with me. It really helped me calm down.”

“I was passed out most of the time—”

“Having you near was enough.”

At that, Anna shuts up, trying not to think too hard about the rush of hot blood to her cheeks and ears, and she lets Elsa buckle her seatbelt. Even if the absence of her hand now feels colder than the snowstorm outside.

***

Elsa’s not ready to go back—which would imply, at this hour, probably having to sneak in the cabin and risk waking people up; or worse, run into anyone still awake and be berated on the spot—and Anna doesn’t have even a quarter of a heart to ask to end their little impromptu road trip, so when they pull up to the highway, they end up taking the way opposite of where their cabin is.

At least, she thinks it’s the opposite. It’s not like she’d watched the road carefully through her tightly shut eyelids, even if she wasn’t fully asleep as Elsa thought, and her sense of direction is not the best. She’s not concerned enough to ask, though, worried that even saying anything at all would make Elsa turn around and take them back.

In all honesty, she’s really enjoying herself much more than she was back at the cabin, and with far less alcohol, too.

She hopes so is Elsa. Judging by the little smile that ghosts over her lips now and then and the quiet singing along to their blended playlist, she might just be right.

***

Inevitably, of course, her fatigue and the ever present urge to fall asleep as soon as she gets warm and cozy and the car rocks her just right take over, and she’s knocked out. Again.

By the time she wakes up, however, there are no harsh lights of a gas station, no glare of the highway lamps, not even a lone, but overwhelming supernova of an oncoming car’s high beams. It’s as dark as it gets, and their car is almost completely still, save only for the heating.

She turns to the driver’s seat afraid Elsa would be gone, too.

“You’re awake.”

She can’t be quite sure, but judging by her tone, Elsa was napping as well. She must have been roused by the rustle of Anna’s coat when she turned.

“Where are we?” she whispers, noticing with some amusement that Elsa apparently unbuckled her seat when they stopped. Which also probably meant they’d been there for a while. “Did I sleep for long?”

Elsa hums, then her face is lit briefly by the gleam of her phone. “About an hour or so. It’s quarter past three now.” She puts the phone back down on her thigh and shifts so that she’s facing Anna. “We’re just far enough from the highway that there’s no light pollution.”

Cryptic, but in a way that sparks Anna’s curiosity rather than chills her veins. Elsa must have noticed—she’d always been able to see in the dark much better than Anna—her raised brows, because she lets out a short, quiet laugh before she continues, “you actually woke up just a little while before the alarm I set for us. I got a notification from the geomagnetic activity app when you dozed off and I thought— hell, why shouldn’t we, you know?”

Anna takes a moment to load all the new information in. “Geomagnetic?” she asks, racking her brain for the definition. Then, the one synapse that holds it connects to the mainframe, and her chest implodes with excitement. “Wait, like— Northern Lights?”

“Yeah.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“Like, right now, here?”

Elsa laughs, louder than before. “Yes, right now, here,” she repeats, her face lighting up once again with a notification from her phone as well as with a beaming smile. “I thought you’d like to see it.”

She offers no more explanation, simply puts her reclined seat back up and reaches for her coat in the backseat; Anna looks out the windshield, but it’s still dark as ever when Elsa opens the door to step outside.

“It’s cold as fuck,” she says, quickly throwing her coat on. “But I feel like sitting in the car would dampen the experience.”

Anna nods, and though her body screams at her to stay inside in the warmth, she slides out of her seat as well. She leaves her phone inside to hopefully save the last bit of battery from the cold.

She walks around the car to where Elsa is standing in front of the hood; now with a wider angle to turn her head around, she can see Elsa chose a nice, almost cozy spot to park their car just off the road. With trees on both sides, but a wide opening overlooking a field of some kind right ahead of them.

“When’s it gonna start?” she asks, huddling closer to her sister in a vain attempt to steal some of her heat. “Was that notif a moment ago from the app?”

Elsa nods and hums a quiet ‘mmh’, before looking back down at the clock on her phone. “Roughly five to ten minutes, but it could be a little earlier or later than that.” She leans back on the hood, then looks down at Anna’s feet. Her brows furrow. “Fuck, I— wait here, I’ll be back in a second.”

She trots away to the back of the car, leaving Anna to tremble alone in her spot. Her legs are slowly turning to ice, the feeling in her feet almost gone in just the two minutes or so she’s been standing in the snow.

“I’m such an idiot,” she hears Elsa grumble as she rummages through the trunk. “I should have thought of this before you got out of the car—”

The rest of what she’s saying is muffled as she apparently dives deep inside, and Anna just tries to sink into her coat. She’s still reeling a bit from the alcohol, though the cold is definitely keeping her more awake than the warm car. “Can you also grab my energy drink?”

Elsa’s answer is completely unintelligible, but a few moments later she hears the passenger door open behind her, and then the cold—but now warmer than the air around her—can slides into her coat pocket, just beside her hand.

She looks curiously at Elsa as she throws two huge blankets they usually use for picnics or sudden camp-outs on the roof of the car. Then, without a second’s warning, she all but jumps up on the hood, her winter boots squeaking loudly on the cold metal as Anna’s heart skips a beat or four in shock.

She stares up at Elsa completely dumbfounded for a second, before Elsa bends and reaches her hand out.

“Come on.”

Anna lets out a nervous giggle. “No, thanks, I’m good here.”

“Come on.”

She looks cautiously at the extended hand, now wagging its fingers impatiently. “I-I’m gonna damage the car,” she says hurriedly, lifting a leg out of the snow to point at her heel. “I could scratch or even dent—”

“Anna,” Elsa’s tone makes it clear there is no room for arguing. “Grab my hand before I get back down and just throw you up here.”

With a gulp, Anna does as she’s told.

“Now, put your leg up on the wheel and just—” She grunts when Anna lifts one of her legs, and the other one slips on the ice, but she manages to hold her up. “—just trust me, okay?”

Anna doesn’t even have the time to answer anything before the momentum hits, and Elsa yanks her up; for a moment it feels like they’re both about to lose their balance and eat shit, but somehow both of her feet make it onto the hood. She’s triumphant for all of two seconds before one of her heels wobbles to the side, and she closes her eyes in anticipation of the fall.

That doesn’t come; instead, a steady arm snakes around her waist and keeps her close. “Careful,” Elsa whispers just above her ear, which as far as Anna can imagine is blood red right now, together with her face and shoulders. “Move forward a little, you’re at a slant.” She doesn’t even take the step consciously, her body just moves along with Elsa on its own. “That’s better. I’m gonna let go of you, okay?”

Not trusting her own voice right now, she nods.

Instantly, the absence of Elsa’s arms around her is— it’s nothing. She’s simply cold. It was just nice to be close, because Elsa is warm, and that’s the only reason, nothing else definitely for sure.

She’s just drunk. And tired. And cold. And drunk. And still messed up after the dinner. And standing on top of Elsa’s car like they’re in some teen flick. And drunk, she can’t stress that enough.

She’s so lost in her weird spiral that she doesn’t even notice when Elsa lays out one of the blankets on the roof of the car. She doesn’t really notice when Elsa tells her to sit down, either, or when Elsa gives her a puzzled look.

She does, however, notice Elsa’s hands grabbing her hips to pull her closer again.

“—it’s okay, you won’t fall, I’m holding you,” Elsa’s voice tunes in through the rush of blood in Anna’s ears. At least she’s ascribing Anna’s weird behavior to her fear of heights. That’s one comforting thought amongst the sea of outright perversion in her brain right now. “You just need to turn around and—”

She doesn’t explain, and Anna doesn’t get it on her own either, and what was supposed to be her falling back—which, to be honest, did alert her fear of heights even in her preoccupied state—on the soft blanket turned into her fucking heels (which she will never wear again in winter) slipping underneath her and her falling square on her ass. Between Elsa’s legs.

She wasn’t sure if the sound she let out could be classified as a yelp, but she sure as hell could make a good voice actress for less than safe for work animation.

“A-are you alright?” Elsa asks as she scoots back to let Anna wiggle herself out from between her legs. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was that slippery— I keep forgetting you’re not wearing winter boots—”

“It’s okay,” Anna manages, surprisingly calm after the total system failure just a minute ago. “I only bruised my ass a little, that’s all.”

They both chuckle (somewhat nervously) and shuffle around until they’re sitting side by side with no risk of either of them falling, sliding or rolling off.

Once Anna’s settled properly, Elsa drapes the second blanket across her frozen legs and pulls an arm around her shoulders.

It’s— well, Anna wouldn’t exactly call it comfortable, but it’s not uncomfortable to sit there, the bottom blanket doing a half-decent job of keeping the cold of the metal roof away from her; once she pulls her knees up a bit and her feet are under the top blanket, it’s leagues better than just out in the wind. She leans her head against Elsa’s shoulder and closes her eyes, just enjoying the moment.

Which might not be the best idea, as her eyelids turn out to be heavy as lead. She should drink that energy drink right about now.

Elsa sighs into her hair. “I’m sorry,” she apologizes again, and though there’s no way she can see it, Anna furrows her brows. “It all seemed much easier in my head. I didn’t think it would be this much of a hassle for you. And the cold— oh, I think it’s gonna be starting soon.”

Anna blinks her eyes open, then looks up to where Elsa’s finger is pointing at the sky. Right, the northern lights. She almost completely forgot about it in her internal turmoil, and it was literally the sole reason they even came here in the first place.

A lone, wispy cloud of greenish light flickers above them briefly before the sky goes dark again.

She reaches into her pocket and grabs the canned energy, then cracks it open and shotguns the whole thing, ignoring Elsa’s snicker.

“You’re irredeemable.”

She huffs. “I just want to be awake for this.”

Whatever Elsa is about to respond dies on her lips as the sky lights up again, this time holding back no punches as it explodes into a show of colors. Greens and pinks mix together above them, chased by a sudden flash of purple. They swirl together like waves, more tangible than a simple light and yet more ethereal than a cloud, like colorful oils mixing together.

Anna’s eyes are glued to the sky, unable to look away even if she wanted to.

“It’s so much brighter than I thought it would be,” she whispers, and only vaguely notes that she can feel Elsa nod in agreement.

Neither of them says anything for the next few minutes.

***

She’s not sure how long they just sat there, watching the wondrous display; the only thing she had to go off was the cold, which by now found its way deep into her bones.

“Anna?”

Elsa’s voice cut through the silent night so suddenly Anna’s head turning to the side almost gives her a whiplash. “Yeah?”

The aurora makes Elsa’s eyes shine in colors Anna’s never seen before.

“You good?”

“Why?”

Those colorful eyes are filled with worry. “You’re shaking,” she says, the arm around Anna’s shoulders tightening. “Like, really hard.” She brings a hand up to cup Anna’s cold jaw, and runs a thumb across her cheek. “And you’re crying.”

Her thumb brushes over her lips and they part, but there’s no words she can say; she watches the lights dance on Elsa’s face with her breath stuck in her chest, her own eyes straining to engrave this image into her retinas forever, her body paralyzed out of her control because all she wants to do right now is to reach out and hold her so tight they mold into one—

Elsa’s worried look deepens before her face turns away from Anna, and the spell is broken. “I shouldn’t have dragged you out here,” she says quietly, Anna’s brain racing to catch up. “You’re cold and tired, I should have taken a hint when you kept falling asleep, I— fuck, it’s already so late I-I don’t even think we’ll make it back before the sunrise.”

Anna reaches for her hand, but it moves away before she has a chance to grab it. “Elsa—”

“I ruined Christmas for you,” she continues, and Anna is reminded that it was, in fact, Christmas Eve last night. “At this rate I don’t even think we’ll make it to the gift opening, not to mention the breakfast—

“Elsa.”

—and if we do we’ll be fucking zomb—”

“Elsa!” she says as loud as she can without outright yelling, and Elsa finally shuts up and looks back at her. Triumphantly, Anna grabs the hand now hanging loosely off of Elsa’s knee. “I don’t care about the gifts, or the breakfast, or whatever else you think that I am concerned about right now.”

Elsa gives her a puzzled look. “But you’re cry—”

“I didn’t even realize I was crying.” Machinally, she runs her other hand to wipe her still damp cheek. “I’m just overwhelmed, a little cold and—”

In love with you, her brain suggests but she quickly shuts it down.

“—really happy to be here with you,” she settles on instead. “I’ve never seen something so— grandeur in my life, and I am really glad I got to share it with the one person I care for the most.”

Elsa blinks, surprised.

“Freezing my ass off is not that much of a price to pay.”

That finally seems to convince her, and her face breaks into a smile that threatens to put Anna into a daze again.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

Elsa squeezes her hand. “Thank you for coming with me.” She sighs. “I’m still sorry you missed out on all the other stuff, though.”

“I really don’t care about that.” She moves closer, so close that she’s all but straddling Elsa’s thigh. “I just— I love you.” The words are out before she can stop them. “So, so much. As long as we’re together, I don’t care about the rest of the world.”

It… came out a little stronger than she wanted to, but instead of pulling away in discomfort, Elsa allows her to mold to her side. “I love you, too,” she whispers, so quietly that if Anna’s ear wasn’t just a few inches away from her lips she probably wouldn’t hear it.

There’s something in the way she says that simple statement, or the tone of her voice, or the way her other hand is now around Anna’s waist, or the otherworldly lights still flickering above them and across her face, or the chaotic night behind them and still before them.

Something that dares her to act.

Anna suddenly feels brazen like she’s never felt in her life, the voice of reason thrown to the frozen ground below them. Her body moves on its own; her lips lock with Elsa’s in a decidedly non-sisterly way, but instead of alarms blaring in her brain all she can feel is

Just

Content. Safe. Loved. Warm.

She could swear her body stops shaking when the kiss deepens, Elsa’s upper body now turned towards her, the steady hand on her waist pulling her closer until they’re flush against each other and falling backwards on the roof of the car.

When they pull away, there’s no need to talk. She can see everything written out clearly in Elsa’s eyes, now back to the brilliant blue she loves so much. The northern lights are gone, and there’s just enough moonlight in the sky to illuminate the outline of her face.

“We should get in the car,” she says after a moment of comfortable silence. “I’m afraid we might pass out if we just lie here, and I really don’t want you to freeze.”

Anna groans, and earns a soft kiss on her nose.

“Can we just curl up on the backseat and take a nap?” Then, she remembers the world outside of the two of them. “Just don’t let me fall asleep before I message someone and tell them we’re alive.”

Elsa laughs, already getting up—Anna’s needy little inner demon immediately missing the closeness—and jumping off, then holding her arms out invitingly to catch her.

When Anna falls into her arms, and their lips find each other seemingly on their own again, she’s not so sure they’ll be taking a nap in the backseat.

[elsannasecretsanta]

Gift for Sabien

Title: Siren Word Count: 4600 TW: Vampirism/vampiric feeding, nightlife, alcohol consumption, brief mentions of violence Part 1/2 

Thank you so much for being patient while I crafted what I hoped would be a gift you'll love! Enjoy the read and keep your eyes peeled for Part 2 ;) 

---

It’s not her perfume that makes her head spin. It’s her scent. 

And perhaps one might argue that the perfume is part of the scent but it’s not, really. It’s a flourish - a delectable one perhaps, but a garnish nonetheless and what makes the perfume notable in the first place is the way it tangles into her scent. 

Its allure triggers a deep-seated, intoxicating obsession that clutches at her mind and she is caught between the human instinct to run and a vampire’s instinct to chase. 

“Elsa?”

She hears the blood flowing in Anna’s veins at an accelerated rate, her heart’s left ventricle contracting with such power that the blood hitting the walls of the chamber resonates with the rhythm of a galloping horse. 

Thankfully vampires don’t sweat, nor do they blush, because she’d be doing both in abundance. Unfortunately, it did not stop her head from swimming nauseatingly as she grappled with the desire to feed.

“Elsa, your eyes are…” 

This seemed to finally be enough for her to snap her thoughts away from the sounds and scent of life dancing inside of Anna with the promise of a paradise lost. She blinked in rapid succession a couple of times, her piercing, icy gaze locking with that of her sister.

“I’m sorry, was I making a weird face?”

Anna took a step closer to her, and she felt warm knuckles brush against her cheek in a gesture she knew was meant to be reassuring, but that she had to use every ounce of self control in her body not to react to as though it were a firebrand. The electrifying sensation while not entirely unexpected in of itself was far more overwhelming than she could have ever imagined. 

“No it’s just… are you okay? You seem a little… hungry.” 

Elsa froze but said nothing, her features remaining impassible and seemingly smooth (or so she hoped) with the hint of an edge. She couldn’t let Anna think for even a fraction of a millisecond that she didn’t have complete and total self-control. Hunger here implied weakness and if her eyes had betrayed that without her realizing it, she was in trouble. 

She shook her head and turned around. The last thing she wanted was for Anna to have a reason to fear her. And unfortunately, because she could hear her heartbeat she could tell her baby sister was already nervous. 

“I’m quite alright. I don’t get hungry. ” 

Her lower lip quaked when she felt fingertips brush against her skin, slender fingers wrapping around her wrist. She tried to ignore the sound of rushing blood and closed her eyes for a minute before Anna spoke. 

“Okay so, thirsty if you want to get technical.”

She didn’t. 

At least not here, not now, not with her. 

“It’s a good thing we are going to a place that serves cold beverages then. Would be rude not to give them our patronage.” 

Anna hadn’t released her hold on her and Elsa hadn’t dared wrest her hand out of it but without glancing back at her sister, quickly found the words to move things along. 

“Now the sooner we put our jackets on, the faster we can get to said watering hole.” 

A smile tugged at her lips when she heard Anna chuckle at that although she didn’t know what to make of the sigh that followed. Fingers loosened their hold and Elsa, without looking back, completed her initial trajectory towards the coat hanger where her navy blue leather moto jacket was perched. 

She pulled it on, flipping her long platinum hair out from underneath it, then glancing at herself in the entrance mirror, considering her image for a moment and wondering if she was in fact ready to go like this. Anna wordlessly joined her side tilting her head as she studied her own image. Elsa remained quiet, checking for her keys off the hook and sliding her phone into the inner pocket of her jacket. When she glanced back up her eyes went dark with want as they landed on the nape of Anna’s neck, delicately revealed by the high set up-do she apparently chose, leaving only the front segments of her lush, wavy auburn hair framing her freckled face. Her body hummed with anticipation every muscle twitching for her to vamp out and pin Anna to the mirror so she could bite into the soft, inviting skin and taste the nectar that beckoned within the delicate sight wrapped in that maddening fragrance. 

Her breath caught in her throat as what was left of her sanity, her humanity, begged her to get a grip and remember that Anna was her sister and therefore the last person on Earth she wanted to feed from.

She blinked and turned around reaching for the door, before she could be caught staring, consumed by hauntingly forbidden thoughts.

“Our Uber’ll be here in like five minutes,” she muttered, stepping outside without bothering to get an acknowledgement that she was heard.

A fog lifted from her mind as the cold air dissipated the shroud of warmth from the house, and the heels of her boots settled into a rhythm as she walked down the side of the street, going around the block to the meeting point she’d set for the car. Not that there was really any reason for her to still do this, as any low-life who would dare come into their home uninvited would be torn to shreds by her.

But certain habits remained, and her slight paranoia had not died when she had turned. It perhaps had gotten a little worse.

As she stood there, waiting for both Anna and the ride share, glancing at the clock on her phone, she realized that she’d almost been in a haze back inside.

A gust of wind blew strands of hair into her face, and she tucked a strand back behind her ear. It was cold, but her body no longer felt particularly importuned by it.

It hadn’t been a minute yet, she missed the warmth of Anna’s scent.

———

As annoying as their driver had been (he insistently referred to himself as their “chauffeur”) his overbearingly talkative, at times one sided, conversational skills had been a grating distraction during the ride from the sweet aroma laced with perfume, coming from Anna’s body radiating warmth. And even though Elsa didn’t once so much as glance at her, when her sister reached to lace their fingers together as they so often had before, she stayed acutely aware that the soft skin of her neck remained exposed. Anna had even chosen a light cream jacket with an open neckline. 

Fortunately the constant irritation that the driver provided with his incessant conversation was enough to cut into the intrusive thoughts she was having about her sister (whom she loved and cared about dearly, her human brain constantly felt the need to remind her base instinct), and instead redirect into intrusive thoughts about snapping his neck as he grated her last nerve.

Having to find polite answers to his inane questions was an effective distraction, and for that reason alone she left a 5 star rating once they had arrived at ICE Complex. 

As they waited in line, Elsa tried to navigate the complex dichotomy of sensory overload that the crowd provided along with the bustling sounds of downtown streets at night and the music blaring out from the building, the cellphone notifications going off in the pockets of other hopeful patrons waiting to get in. That kind of stimulation could have easily sent her into a meltdown but in this particular moment she welcomed it, especially as Anna reached for her hand again, her wrist brushing against Elsa’s fingertips and thus reminding her once more of the pulse that hummed just beneath the skin. 

It bothered and deeply unsettled her (not to mention, embarrassed her) that her mind was so keyed in on Anna, in spite of the fact her rational brain was fully cognizant of the fact she was her sister, and she was frustrated and dismayed by the fact she didn’t understand why her body was responding this way.

She could only conclude that it was best not to go so long between her life-sustaining sessions. 

Fortunately for Elsa, they were in the next flight to be ushered in by the bouncer and she tried to stop hyper fixating on the earlier image of Anna back at home in the mirror, putting her hair up to reveal her neck in its entirety, instead slowly starting to scan the other patrons setting out to achieve their stated goals for tonight. 

As they stepped into the club and headed for the coat check, music flooded the air around them lending a density to it that seemed to only be achievable in this kind of place. Most people were trying to communicate, leaning into each other and trying to shout over the music. Luckily for Anna her voice could be locked into by Elsa’s super fine hearing at barely the breath of a whisper. 

“We should go to the coach check and head up to the second floor which is the club section.” 

Elsa nodded in acknowledgement. It was a good plan, clubbing hadn’t exactly been a favourite activity of hers in several years now but she did enjoy dancing once upon a time, and as she soon realized it was the ideal place for a vampire to find an easy drink. 

She pulled out her wallet and transferred cash, cards and ID to her phone case, tucking it into the side pocket of her fitted pants that tapered off into heeled ankle boots. What she most definitely did not expect when she looked up to see Anna shrugging off her jacket and unzipping the hoodie she had been wearing around the house before they left was a revealing v-neckline tank top which also had a plunging open back, evident when she had turned around to hand her jacket off to the coatcheck attendant. She’d traded her sneakers for stiletto pumps which dressed up the low-rise skinny jeans and Elsa bodily response confused her on both vampire and human levels, having a hard time acknowledging this was in fact the same baby sister she knew and loved. 

There was a devilish gleam in Anna’s eyes when she turned around and Elsa wondered for a moment if they hadn’t made a mistake coming here together because something told her this would not be a quiet night, and she wasn’t sure she could handle whatever wild antics she’d have to corral Anna through if she also had to try and feed.

Not to mention how freaking distracting it was in an already high intensity environment. Heartbeats thrumming in discordance all around her with the promise of a delicious drink, and she couldn’t seem to lock down or focus on any single one of them because her eyes were locked in on the subtly bouncing jugular at the base of her sister’s throat, with the promise of its mirroring carotid artery. 

Before she could really regain her composure, Anna took her by the hand excitedly making a beeline for the staircase that would lead them up to the second floor of the complex, the primary club section with the club’s biggest dance floor. 

“C’mon, I’m thirsty!” 

Oh she was too. 

Her eyes were glued to the nape of Anna’s neck and the dusting of freckles on her upper back and again she fought back the urge to simply vamp out, her insides quacking from the parts of her warring over the high octane emotions coursing through her nervous system. She instead tried to tear her gaze away and look around, look up as they began ascending the stairs and she desperately tried to lock in on other people of interests. 

After all, Anna had claimed her plan tonight was to “hookup, in order to assist [Elsa] in quenching her thirst”. Elsa figured the faster she found her someone to connect with, the quicker she herself could go sate her hunger. 

That being said she did try to remain focused, knowing she shouldn’t get frantic for risk of getting sloppy and drawing unwanted attention to herself. 

‘The Dancefloor. Keep your eyes on the prize… no not that one!’ She scolded herself mentally as her eyes drifted briefly to the toned shoulder blades visible thanks to Anna’s choice of accoutrement, before she decided to simply speed her gait up through the sea of bodies as they weaved their way through the crowd and finally spilled out onto the dance floor. It was jam packed, every where her eyes surveyed there were bodies, heartbeats and the sweet aroma of flesh and blood. It was like a buffet of life and the overwhelming choice was paralyzing. She froze for a moment feeling Anna press up against her from behind, wanting to keep moving forward and in her momentum unable to avoid the collision with Elsa’s sudden stop.

Again, suddenly everything else melted away and all her instincts could fixate on was Anna’s scent. 

A guy brushed shoulders with her a little too roughly and at this point her senses being on the verge of overdrive her eyes darken and she could feel her fangs drop, ready to rip into him. 

She was too stubborn to relinquish her self-control and instead veered left towards the bar. She needed a drink to take the edge of her nerves so that she could think, and plan more clearly. 

Anna’s giggle chimed in her ears, likely only heard by her and it worried her to wonder if the giggle was directed at her apparent target locking behaviour towards the bar, or if she somehow knew Elsa was teetering on the edge. 

They all but bulldozed their way to the first available bartender and ordered drinks. Elsa ordered three shots of tequila but regarded Anna with suspicion when she declined something alcoholic preferring a mocktail for now. She’d shrugged and looked at her simply stating that she “wanted to make sure you had everything you needed before I got smashed.” 

Weird, somewhat patronizing, but also somewhat logical, Elsa supposed.

Be that as it may her mind was buzzing as her hunt drive and prey drive pushed her to give in to her (super)natural born instincts. She wasted no time in tossing back all three shooters one after the other, lips twisting at the taste. 

She knew she’d metabolize it quicker and it wasn’t long before her edges felt smoothened and her agitation had died down sufficiently for her to focus and sweep the room for the perfect opportunity. 

As far as what her ideal profile looked like, Elsa wasn’t ultra picky but she had certain standards. She did not like feeding on people who were absolutely trashed or crossfaded on multiple substances, unless she intended to be in that state as well (generally not a good idea for her to be!) She by far preferred the experience of feeding on women, the sensuality of it was more potent and clearly pleasurable, but on the other hand she grappled with more guilt and her greatest fear was losing control and accidentally harming an innocent, because they had the misfortune of being too delectable. Her disdain for men was a double edged sword - everything about them was less attractive, less alluring, including their taste and their scent. Plus they tended to get more shitfaced. But while she felt less guilt, she was also more likely not to attach her humanity to them which made her less caring and less considerate of how she treated them. 

And as for GNC people, Enby folks and everyone else in between, the individual variation was too great to make generalizations. 

Most people had pregamed here and were practically fermenting at this point. 

Anna leaned up against her, apparently having been observing her well enough to suggest the logical next step. Her breath tickled Elsa’s earlobe.

“Why don’t we go dance? I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for at the heart of the crowd.”

Shivers ran up and down her spine but all she could do was nod at this point, allowing Anna to take the lead as they forged through the sea of exuberant bodies slowly making their way to the heart of the dance floor, her senses scanning the crowd around them, trying to hone in on the perfect target. 

It would prove more difficult than she thought, trying to sort through the different markers she picked up on, and especially with the overwhelming fragrance that shrouded Anna, titillating her in an attempt to monopolize her focus. 

The music transitioned to an upbeat yet vaguely tropical song and she tried to loosen her shoulders a little wanting to relax into having fun. Easier said than done when she was practically hangry at this point now. Still, through the coloured fading lights on the dance floor she saw Anna smiling up at her with genuine joy, and a little wink as she held her hand out for her to step into the dance with her. An invitation that Elsa graciously accepted.

Historically, it wasn’t the first time they’d gone out together, or danced together, and had often been each other’s buddy systems. Elsa in particular had always been fiercely protective of her younger sister’s well being, and so it wasn’t necessarily weird for them to be grooving, bopping or touching together like a pair of regular friends on the dance floor. There were times when alcohol got them touchy feely and perhaps dancing closer and in a manner that would have certainly raised eyebrows from those around them if they’d known the nature of their kinship. 

However it was the first time they’d gone out together since Elsa had turned… To some degree it started out habitually as they settled into a rhythm, hips swaying in time to the beat blaring from the speakers and Elsa found herself pressing her forehead against Anna’s, as Anna’s arms rester over her shoulders, Elsa’s hands made the way to the small of Anna’s back. 

Unlike every time they’d dance together before however, every single cell in her body was set alight by the sensation of warm bare skin against her own perpetually just this side of the cooler end of normal body temperature. Anna’s increased breathing, her elevated heart rate both rang in her ears louder than anything else around her and once again that intoxicating elixir beckoned to her like the call of a relentless siren. 

Once again she could feel her fangs unfurl and she knew her eyes had to be darkening. Her grip on Anna tightened for a moment, pulling her a little closer to her, their bodies flush against one another, before alarm bells went off in her mind and she pulled herself back raising her head in a panic, unaware that her true face was exposed at the moment. Very quickly Anna’s hands were cradling her face, bringing them back to close proximity.

“Hey, Elsa… hey… it’s okay. You’re with me.”

Elsa tensed but felt her fangs retract a little and her eyes though imprinted with fear, seemed to regain a normal appearance. She leaned back in a little so that she could be heard through the aggressive thudding of the speakers.

“I… I don’t know if I can do this. I’m having a real time finding anyone… Almost everyone here is shitfaced and I’m really struggling to sort through the crowd and locate the ones who aren’t.” 

She relaxed a little as they continued to sway and she felt Anna kiss her forehead before gently guiding her head to the nook of her freaking neck.

“I’m amongst those who aren’t…”

Maybe it was her fault for not being honest with her earlier about what was agitating her in the first place but she was effectively now as close as possible to the place she would have ran to the other end of the earth to avoid. 

How was it that there was a room full of writhing bodies, and bloodstreams facilitated by alcohol in highly vascularized arms, legs and necks but the one scent, this one intoxicating fragrance and addictive heartbeat was the only one she could focus on and it happened to be her sister?

Eyes feverish, her mouth parted before she knew it and her fangs grazed the edge of her skin, breaking the surface but not enough to draw blood from her capillaries. She could feel her shiver and heard a slight gasp which seemed to be enough to bring her back from the brink.

“I- I can’t!"

She tried to jerk her head up but Anna held her firm and pressed her body up into her more firmly.

“I want you to. Elsa, I want you to feed on me.”

Though it shocked her to her core like a strike of thunder, her brain had no time to truly process this, her instincts taking over as one hand reached up to support the back of Anna’s head and the other firmly gripped her waist. Anna’s head rolled to the side invitingly as she seemed to react to the sensation of Elsa’s lips on the fine, delicate skin of her neck, exposing it further. She located the point where her pulse bounced against her tongue. She could hear the hitching of Anna’s breath and the hint of a mewl right before she sank her fangs in that sweet spot.

Their bodies shook in unison, Anna gasping out a moan that was all but drowned out by the music to the mere mortals around them, but the concern of being exposed was the furthest thing from either of their minds in that moment, particularly not Elsa’s. 

She’d been told her first feed as a vampire would give her a kind of climactic ecstasy that would be hard to top, and that most spent their undead lives chasing a similar experience, some came close but most never did. She’d speculated that maybe it was the reason why most exalted their feeding habits and behaviours over time, to at least derive some sense of pleasure for existing in the first place.

However, Elsa had never tasted anyone like this before, so perfectly fragrant, so intoxicatingly addictive. All else had been ruined for her and she knew right there and then that she would never be satisfied by anything else. 

Her eyes closed as she unconsciously rocked her hips into Anna’s her skin crackling with the intense arousal only the most self-actualized of beings could hope to experience. She felt her shudder some more, heard her moaning and panting quietly.

“Mmmh yeah… Fuck, Elsa!” 

Her body quivered and quaked with an orgasmic wave of pleasure. She felt Anna’s fingers thread through the strands of her thick blonde gripping her so tightly that her nails dug into her scalp, and her body pressed hotly against hers, with firm determination and were it not for the realization that they were at this point quite literally grinding each other, Elsa would have been dangerously close to losing herself in the feed. 

That seemed to be enough for her to force herself to retract her fangs, though not without wantonly licking clean every last drop to have marred the beautiful freckles that blossomed over her collarbone and neck. 

Eyes wide with terror she pulled back to find Anna’s chest heaving, her thighs trembling and twitching, eyes heavily lidded with the clouded fever of desire, need and pleasure, she too apparently on the verge of an experience akin to climax. 

Stampeding emotions overran her brain as her rational mind caught up with realization everything that had just happened, taking note of all the completely unexpected feelings that left her horrified yet desperate to experience more, and experience it again, again, and again. 

She’d enjoyed every single part of this, right down to the erotically charged moaning and dry humping (with dry being used in the loosest sense here). The scent of both their arousals was evident to her and it hung between them like an unabashed banner of depravity.

Elsa looked at the literal goddamn bite marks she’d left on Anna’s neck and panic threatened to take over again.

This was so unbelievably fucked up.

She needed air.

Although running away went against every deeply seated instinct she had to protectively watch over Anna in an environment like this, this time, her legs couldn’t taker her out of there fast enough. 

Whatever ounce of self control she had left she used not to simply vamp out and speed out of the complex, but she still made it out the front door as fast as humanly possible. 

She stood in front of the club contemplating the anonymous masses of passers-by in the night, unsure of how much time she spent there transfixed by the lights of vehicles as they rushed down the boulevard and the blinking lights of late-night businesses. She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone vibrated. 

Without hesitation she pulled it out of her pocket and saw the displayed notification for Anna.

Baby Girl: I got our stuff from the coat check. Don’t worry I have a scarf in my purse.

Again, there was a lot to unpack here but Elsa figured she could at least let her know where she was.

Elsa: I’m out front. I’ll get an Uber.

Baby Girl: Be right there!

Anna was smiling at her sheepishly with a dreamy look in her eye when she emerged from the complex and handed Elsa back her things. Her body was practically humming with a febrile joy and Elsa was almost sure that she was on the verge of purring.

The drive home while painfully awkward would at least have her sitting in a position of self control with her having now had a chance to feed and thus feeling replenished. Another benefit would be that at least they’d have a reprieve of silence while she tried making sense of the whirling maelstrom of batshit pandemonium going on in her mind right now.

As they slid into the Prius that ranged up with the corresponding description for their ride, Elsa realized that the closer they got to home, the sooner she’d need to choose how to address it… unless… she chose not to address it at all?

The car drove off and she leaned her head against the window pane, eyes riveted anywhere but at Anna, even as she felt their fingers lace together once more. 

She made no attempt at removing her hand and in fact a little twitch squeezed into the grip. 

Her head swam with confusion and intensity, overwhelmed by the number of things she had to sort through before she could even hope to start any semblance of a conversation. (Not even a sensible one, because literally nothing about this entire fiasco was sensible).

When the Uber driver slowed down to the destination Elsa had given the person glanced up in the rearview mirror.

“You two are really cute together.” 

Anna giggled. Elsa cringed. 

It wasn’t the first time they’d heard that but… it carried an entirely different weight now. Addressing it was no longer a choice and she’d have to speed run through the processing. 

And though neither of them made a move to let go of each other’s hand even though the touch burned every fibre of her being the thought of letting go was altogether more painful and terrifying, she wanted, needed it so badly but it was almost too much for her to bear. The front door loomed ahead large as they turned the street to their block.

Elsa could hear Anna’s heart murmuring as it sped up with every step.

There was no way around it now.

[elsannasecretsanta]

Wishes and Snowflakes - gift for Lilly

Merry Christmas, Lilly! Hope you had fun with your sister (dangerous thing to say on this blog) and please give your cat a little kiss on the head from your Secret Santa.

**

Wishes and Snowflakes

She wakes up greeted by the jarring scream of her alarm and a rough, impatient tongue on the tip of her nose. She swats at its owner—who skillfully moves out of the way, now sitting on her chest, purring—before reaching out to the nightstand, where she manages to blindly hit the snooze button on her phone’s screen.

“Five more minutes,” she mumbles, her voice muffled by the pillow she’d so cozily settled into just a few hours ago.

In response, she gets a few soft kitty paw slaps right to the middle of her forehead.

“Okay, okay, no five minutes.” With a groan, she pulls her blankets aside—making sure to trap the impatient fuzzball in the top cover—and sits up, the entire length of her spine creaking as she yawns and stretches. The blankets move as the cat tries to find its way out, and she lets herself watch the struggle for a moment.

Before it hits her.

“It’s today, isn’t it?” she says out loud, and the writhing mound stops for a second. “I got a lot of things to do, baby girl, will you be good if I leave you for a few hours?”

Just at that, a fluffy white head pokes out from underneath the cover, and a pair of uncannily blue eyes lock on hers. Then, the cat meows loudly, and Anna swears she can hear the frustration in her voice.

“I know, I left everything for the last minute.” She smiles sheepishly at the cat, who by now manages to crawl out fully and sit in her lap, her long tail wrapped neatly around her front paws. “In my defense I took a few extra shifts this month to make sure I could afford everything and the rent, so I just didn’t have time before.”

The cat lets out a huff, but she blinks slowly and accepts Anna’s hand when she moves to pet her head. “I’ll just run a few errands in the morning and then I’ll be back, and we can set everything ready for tonight.”

Her heartbeat picks up at that, because tonight means seeing her again, and it’s been such a painfully long time.

The cat bumps her hand one last time before jumping off the bed, and heading towards the doorway, where she stops and looks over her shoulder expectantly. Anna shakes her head in defeat, but she feels a smile crawl onto her lips anyway.

“But first I’m gonna need to feed you.”

**

She woke up, as so many times before, to the feeling of sunlight on her eyelids, legs draped across her own and a head of soft, platinum hair tucked into the nook of her neck. She tried to reach out to snooze her alarm without waking her up, before a quiet groan told her she was already too late.

“We should get up,” the voice vibrated through her own collarbone, and she had to fight hard to contain the excited shiver it evoked.

“We could spare a few minutes,” she offered instead, adjusting her hand at her sister’s back to pull her closer. “It’s not like the world will run away.”

She felt the lips grazing her skin turn into a smile. “No, but they might run out of trees if we’re there too late.”

Anna rolled her eyes. There was no arguing with her like this. “Okay, but we’re hitting the cafe first. I’m actually starving.”

Elsa rose at that, bracing herself on her elbows to plant a delicate kiss on Anna’s nose.

“Of course, I wouldn’t dare go on without making sure you’re fed.”

**

Once she’s sure the cat ate everything she gave her, Anna rushes to get dressed and out the house before she’s really fallen behind with the plan even more than she already is. She can’t shake off the feeling of being watched as she limps around the living room with one sock and half her pants on, hissing when her bare foot hits the cold floor, cursing when she can’t find the other sock.

A soft mrrp catches her attention while she’s checking underneath the couch pillows, and she turns around to see the cat sitting behind her, a sock dangling from her little mouth.

“Thank you, Snowflake,” she says, true relief washing over her as she reaches to take the sock and give her a little scratch behind the ear. “Damn, I really have to clean up here after I’m back, huh?”

Snowflake only blinks at her slowly, but Anna can’t help but feel judged.

**

“Are you almost ready?” Elsa asked, no actual trace of impatience in her voice, but Anna could tell by now when her sister was holding back her irritation.

“Yeah, I’m just looking for my sock… I swear I just had it,” she sighed, looking around the room helplessly. She’d literally just brought her clothes here to get dressed in the living room while Elsa finished her make-up in the bathroom, and—which mysteriously tended to happen to her pretty often—one of her socks was just gone. Vanished in thin air.

“This sock?”

She turned around to see Elsa wave it around, a sly smile on her face.

“Thank you!”

“You dropped it on the way.” She knelt down next to her and Anna instinctively picked up her foot to let Elsa slide it on. “Really, Anna, you have to be more careful with small things like this.”

Her voice was, again, with no trace of impatience or judgment, but Anna couldn’t help but blush at her own clumsiness.

**

She makes it to the cafe half an hour later, entering the warmth with a flurry of snowflakes flying in around her.

“Oh, Anna! Merry Christmas!” Rapunzel, her favorite-barista-turned-friend waves from behind the counter as soon as she spots her. “I was beginning to worry you were not gonna make it today!”

Anna unwraps the thick scarf from around her face, taking note of the few familiar faces lounging about, nodding a greeting to some of them before she makes it over to the counter. “I was falling a bit behind on my schedule,” she says sheepishly, already reaching for her wallet as Rapunzel immediately begins to prepare her usual order. “Honestly I don’t know if I even have time to hang around, so I might need to take it on the go, but…you know, tradition is tradition.”

Rapunzel laughs cheerfully, her back turned towards Anna as she’s loading up the espresso machine. “Elsa would never let you run so late with stuff.” She slams the portafilter in and turns it roughly, but with a particular finesse that only years of expertise can bring about. “I’m surprised you still leave all the tree decorating for today when she’s not around…feels like you’d be safer just doing it earlier in the month.”

Anna shrugs. “Tradition,” she repeats, and Rapunzel laughs again. “I’ll just have to run everywhere.”

A few moments later, the coffee machine whirs loudly and Rapunzel turns around to look at her again. “Speaking of Elsa, is she coming tonight?”

Anna can’t help the smile. “Yeah.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a whole year already.” Her hand is on Anna’s, a very welcome gesture of reassurance. “Is she coming back for good soon, or still…you know?”

Anna runs her thumb over her palm absent-mindedly. “Soon,” is the only thing she manages to say, her eyes now glazed over.

Clearly noticing that, Rapunzel swiftly changes the subject. “I’ll go pack her favorite cream puffs. A dozen is fine?”

Thankful that her back is turned towards her once again, Anna quickly wipes the tear from the corner of her eye. “Yeah, a dozen should be fine.”

**

They entered their favorite cafe right on time according to Elsa’s plan, and quickly made it to the register.

“Merry Christmas, guys!” Rapunzel greeted them, giving each a short hug over the counter. “Are we doing the Christmas Eve morning usual?”

Elsa laughed, “for me, yes, and for Anna the coffee and— what did you want to eat?”

Anna, still wishing they were still in bed, suddenly found herself in a place where she had to make a decision. “Uhhh…”

The two blondes stared at her for a moment, before Rapunzel offered, “you wanna try the new prosciutto ciabatta?”

Anna just nodded, happy to be excused from thinking.

She watched the girls talk for a moment while Rapunzel danced around behind the counter, making two coffees, a sandwich and also managing to grab a muffin that Elsa finally decided to have as well so smoothly Anna found herself questioning if the girl didn’t have an extra arm or two.

“Oh, and of course we’ll take a dozen cream puffs for the evening,” Elsa added just as she was taking her wallet out to pay. “I almost forgot.”

Rapunzel laughed. “I wasn’t gonna say anything, I thought maybe you guys decided to diet for Christmas this year.”

They stayed around to finish their coffees and food, exchanged small gifts with Rapunzel and were ready to commence their journey.

**

She stumbles out of the cafe after giving Rapunzel the gifts for her and her girlfriend—both of whom she made sure to invite over for dinner the day after tomorrow, only smiling sadly when Rapunzel said maybe they could even bump into Elsa—clutching the small gift bags for her and Elsa to her chest. She even got a tiny gift for Snowflake.

It takes her less than twenty minutes to make it to the usual place they get their trees from, and somehow she still feels like she’s too late. There’s only a few trees still left, all on the smaller side, but she doesn’t mind; a smaller tree means less room for lights and baubles, and if anyone asked her and expected an honest answer she really didn’t enjoy decorating the tree on her own.

She quickly makes her way through, judging the few specimens still left as if she has any idea what she’s doing before calling the owner over.

“Damn, you’re really late this year,” he says when he sees her, and for what feels like the millionth time today she gives him a sheepish smile. “Do you want me to look in the truck for bigger trees?”

She shakes her head quickly. “It’s okay, Kris, I’m fine with the smaller ones.”

They’re not exactly friends, but by this time they know each other well enough to be on first name basis. Kristoff works at the Home Depot she usually goes to for home improvement supplies (something she’s found herself needing a lot since she became the sole rent-payer in her apartment and had to learn how to perform minor repairs on her own), but for the last week before Christmas he camps out here with the fresh trees.

“Are you sure? They’re much smaller than what you normally get.”

She shrugs. “Well, yeah, but that means I’ll get it done quicker, and as you can probably tell I’m kind of in a rush here. And it’s cheaper, too, which I can’t complain about.”

He nods, but there’s still some reluctance on his face. “Do you want me to send one of the guys to deliver it to your place?”

“Please.”

He picks up the little tree and takes it to where the truck is parked, while Anna struggles to fish her wallet out with cold fingers.

His voice startles her sooner than she thought it would. “Is your sister visiting for Christmas?”

“Yeah.” She smiles, but she’s not sure if it comes across genuine. “Well, for tonight. She’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

He places a huge, heavy hand on her shoulder. “If you’re alone tomorrow, you know my family is always open to having you over.”

“Thanks, Kristoff.”

**

“Oh, they still have some nice ones!”

She watched Elsa in silent awe as she jumped from snow covered tree to snow covered tree as if she could tell any difference between them.

“Do you need any help picking a tree?”

The booming voice came from above and behind her, and Anna almost stumbled in surprise. She turned around to look at the source, a young guy probably around Elsa’s age, with half his face hidden by a woolen scarf. She took a cautious step back and absent-mindedly reached for Elsa’s hand, only truly feeling relief when the slender fingers intertwined with hers.

“We’re considering between these two,” Elsa answered, squeezing her in assurance, pointing her other hand to the trees she was looking at earlier. “Do you do delivery?”

The tall guy nodded, and walked over to one of Elsa’s chosen pines. “This one will probably be better for you guys, the other one is a bit heavier and I don’t know if you or your girlfriend could handle—”

Anna erupted into a nervous cough, but thankfully Elsa cut in just then. “We’re sisters. And pretty strong, despite what it may look like.”

The exposed part of the guy’s face turned red. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume— for, uh, for either thing.”

She waved her free hand. “Oh, it’s fine. I think we will take this one, it would be easier to handle it if it’s lighter. Could you help us load it onto the car?”

The guy nodded, and Elsa let go of her hand to finalize the transaction with him, leaving Anna alone with her thoughts.

**

After some quick last minute shopping—she’d completely forgotten about eggnog and rum, and she still needed to pick up some salmon and stuff for Snowflake for tomorrow—Anna’s finally on her way back home.

It’s already afternoon when she pushes past the delivered tree to her front door, where she’s immediately greeted by the loudest meow in the world.

“I know, I know, I said I’m gonna be quick,” she apologizes immediately, setting her shopping bags on the floor for immediate feline inspection. “It’s not easy when you gotta do everything by yourself.”

Which, now that she thinks about it, is pretty much what Elsa used to do when she was around for Christmas preparations. She’d never been much help for her, even if she had good intentions.

That is, until it came to cooking, when Elsa would be able to relax and watch her prepare the food.

“I got some things for you,” she says softly to the cat, who perks up at her curiously. “Some salmon for dinner later, but I swung by the animal store and got you some gifts.”

Snowflake mrrps curiously, climbing up her leg and stretching.

“You want the new bed now or after?”

Not waiting for an answer, she rummages through the bags to find it.

**

“Do you think they know?”

Elsa looked up at her from her laptop, where she was finishing some final things for her work with her reading glasses on and a glass of red wine in hand, a wonderfully domestic picture that sent pangs of guilt into Anna’s stomach.

“Who?”

“Like…Rapunzel.” She fought down the lump in her throat, turning her attention back to the vegetables grilling in the pan. “Or that guy from earlier.”

Elsa hummed. “I don’t know about Rapunzel, I don’t think she does.” Anna heard her close her laptop, which meant she had Elsa’s full and undivided attention. “If she does, she either doesn’t have an issue with it or chooses to ignore it. And with the guy it was just an honest mistake, we were holding hands and all.”

Anna gulped, her eyes now pretty much tunnel-visioned to the frying pan, too afraid to turn around and look at her. “I don’t think that– that there exists a world where someone could not have an issue with this.”

Literally two heartbeats passed before she felt a pair of arms around her shoulders. “It’s okay,” Elsa whispered right next to her ear, planting a soft kiss behind it. “I don’t think anyone suspects anything. You don’t have to worry about it.”

She gave her one more kiss, lower on her neck, and let her arms slide down to rest at her waist and her chin to fall on Anna’s shoulder.

“It smells really nice,” she changed the subject, Anna’s heart now beating thrice as fast with Elsa’s chest pressed into her back. “I don’t say this enough, but I really love your cooking.”

Anna finally let herself look away from the pan and into Elsa’s beautiful blue eyes. “I love you,” she said, simply, but earnestly, as she let their lips meet.

**

She’s done with the tree, the final cleanup of the apartment—well, a bit more than just a final cleanup, she’d neglected cleaning for a longer while, too busy with work—and the dinner preparations just in time for 8 p.m.

“Snowflake!” she calls into the corridor, where she’d last seen the little cat disappear off to a while ago after she got tired of sleeping in her new bed. “Come here sweetie!”

The little pitter-patter of her soft paws on the hardwood brings a smile to Anna’s face, and she opens her arms wide to let her jump up at her.

“Where do you want to eat?” she asks, obviously not expecting a clear answer, but the cat meows loudly in return before jumping out of her arms again and dashing for the dining table. “Good choice. I set up a spot for you.”

She makes her way over to the table, which for once is dressed in a nice, festive tablecloth and three spots—two clearly for human use, one decidedly more cat—set with some of the fancier plates and cutlery that she still had left from the stuff their parents left behind when they passed away.

Snowflake quickly finds her way to where she’d put her little fake-diamond encrusted metal bowl on the plate and parks herself there, at a respectful distance from all the food.

“Good girl.” She pats her head, getting ready to sit herself. She looks at the empty seat with an inexplicable yearning in her gut, before letting out a sigh. “I guess we can start.”

Before she serves herself anything, she makes sure to put a heap of pan-fried salmon in Snowflake’s bowl.

**

It was after dinner, and they were just cuddling on the couch watching Home Alone for what felt like possibly the hundredth time in their lives. Elsa seemed to be almost dozing off, her head set in Anna’s lap, only letting out a comfortable hum every now and then when Anna’s fingertips grazed the back of her neck.

Anna wasn’t really focused on the movie; she reveled in the feeling of her sister’s warm, eggnog and rum-flushed face against her thigh, the slow rise and fall of her chest just in the corner of Anna’s eye, the silky texture of her hair between Anna’s fingers and the soft, twinkling glow of the lights on their Christmas tree.

It was perfect.

She wished it could be like this forever.

**

She’s close to falling asleep with the tv droning off in the background and Snowflake snoring lightly in her lap when the alarm she has set for 11:59 p.m. goes off.

Her heart almost leaps out of her chest and into her throat, as she quickly grabs Snowflake before she has a chance to get scared and run away.

“It’s time,” she says excitedly, jumping up from the couch with the cat in her arms and immediately falling on her knees in front of the (somewhat hastily, but still decently dressed) Christmas tree. She puts Snowflake down in front of her, forcing herself to not frown at the confusion in her eyes when they meet hers.

Then, she holds her breath.

And as the clock in the kitchen chimes for midnight, the cat in front of her begins to change into a young woman.

**

Just as she was about to join Elsa in dozing off (it wouldn’t kill them to sleep on the couch for one night, even if it was likely to hurt their backs), the window flew open with a flurry of snowflakes.

“What the f—” she got cut off by an even stronger gust of wind, and Elsa jumped up to shield her from whatever force of nature just decided to interrupt their peaceful rest.

Only it was not a force of nature, because what just appeared in front of them was not natural in any way.

**

She reaches for the blanket neatly folded on the couch and drapes it around the naked girl, who stumbles forward into her arms almost drunkenly, her forehead hitting Anna’s shoulder in a way that was sure to leave them both with a bruise, before she manages to regain some rigidity in her temporarily ragdoll body.

She mumbles something incoherent for a few moments as Anna holds her, wrapped tightly in the soft blanket still covered with cat hair, tears now streaming freely down her face.

**

They both just stared at the apparition in front of them wordlessly, mouths wide open. Elsa’s hand, which at some point found its way to hold Anna’s, was currently crushing her fingers in shock, but Anna couldn’t bring herself to care.

Finally, it was the apparition who decided to break the silence. “Well, are you both just gonna stare at me?”

Elsa shook her head and blinked a few times, but Anna was still frozen in fear. “Am I dreaming?” Elsa asked, then promptly yelped when she apparently pinched her leg. She then turned to look at Anna (still immobile) and then back at the apparition in front of them. “What the fuck is this?”

The apparition tssked. “Such language,” it sighed, then crossed its ‘arms’ on its ‘chest’, which were both mostly made of wispy smoke. “I think I made a mistake coming here.”

It made an attempt to get out the way it came in, before Elsa shouted, “wait!”

It looked back at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Are you…” Elsa visibly struggled with what she was about to say. “…good?”

The apparition let out a guffaw of laughter. “Am I good? My child, I am the best thing that could happen to you on Christmas, aside from Santa Claus himself.”

That finally snapped Anna out of her trance. “Santa Claus is real?” she said weakly.

The apparition locked its eyes on her. “No,” it said simply, and Anna felt extremely small again.

“Are you?”

They both looked at Elsa, who was now standing in front of Anna, her body shielding her from harm even though the strange visitor claimed to be good.

“Well, you are speaking to me, are you not?”

**

“What happened?” Elsa finally manages to ask, lifting her head up to look at Anna. “I can’t really— I can’t remember much of anything.”

She sounds frightened, and Anna’s heart breaks all over again.

“Can you remember me?” she asks quietly. “Or this place?”

Elsa smiles, even if her eyes are still clearly betraying her fear, but she leans in to plant a shaky kiss on Anna’s lips. “Of course I remember you,” she whispers, and a huge weight lifts off of Anna’s shoulders. “And this is our place, even if it looks a little different than the last time I thought of it.”

Not wanting to waste any time, and seeing that Elsa is in a place where she’s ready to hear the story, Anna launches into the explanation. “It’s December 24th— 25th now, actually. You probably know that in some way or another,” she pauses to let Elsa nod in agreement. “Do you remember that same day last year?”

Anna watches her face turn from obliviousness to realization as she processes all the weird things that have been happening to her. “It’s— hazy,” she admits. “It feels like there’s more time, but it’s— it’s different.”

This time, Anna nods. “Very different. I want to explain it to you, but I also want you to try to remember some on your own.”

**

“They call me The Wishmaster,” he finally introduced himself, ‘sitting down’ on the chair across from them. “And I’m here because one of you was practically screaming he wishes into the stars.”

Anna’s brows furrowed. It couldn’t possibly have been— she was not even looking at any stars, not even thinking of them to be honest, but she did seem to remember that the last thought before she started dozing off was—

She gasped, and the Wishmaster looked at her. “Are you here to grant my wish?”

He smiled in a somewhat creepy way. “Not yours.” He pointed at Elsa, who was just quietly looking down at the carpet between them. “You’re Elsa, right?”

She nodded.

“Are you certain in what you wish for?”

She nodded again.

“Are you ready to pay a price for it?”

She nodd—

“Wait a minute, hold on,” Anna cut in, grabbing Elsa’s chin before she could nod fully. “Are you just not gonna tell me anything?”

The Wishmaster rolled his ghastly eyes and Elsa sighed. “I— I think I might have been looking out the window, and just saw a falling star. I was half asleep and I thought to myself, ‘it can’t hurt to have a wish, can it’?”

“Depends,” the Wishmaster chimed in.

“…So I wished.”

Anna felt a chill run down her spine. “For what?”

“For this.” Elsa smiled, reaching for her hand. “For us to just be able to be happy.”

The chill went away, and Anna let out a sigh of relief. This was exactly what she—

“For us to just never have to worry about people. I saw how scared you were today, and every other time too, whenever you think that someone might suspect that people know what we’re doing…”

Anna looked in panic at the Wishmaster, who just shrugged. “I literally don’t care,” he said. Then, turning to Elsa, he continued, “but I definitely see your point. Just a few minutes ago she wasn’t sure if I was real, and now she’s worried I might judge you two for your consanguine affections.”

Even Elsa cringed at that.

“So you could just…make people be okay with it?” Anna asked quietly, not even for a second wanting to develop any hope before anything was confirmed.

“I can make anything her heart desires come true.”

She allowed just a bit of hope to emerge as she looked at Elsa.

“But there will be a price.”

And there went the hope.

“What kind of price?” Elsa asked, and somehow Anna felt that she was going to take the offer regardless of the answer.

“Oh, nothing insane. It’s not like you’re asking to be the president of the universe or something outrageous like that.”

“So…?”

“…I haven’t decided yet.”

**

“So let me get this straight.”

Anna takes a deep breath, preparing herself for the barrage of questions.

“I’m a cat?”

Well, that one is at least easy. “For most of the year.” She waves her hand around the room, pointing at all the cat stuff lying around. “You come back at midnight on Christmas Eve, and you stay like this for eight hours, but after that—” her voice chokes, not wanting to even think of what was inevitably coming in a few hours. “Right after you…transform, you seem to still mostly have a human psyche, but the longer you stay a cat the more you are…you know, a regular cat. Towards the end of the year it’s only sometimes that I get any glimpse of human from you.”

Elsa falls silent for a moment, and Anna fights back the tears that are threatening to spill from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she says finally, just like she did the previous times. “This must be really hard on you.”

Anna nods. No point in denying it. “It’s hard especially at the beginning of the year,” she admits, bringing a hand up to touch Elsa’s cheek. “But it’s because it’s clearly hard for you, and it pains me to see you struggle with the reality of the situation. The further in the year we are, the easier it is for you, and I—”

A few tears break free, and Elsa quickly moves in to wipe them away.

“I-I try to just take the best care of you that I can.”

**

“A cat?” they both said, incredulously.

“I mean, why not?” the Wishmaster shrugged. “For, let’s say, a nice round five years.”

Anna’s heart sank. “What does that even accomplish?” she blurted out in a voice that bordered on a squeak. She did not like this idea a single bit.

“It tests your bond. You’ll have to remain faithful to her and care for her, and she’ll need to decide if she’s able to withstand the mental toll of this for you.”

She could feel Elsa’s hand, which was still firmly grasping hers, shake just a little.

The Wishmaster now turned to address Elsa directly again. “Each year at midnight of this same day I’ll let you come back to your human form. If you think you cannot take this any longer, you can just call for me again in front of a dressed tree, and I will void the contract and we’ll just move on our merry ways.”

**

“Five years?”

She can see Elsa’s face go paler than it even was before, now so devoid of color it almost perfectly reflected the Christmas tree lights back.

She wants to rush in and just hold her, kiss her, assure her that everything will be alright, but she knows it’s best to give her a little moment to process it.

“How many years has it been already?”

Anna smiles, because that’s the one thing she was keeping as a silver lining. “Four,” she says, and sees realization hit Elsa’s face. “There’s only one year left, and then we’re free to…just be happy. Unless he scammed us.”

But Elsa’s face isn’t that of happiness or relief. “I made you go through this for four years already?”

“Elsa—”

“I missed your twenty-first birthday!”

“Elsa!” She grabs her face with both her hands. “You are the one sacrificing so much here. And I am thankful. You’re doing this for us, and I can only make sure you come out of this healthy and alive.”

Elsa just looks at her, a battle of emotions on her face.

“Even if sometimes you just…make it so, so hard to keep you alive,” Anna continues, and Elsa’s brows furrow. “You love to chew on cables.”

That’s finally something that makes her break out in laughter.

“You know,” she manages between gasps for air. “Now that you mention it, I think I can remember the feeling. In the far back of my mind.”

Anna giggles too. “You will get some memories back over the next eight hours. It always happens like this, by the end of the night you’ll be remembering that time you brought me a dead bird to the bed for sure.”

Elsa’s laughter dies down slowly to a soft smile. “Eight hours?” she repeats, then sighs. “That’s…not a lot of time.”

“Just one more year after that, and we’ll have all the time in the world.”

“But here, and now, I…” she falters, obviously lost in thought, trying to find what she needs to say. Possibly sorting through the dawning memories. “I want to make sure we make the best of this time.”

She moves closer, until their faces are level and slowly pushes her lips against Anna’s, who can only let her arms fly up to grab her and pull her closer, all of the restraints she’s managed to exercise so far now completely broken because Elsa is here.

She loves Snowflake, and she cares for Snowflake, but she just loves Elsa so insanely much.

“The time is ticking,” she breathes against Elsa’s lips when they pull apart, resting her forehead against Elsa’s. “Let me show you how much I missed you.”

She’s not sure they’re going to make it to the bedroom this year.

[elsanna-secret-santa]

Secret Santa for r9kspacealien

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!! Sometimes an open ended prompt is a good excuse to write a fun, silly, heartwarming scene and I hope this story is either a nice reprieve from festivities or a lovely addition to them <3

Thank you also to the mods for setting up the gift exchange every year, you’re all the best!

———————————-

Glittering snow blankets the cobbles of Arendelle. Night has returned everyone to their homes, their bellies full from the warm and generous feast provided by the castle, post bell ringing and Flemmingrad soup supping and the newer tradition of expressing gratitude under the twinkling deep blue ice trees of Elsa’s make in the courtyard. This last tradition had ingrained itself quite deeply despite its recent creation, a lingering result of the town’s evacuation and near destruction during the time of the Spirits’ Awakening. Given what could have been lost, there was much to be thankful for indeed.

Many also appreciated being home by their hearths and sitting in comfortable, drowsy-inducing chairs as many had joined the queens on their trek north for the Winter Solstice celebration with the Northuldra. Since discovering their heritage, Anna and Elsa had made great efforts to learn their ways of life and celebrate alongside their own traditions. A few Arendelle citizens had joined them as well, discovering their own forgotten or discarded heritage or looking to share with their neighbors.

Keep reading

[elsannasecretsanta]

Secret Santa for @gryfon-spanish-werewolf

@gryfon-spanish-werewolf

***

“Anna! Stop fondling your sister and get over here, it’s Santa time!” Ryder called to her.

“Wha-?! I do not-” Anna, who was currently fondling her sister, tried to defend herself. Everyone, including Elsa, just looked at her for a while, as she started blushing. “Fine, fine, I’m coming.” She grumbled, got up, waited a bit for her kiss on the cheek from Elsa (who happily obliged) and went to get changed.

Her, Elsa, and Rapunzel were spending Christmas at Kristoff’s and Ryder’s place, since all of their families wanted nothing to do with them (reasons may or may not have included gayness and/or incest), and Anna has been voted to be this year’s Santa, which hurt Kristoff’s feelings just a tiny bit.

She went to the changing room, and thought about how lucky it was to find a friend group willing to look past some incest. Although she was not fondling anyone, they were just partaking in some very platonic cuddling, thank you very much.

She took off her I come in peace wooly sweater (and yes, she did knit it herself with some alien motive, and double yes, Elsa was currently wearing her own I am peace version) and put on the Santa… (Hoodie? Sweater? Jacket? Top? Crop Top? One of those, probably. She made a mental note to look up “santa crop top” later) upper article of clothing while huffing and grunting dramatically, because being dramatic is just what Anna does. She quickly put on the fake beard (having given up on growing a natural one somewhere around late June), buckled the belt, and went into the living room.

“Ho, ho, ho! ‘Tis I, Santa Claus, or, err, Nikolaus, Mikołaj, Ded Moroz and probably many more, depending on your cultural upbringing! I shall give off the gifts and or beating accordingly!” She exclaimed as soon as she entered. Kristoff hid his face in his hands, Rapunzel choked on her fist trying not to laugh, Ryder did laugh, and Elsa stood up, looking at her lovingly.

Elsa pointed at the chair near the Christmas Tree. “You must be tired after such a long trip, come sit down.” And guided Anna by hand. As soon as Anna sat down, she sat on her lap. Figures. Kristoff groaned, at which Anna hugged Elsa’s waist. “What would such a good girl want for Christmas this year?” She whispered, purposefully loudly, into Elsa’s ear, who shuddered a bit.

Ryder got up from the couch. “It’s literally Christmas, you idiots! Just give her her damn gift from behind you and let’s please move on.”

Anna shot him a look. “Wow, rude. I guess we all know who’s getting coal this year.” 

“Actually not a bad idea given the rising housing crisis and prices of everything, and this surprisingly cold winter.” Kristoff decided to chime in, very helpfully.

“Okay, okay” Rapunzel also butted in. “let’s just get this over with because at this rate Christmas will be over before the first gift is opened.”

Anna pouted, but Elsa seemed to agree, and so she reached for the first gift. 

She winced as she saw someone give Kristoff a deodorant. Not that she really disagreed with the sentiment per se, but you know, time and place? He also got a… “Best jokes 2023” and from Elsa and Anna some polish vodka he claimed to love. 

The rest of the gifts were also unimpressive, and the group returned to regular teasing and chatting. Anna was feeling too hot in her costume, but Elsa firmly refused to move her equally firm butt from her lap. It was a fair trade, if you ask her.

After a while of pretending to be happy with the crappy gifts, and being genuinely happy with the fact that their friends cared enough to give them some, they all decided to play spin the bottle, with an additional rule of one round of rock paper scissors to decide which of the sisters was chosen.

After Kristoff has dared Ryder to kiss him (“He’s your boyfriend you coward!”), Rapunzel told everyone that Elsa was her gay awakening (Anna could only nod in understanding) and Kristoff yodeled out of the window, fate had apparently chosen Elsa.

“Truth or dare?” Kristoff asked.

Elsa considered for a second. “Well I’m too comfy here to move” She slapped Anna’s thighs lightly. “so whatever, truth.”

Kristoff lit up as if he was hoping for that outcome. He smirked and took a deep breath. Everyone was watching him in anticipation. Finally, he spoke. “Do you have a crush on Anna?”

The room was silent. Anna blinked. Elsa didn’t move. Rapunzel was patting Ryder’s back, who was looking dumbfounded at Kristoff. “You are so lucky you are good in bed babe.” He said.

Kristoff just looked bad at him. “What? You can’t tell me you aren’t curious!”

Elsa cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her. She turned her head and kissed Anna. Anna kissed back. What followed was an uncomfortably long session of sloppy making out, and Anna loved every second.

After what felt like about two minutes, Ryder cleared his throat. Another minute followed (judging by the sounds, Rapunzel was now eating popcorn). After another, Ryder spoke. “Guys, I think you made your point. You can stop now.” Anna showed him her middle finger. Ryder sighed and she heard him tapping on the screen and tell Kristoff to close his mouth already.

Finally (too soon) they parted, and took a look around the room. Rapunzel was finishing a bowl of popcorn, Ryder was scrolling tiktok, and Kristoff, mouth now closed, was just looking at them utterly flabbergasted. Anna felt her cheeks burn a little.

After a moment of silence, Kristoff finally seemed to get over his shock. “How long?” He asked.

Elsa shrugged. “Hard to say, because we were always… you know, mostly like that? Which I guess is why you didn’t notice. We didn’t notice when jokes and teasing became genuine flirting ourselves for a while.”

Anna shifted a little, and put her chin on Elsa’s shoulder. “But our first serious kiss was like 2 years ago. And we first had sex-”

“I think that’s enough, Anna.” Elsa rudely interrupted her.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did they” He pointed at Ryder and Rapunzel, watching the conversation. “know, and I didn’t?”

“That’d be because you’re a moron.” Ryder chimed in, and Kristoff threw a pillow at him. He looked hurt.

Elsa finally got up, and she and Anna sat down on the floor next to Kristoff. “Well, at first we didn’t really know what’s happening.” Anna started. “Is it just a crush? Are we fucked in the head? Will it destroy us? When did it all change? So we didn’t really know what to tell you. ‘Hey Kristoff, I banged Elsa yesterday!’? Then our parents found out and kicked us out and telling anyone was the last thing on our minds, with you know, figuring out how to have a roof over our heads thing. We had to sleep at your place for a month, and we were terrified you’d kick us out too if you knew.” She shuddered a bit, and Elsa continued for her.

“Then when we settled we honestly thought either Rapunzel or Ryder told you, because you didn’t seem at all shocked at our progressive… closeness.” She added diplomatically.

“Well, how did they find out for sure?” He asked.

“I got to know them after we got together, so there was no ‘ah that’s just Elsa and Anna they were always weird like that’, and so after like, two days of hanging out I asked them.” Ryder responded. “They said yes, I said cool, we went home. I was sure you had to know.”

Kristoff nodded. “And you?” He asked Rapunzel, who blushed. “Well, it’s kinda… embarrassing. But I guess I’m over it enough to share.” She took a deep breath, and Elsa looked at her softly. “I had a massive crush on Elsa and asked her out. She said she was taken. I put two and two together, and confronted them after a week of gaslighting myself. They confirmed it, I cried for a month, we hugged it out, all is well in the world now.”

Kristoff took a moment to collect himself. Anna was scared. While they lucked out with two friends, incest is a big deal actually (which Elsa had to remind her every two days), and there was no guarantee Kristoff would be as accepting as the others. Elsa must have noticed her anxiety, because she moved closer, and hugged her side. She leaned into it, and waited.

Kristoff didn’t address them. He looked at Ryder and Rapunzel “And you’re both okay with it?”

They shrugged. “Well, my homosexual gay boyfriend, love is love, isn’t it?” Ryder said. 

“I’ve known them their whole lives, as did you, and I took a long time to try and analyze every memory of them I could, and I just… couldn’t really remember anything alarming. And they are happier now than they’ve ever been.” Rapunzel added, and Elsa and Anna both nodded.

Kristoff sighed, no, he sighed, for a full 20 seconds, before turning back to sisters. Girlfriends. Sister girlfriends. Whatever.

“I guess I’m happy for you.” He finally said. They both relaxed. “But, uh, how did your parents find out?”

Anna straightened her back. “Oh, they walked in on me eating Elsa ou-”

She got smacked, Kristoff choked, Ryder laughed, and Rapunzel snorted. Life was good.

[elsannasecretsanta]

Frozen x Princess Mononoke 

for Anna Summers, Merry Christmas! I hope you like it! 

[elsannasecretsanta]

Gift for Toosh

CW: Tragedy, Angst

——————————————–

Tuesday

—-

‘Did it hurt?’

—-

Anna peered out of the floor to the ceiling windows in the apartment. Below her was a sprawling metropolis that had transformed into a mesmerizing spectacle as rain pounded against the window, shortly after the sun had set. The city was a patchwork of illuminated streets and buildings, resembling a sea of glittering jewels against the canvas of the night. The city’s surfaces, from glass walls to wet asphalt, reflected the traffic and building lights, amplifying the urban radiance. Combined with the traffic and the bass of a concert nearby, the thunder rumbling added a dramatic soundtrack to the city’s visual and audio symphony.

She tightened the black silk robe around her pale waist; the garment had loosened over the course of time in which she had been standing at that window. Or it never fit her properly. Her fingers wrapped around the stem of her wine glass. The liquid inside sloshed back and forth as her body swayed with the movement of the fresh knot she was tying on her robe belt. Small drops of red wine created trails down her freckled legs and fell to the hardwood floor below her. Any other time, she would have stopped what she was doing to rinse off and prevent the spill from staining, but today she just stood in place and turned her gaze back to the window and drank more from her cup.

—-

‘If we would have known what would happen, would we have done things differently?’

—-

Anna pressed her forehead to the chilled glass of the window. Her warm, summery red bangs were a deep contrast to the cool, deep colors outside. She removed her forehead from the glass just briefly and tapped it against it once more, coincidentally at the same time as a strike of lightning. Her eyes were squeezed firmly shut which meant she did not notice; however, the following roar of thunder caused them to open rapidly. She expected to be met with her own reflection staring back at her, due to the dim lighting outside and the brighter lighting inside. She wished that were what she had seen, but instead, she saw her sister, Elsa. Anna’s turquoise blue eyes had been replaced with her sister’s which were a mixed shade of ice and sky blue. She found herself staring, longing, wishing to reach out until a second crash of thunder startled her.

The woman fell backwards, accidentally discarding the now empty wine glass. A shattering sound could be heard but Anna paid no attention to it. As she bounced on her backside, her now loosely braided red pigtails bounced with her. She groaned with frustration, released her twin pigtails from their binding, and ran her hand through her hair. She rubbed her forehead and instead of standing back up right away, she accepted defeat momentarily and gently laid back down. Her eyes bounced around the ceiling, inspecting the exposed beams and sleek modern designs. The internal light was subtle, two petite lamps on both sides of the sofa lit up the space just enough that one would not trip as they walked through the spacious communal area. With each flash of lightning, the space would illuminate periodically creating a dance of shadows around the sophisticated apartment. With each burst, she noticed a new feature of the apartment. Maybe, it was the timing or her positioning, but from this perspective, every new discovery felt wrong.

—-

‘No, we wouldn’t have.’

—-

Anna bit her rose colored, dry bottom lip. She pulled at the skin on her lip with her top teeth and listened to the storm. She turned her head to the side; her loose hair splayed and framed her face as her eyes focused underneath the raised leather couch next to her. It was meticulously clean, just like the rest of the apartment except there was one item out of place. She would not have noticed it if it were not for the sporadic lightning. Anna saw a traditional, chestnut wood picture frame face down far under the piece of furniture. She shimmied her body across the smooth flooring and reached her arm out as far as she could. Her fingertips grazed the backside of the frame, and she was able to grip the raised stand on the back to pull it towards her.

The robe she adorned was now disheveled once more as she brought herself up to sit against the couch and inspect the frame. She held it face down, unable to flip it over just yet, she sighed heavily and placed it face down on the seat of one of the leather cushions and brought herself to her feet.

—-

‘How many nights did we spend together?’

—-

Anna tiptoed over the visible pieces of broken glass with her bare feet, pretending to be careful but had she really cared more, she would have turned on the lights and swept up her mess. She shuffled through the open floor plan into the kitchen smattered with high end appliances and expensive marble countertops. She filtered through the dark wood cabinets for a fresh, crystal wine glass and refilled her cup with the open bottle she left on the counter next to the littering of the cork, seal, and elaborate tag that read ‘To Elsa, for many more years to come. Yours forever, Hans.’ She had found this bottle next to an identical empty one in the back of Elsa’s nearly empty cabinet. Same tag and all, ‘How original,’ she had snickered when opening. Once the cup was filled, she downed the contents immediately, going for another refill before emptying the contents of the bottle. She watched the last drop pour into the glass and felt her vision blurring. She stumbled her way back over to the seating room area and cradled the wine glass and the frame. Without looking at the photograph still, she pressed it to her chest and continued to drink.

—-

‘As many as we could.’

—-

Last Thursday

—-

“Elsa?” Anna answered the phone quickly and balanced the device between her ear and shoulder. She shifted her shopping bags from one arm to the other and exited the department store she was currently in.

“Is this, Anna Adler?” A stern, monotone voice responded.

Anna slowed her pace and swallowed, “Yes, I’m sorry, who is this?”

“We are terribly sorry; we regret to inform you that your sister is dead. She returned from her business trip but was found deceased in her apartment a day later. It appears to be a suicide, based on a letter she wrote. We have already spoken with your parents. We were referred to come speak to you directly by her husband, Hans Jacob, whom she is survived by. He will contact you regarding funeral arrangements shortly.”

The paper bags from the designer stores she had frequented on Fifth Avenue fell to the pavement. Her driver in a black car honked to get her attention, yet she was frozen in time.

—-

Late Tuesday Night

—-

Hans turned the key and swiped the card. A ‘click’ and a ‘beep’ paired with a faint green light indicated the unlocking of the door was successful as he stumbled into Elsa’s apartment. A faint glow emerged from the sitting room as he quietly shut the door behind him. He was not expecting anyone to be here, after what happened last week. He swallowed and strutted through the foyer and past the kitchen. A hand loosely holding the stem of a glass peeked out from behind the couch. The remaining wine, although on its side, did not leak over the rim. It was just suspended in the bowl of the glass, on the verge of spilling. The brunette hair with a reddish tint on the sides of Hans’s face began to stand up on its end and his face turned pale. As if he were reliving what he saw last week, in horror he approached what he assumed to be the ghost of Elsa haunting him. His slacks exposed his ankles with every wide step he took. He adjusted his suit jacket as he sauntered over, as if for any moment he would be caught unaware and not at his best. His emerald eyes remained wide as he turned into the kitchen and found the empty bottle in the same place he saw it last week, knowing he had put up the other bottle, he gulped and continued towards the exposed hand on the floor.

“Ugh,” the noise came from the body.

A voice startled him causing him to elicit a small shriek. He promptly placed his hands over his mouth and listened.

“Who’s…there?” The weak voice continued.

Hans stood up straight and dusted off his clothing, “Anna?”

“No, that’s who I am.” Her voice slurred. The cup she was barely holding now was upright as she attempted to shift her body weight. “I was asking, who are you?”

“It’s me,” He cleared his throat and deepened his voice. “Hans, your sister’s husband, you should know who I am.”

“Ex-husband,” Anna swirled the remnants of the drink between her fingers before finishing it.

“Not quite, Princess.” Hans strolled over and took a seat on an adjacent, matching, leather chesterfield armchair. He inspected her up and down. “If I can even call you that anymore, you look like you’ve fallen rather far from grace.”

“What do you expect from me?” She sniffled and tried to adjust the robe from exposing her any further. “The funeral was today.”

“Is that why you are wearing your Sunday best? A black robe to show respects?” He huffed and pulled a cigarette case from his inner chest pocket. “It’s not even your robe.”

Her grip on the garment tightened as she sneered, “You could have at least brought more wine. That was one thing you were good for, gifts.” She accentuated on the robe she had on and pointed with her head to the counter with the wine bottle.

“I think you’ve had enough, that should do the job, and here I was thinking I was going to have to figure something out for you.” Lightning lit up his face, a smirk appearing. “Maybe I would woo you over, maybe I would have to stage a little accident. But no, you made it easy because you just can’t help to take what isn’t yours.”

“What are you talking about?” Her voice whimpered, fear taking over. Her vision blurred again, and she shook her head. Her grasp tightened on the frame in her arms as she pulled it into her chest.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. If it weren’t for you, none of us would be in this mess. Your sister would still be alive.” He lifted his body slightly and stretched out his legs to pull a neatly folded piece of lined stationery paper from the front right pocket of his slacks. “But luckily, you didn’t quite ruin everything. She kicked the can before the divorce was finalized, now I am just the widower everyone feels sorry for. Even your parents.”

—-

Tuesday Morning- The Funeral

—-

The sun painted the sky with a golden hue, casting a warm glow across the parking lot of the funeral home. The air was filled with the cheerful melodies of birds singing and whistling. The cumulus clouds above had billowing forms that added a touch of whimsy to the sky. If one tilted their head up and squinted, the clouds would be ripe with vague forms of animals and plants to identify. The world awakened to a day bathed in sunlight, where the tranquil ambiance was harmonized by the gentle rustle of leaves and the fluttering wings of carefree birds.

And this pissed Anna off.

She pulled a shiny, silver flask from a black lace garter holster around her thigh, discreetly hidden under her plain black mini dress with quarter sleeves. Mentally reigning herself in from finishing the contents of the bottle in one swig, she took a shot’s worth and slid the flask back into place.

Her red hair shone like fire under the sun’s rays and reflections off the light grey pavement. It was tied up neatly in a bun atop her head. The bangs swept across her forehead were the only loose strands. Anna looked up for a moment, cursing under her breath, and squinted under the bright light. Before strutting into the funeral home to deal with all the forced tears, exaggerated memories, and faux retellings of Elsa’s life. No one knew who she really was, except for her.

The babbling people, namely businessmen or women, unknowingly parted for Anna as she strolled between them. To Anna, these people looked the same as they do every day; in full business and formal attire, exuding confidence bolstered by their billfolds, and the same fake expressions. She was unsure if a single person in this room cared for each other outside of the profits they could make from one another. Her parents included in that thought.

Agnarr and Iduna Adler, Anna and Elsa’s parents, stood in front of the Cherry Wood Casket speaking with Hans. Her father stood towering over Hans and Iduna, stroking his dirty blonde facial hair while listening intently to whatever Hans was saying. Anna was not trying to understand the conversation or even be a part of it but to get to Elsa she would need to get around them, which would require getting involved.

Iduna, who wore a hairstyle matching Anna’s but with dark brown hair, gave her an apologetic grin as she straightened out her dress and cleared her throat. “Sweetheart,” She gently tugged at Agnarr’s black suit jacket, “Anna’s here.”

“Darling,” Agnarr stopped mid conversation and pulled Anna in for a hug. She did not embrace him back but didn’t push away either, not wanting to cause an argument. She looked past her father at Hans who seemed to be slowly shaking his head back and forth in disapproval. Instead of analyzing it, she turned her gaze away and then was met with a follow-up hug from her mother who added, “We’re so sorry to hear about what happened with your sister. Just know if you ever need anything,” ‘Money,’ Anna thought midsentence, “Don’t hesitate to reach out.” Anna and Elsa’s parents had the emotional maturity of a wet towel and if they could not pay away with their problems, they would simply make them disappear by other means.

The redhaired woman sighed as she was finally away from the grips of her parents. She walked slowly over to the open casket, unprepared for what she was about to see. Elsa, with her soft and light blonde hair, lied motionless atop the plush interior. Anna gulped and reached her hand out for Elsa’s, who looked as if she were napping. Anna retracted her hand swiftly once feeling just how cold Elsa’s body felt. Her sister normally ran cool, but this was..this was ‘dead.’

The realization struck Anna hard, as if an icy sword were plunged through her heart. She staggered backwards but kept a grip on the casket. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she whispered, “Did it hurt?” She paused as a single tear drop freed itself and rolled down her cheek. When Elsa didn’t respond, she continued, “If we would have known what would happen, would we have done things differently?” Anna quickly shook her head this time, answering her own question, “No, we wouldn’t have.” She forced a smile and reminisced. “How many nights did we spend together?” She brought her warm hand up to Elsa’s pale cheek. She stroked it and just like water busting through a dam, rivers of water now poured down Anna’s face. She didn’t move, she was barely breathing. She did not care who was looking or who was listening. She grabbed Elsa’s hand one more time and brought her lips down on her knuckles to plant a tender kiss. “As many as we could.” She concluded the conversation with herself and the sound of the funeral home, the chatter, the fans, the heels clicking against the floor all rushed back in and flooded her senses.

Hans was approaching on her right, but she excused herself with a “Not now,” and walked in a fast pace back towards the open doors outside. Once she passed through them, Anna found herself squatting to sit on a cement curbside and used the back of her hand to wipe her tears. Her mascara smeared under her eyes and across her hand.

The thud of shoes clopping against the pavement grew louder as a figure approached her from behind.

“I said, not now.” Her voice was stern, yet she did not turn her head.

“I just wanted to give you this,” a mellow yet masculine voice responded.

Anna whipped her head around, “Kristoff? I am so sorry, I thought you were Hans.”

The harsh words bounced off of the blonde man, “Here.” He gave a half grin and extended his arm holding a handkerchief patterned with reindeer and carrots, “You can return it to me later.”

“Thank you,” she mouthed but no sounds came out. She graciously accepted his pocket square. She blotted around her eyes, wiped the make-up from her hand, and shoved the piece of fabric into the bust of her dress.

“I also wanted to tell you I was really sorry for your loss. Like really sorry. May I?” He pointed with his open hand; palm faced upwards at a spot on the curb next to her.

“You may,” she slid over a bit to make sure there was room for the man.

Anna had known Kristoff for her entire life. His parents, Bulda and Pabbie worked for the Adler household. He and Anna were playmates at first sight. They played board games and sports together; they grew up together. When Kristoff’s first girlfriend broke up with him, they cried together. When Anna was stood up for the prom by her date, they went together instead. Kristoff had seen the ins and outs of the Adler family throughout his life. He was no stranger to the sisters.

Kristoff adjusted his hand-me-down suit and sat comfortably with his legs extended out next to his friend. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

“I will Kristoff,” Anna rested her head on the man’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “Nothing feels real anymore.”

“It probably won’t for a long time,” he replied and rested his head on hers in return. “Hey, do you remember that time we went to Aspen for a skiing trip? You got really sick the first night we got there, and even though skiing is one of Elsa’s favorite hobbies, she didn’t leave your bedside the entire trip. I know she really loved you.”

“That was when we were just fresh out of high school, I almost forgot about that. That was before she went to college and before she met Hans. That feels so long ago.” She reached down under the hem of her dress and removed the flask she had sipped on earlier. She handed it to Kristoff who took down a shot and passed it back to her, where she followed suit. “What about, do you remember the time our class had to sing for a class performance, and you had a big solo? You almost forgot the words; I saw you panicking. I remember it felt like time was slowing down but out of nowhere Elsa showed up with a piece of paper and a permanent marker, she wrote down the next word in the song and held it up for you. You smiled so brightly and carried on the song without a hitch.”

“Oh man, I’m not sure I could ever forget that. She single handedly saved my music career.” Kristoff jested and bumped Anna with his elbow. “Hey, that’s when she still had braces too. She was still the prettiest girl in her class though.”

“Not that she had a lot of competition, sixth grade is rough for everyone.”

“Oh, I’ve got a good one. Probably the best one.” Kristoff lifted his head and tilted his chin up high.

Anna cocked her head to look at him, “Well, spit it out already.”

“The beach.” Kristoff said, short and sweet.

“The beach,” Anna cooed dreamily. “But not just any beach right, we’re talking about…”

“Punta Cana.” They agreed in unison.

“It was weird though, Elsa not opting for a traditional honeymoon. I will say it was awfully nice of your parents to fund the whole trip though.”

Anna gripped at the small collar on her black dress and began to sweat a little, “Yeah, so weird.” A flashback of tossed sheets, dimly lit by an ocean sunrise. Warm bodies mingling with heavy breathing and moaning. Anna twitched and brought herself back to reality. “That trip, was something else.”

“I mean, those sunsets,” Kristoff began to list, and Anna began to daydream.

‘Elsa sharing her ice cream cone with Anna on the beach, taking turns licking the vanilla custard off the waffle cone, occasionally looking into each other’s eyes while blushing.’

“Those sunrises…”

‘Anna bent down over Elsa’s body, only a thin white Egyptian cotton sheet separating them. She would bend over to seal the deal and plant her lips on Elsa’s if she were not interrupted by…’

“All of the surprises…”

Anna knew Kristoff meant the surprises their parent’s showered the group with; all-inclusive resorts, private cabanas, renting a yacht, but Anna’s mind turned to the night where Hans walked through the door, only to find his new wife and her sister tangled in each other. The air was heavy, the room looked as if a hurricane ran through it. Clothes and bedding were thrown all around. Now, Hans finding out about the sisters, was a terrifying surprise, but what was even more surprising was what Elsa did next, she dismissed him. She told him to go sleep in one of the other rooms and she would come to find him when she was done. Anna had never been so confused and turned on at the same time in her entire life. With her slender hands, Anna watched as Elsa shooed her husband away and then took her younger sister back in her embrace. Kristoff did not know about any of this. Anna added, “Oh yeah, definitely wasn’t expecting the paragliding.”

Kristoff prattled on and Anna removed his handkerchief from her bra and patted the sweat from her face. Once he finished, he turned to Anna once more, “You spent so much time with Elsa. It was almost as if you two could speak in code, speak in a language no one else could understand. It seemed like when you were together, there was nobody else in this world.”

“It did feel that way a lot.”

“Well like I said, if you do need anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask. I am here for you.”

Anna ran her fingertips across her lips, “Actually, I have a really big favor.”

—-

Late Tuesday Night

—-

“I didn’t tell Elsa to divorce you.” Anna huffed. “She wanted to do that all on her own, now I’m starting to understand why.”

“This isn’t just about that, and you know it. Although, all you ever were, was your own sister’s mistress, even if she were alive, you could never be more.” His words were sharp, attempting to pierce through Anna’s heart, but they fell short.

“Oh, I’m aware.” She said matter of factly.

Anna’s response came as a shock to Hans, as if he assumed they were both playing at some game, and he was winning. Her reaction started to crumble the idea that they were toying with each other all along. Frustration began to boil inside of him, Hans never lost.

Anna continued and attempted to stand up. She placed the empty wine glass at her side but kept her right hand over the photograph and frame. “I know that I could never be more than what I was for Elsa, but what we had was enough, which is more than you can ever say. More than you have ever felt about anything in your life.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and attempted to keep her composure. She was in control at this moment and did not want to break her stride. “I will exist happily knowing that never once in your brief, dull life that you will experience what Elsa and I had for each other. Sisters, friends, girlfriends, lovers, wives, these titles didn’t matter to us. I never needed to ask for more from her because she gave me enough and I was in love with her.”

She pointed with her free hand and nearly fell backwards onto the couch, “You will never feel satisfied. You will always ask for, want for, and expect more in life but everything will always let you down.” Her knees gave out and with a loud thud she found herself kneeling on the wooden floor in Elsa’s apartment. “Elsa should never have died this young, but I could die happily today knowing that I at least got to experience her love once in this lifetime. I can’t say the same for you.”

The storm and winds intensified outside. “You really think that’s what all of this is about?” Hans tried to recover. He slicked his hair back over his head and stood up abruptly. “You think that I ever once gave a shit about her or you for that matter? Elsa could pity fuck you all she wanted for that matter.”

Anna’s eyes felt heavy as she attempted to focus on the man in front of her, “So what then? The inheritance? She did everything in her power to make sure you would never get that. It does not belong to her anymore, it belongs to me.” Using most of her strength, she threw him a smirk. “Which is a shame too, I don’t even want it.”

Hans scoffed and placed a hand over his chest, appalled. “Her future was ruined because of you. You took everything from her, including her own life, and you are still acting high and mighty. The inheritance was hers, you somehow convinced her to drop it, this apartment is hers and yet I walk in it to find you. Hell, even that wine was hers, yet here you are finishing it off. Now you’ll suffer the same fate as her.”

“I never told her to give up her inheritance, she went behind both of our backs to my parents. I was just as surprised as you were. I bet she was just trying to keep it away from you.” She wagged her finger. “We’ll never know what the true reason was because you told me you lost her note.”

He lifted the folded-up piece of paper in his right hand and twirled it delicately between both of his fingers, “No, everyone else will never know. I will let you find out tonight. We will call it a special occasion.”

Anna began to feel violently sick and as she was about to fully collapse on the floor, Hans grabbed her by the arm and held her upright, “Not yet, Princess. Read this.”

The redhaired woman shakily held up the note, she had to adjust her position to view it in the dim lighting of the room.

“Dear Anna,

I do not know how to say this, it is not something that could be said lightly or openly, no matter how you look at it.

But I think that Hans is trying to, make things work between us and I know that continuing a life like that would

Kill me, kill us.

I wanted to, apologize that you had to find out about what happened this way. And I just need to

Let you know that, these last few years have been incredible. The secrets

I would never, share. The feelings that I will never forget. And if for some reason I ever do, I would rather

Kill myself, then forget the moments we shared. I write you this letter, frightened and

If I could, I would have told you in person, but it was too risky. Looking back, I

I should have run away, from all this earlier. I might lose my future but what would the future be if it weren’t

With you, I don’t care how much I have given up and at what cost

I hope this letter, reaffirms that I would put you before anything and when I no longer can, I hope someone special

Finds you, and treats you better than I ever could. It is unfair for life to pull us apart

Before anything else can happen, between us.

With all my love.”

Anna forced herself to look up, look back at him, “Elsa risked her future, the word about our relationship getting out, just to get the truth out. To warn me.” She spit in his face, “You killed her.”

“Like I couldn’t read her secret message. And by proxy, I have now killed you. I guess I should have known when I got Elsa, I would have gotten you as well.” He wiped his face. “It was the same deal with our marriage. I was never truly hers. She always belonged to you. I never once thought you two belonged together, until now. Say hi to her for me.” Hans smirked and snatched the letter again.

“What do you mean?” Anna gripped the locks of hair on the sides of her face. The room was spinning.

“The wine, Anna.” He forcefully pointed to the two, now empty, gifted bottles of wine on the counter. “The wine!” He raised his voice and continued shouting, “I put it in the wine, lethal combinations of prescription medications mixed with oleander. You’re not just drunk Anna, you’re dying.”

The woman’s head fell slowly, she was nodding in and out until Hans grabbed her chin, “Not so fast, princess. Not without saying I’ve won. Now that you’ll be gone, the inheritance will have to pass to me as you are unmarried and have no next of kin. I need you to admit to me that I have won.” He squeezed her jawbone harder but was received with almost no reaction.

Weakly, Anna slid her body back up and pressed her back firmly against the couch. She still clutched the photo frame in one hand as she used the other hand to keep her steady. “But you didn’t.”

“Say it,” his demand remained unchanged.

Anna let go of the photo frame briefly to fish around in the robe pocket. Hans gave her a questioning glance as she brought something small and metallic out, “Think again.” She held the ring up, her hand shaking, making it hard for his eyes to focus on the object. “You’re looking at the new, Mrs. Conan. Guess you won’t be getting that inheritance after all.”

“You got married?” He let go of her and slammed his fists on the ground. “You got married to Kristoff?!” Hans got up and began thrashing about the apartment. He tossed one of the lamps, dimming the low lights even further.

Anna never flinched. She sat in place as she watched the spectacle. She reached down to grab the wooden frame once more. She gave Hans one final look before finally examining the photograph she was holding so closely this night. Her eyes fell upon the image, it was a bright sunny day. There were only a few small fluffy white clouds in the sky. Far in the background, you could see Hans near the water edge, with his arms folded. In the middle ground, was Kristoff happily lying on a lounging beach chair. In the forefront was Elsa and herself. Elsa’s arm was wrapped tightly around Anna’s waist pulling her in. Anna’s arm draped around Elsa’s shoulder, embracing her back. The two were extremely close and large smiles lit up their faces. Although Elsa had just been married, there was no ring upon her finger. Anna copied her now, leaving the ring removed for her reunion with Elsa. She closed her eyes and her body fell backwards, the frame fell from her grip and slid back under the couch. Her ring bounced the opposite direction. One last thunderclap could be heard shaking the apartment. The room turned black.

—-

“Tragedy struck this week as the affluent daughters, Elsa and Anna, of Wallstreet’s business tycoon Agnarr Adler and his wife Iduna are now both deceased. Anna Adler was found in the former residence of Elsa Adler early Wednesday morning, in the same fashion as her sister, by her sister’s husband. She was pronounced dead on arrival. Controversy circles this family during their time of need as mentions and changes in interest in inheritance and trusts shifted from eldest daughter to youngest daughter in the few weeks prior to both incidents. The situation is also being amplified by a now nullified high-profile ongoing divorce concerning the eldest daughter, Elsa with her father’s colleague, Hans Jacobs who discovered the bodies of both women, and a last-minute marriage of Anna Adler to a local bakery owner, Kristoff Conan, who has not been a stranger to the Adler household. Investigations are underway to eliminate the potential of foul play.”

[elsannasecretsanta]

gift for asksillysisters

It was December, and that meant it was cold. Very cold. Elsa, naturally, loved this. She was thriving.

It was a Friday, and that meant it was date night, and she and Anna would be celebrating Christmas together - dinner, visiting their parents’ graves, opening each other’s presents, drinking tons of wine, and watching shitty but cute Hallmark Christmas movies.

“Come onnnnn, Elsa!” Anna yelled from downstairs, losing her patience by the minute. She was already dressed up in her formal suit attire - always one to go out with perfect fashion sense.

Elsa, on the other hand, struggled to even wear clothes most days. This time, she wanted to impress Anna, so she searched her closet deeply, every inch and corner, to find the perfect dress.

She had already done her makeup in the way Anna had showed her. Anna was always more elegant and girlish than the blonde, so there were many feminine things Anna had shown her in her adult age.

“A-ha!” Elsa exclaimed as she found the perfect dress and held it up to the light.

It was a light, solid blue, with lace shoulders that extended all the way to her wrists. It had an open back, and extended past her knees. She threw it on wickedly fast, and she was surprised by how comfortable it was. She didn’t think she had ever worn this dress, and was definitely sure Anna had never seen it.

She put her hair in a braid as quick as lightning, and was ready to go.

“Elsa!” Anna yelled as soon as she left their bedroom. “Finally.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine; I’m just very excited. You know how I love Christmas.”

As Elsa stepped into the light from the dark hallway, Anna gasped.

“Woah! Elsa! Damn you look hot. You look amazing, what the fuck?! How long have you had this dress?”

Elsa blushed and withdrew into herself. She felt like a middle school girl when it came to Anna - who was so genuine, so willing to compliment, so careful and gentle with her love. Elsa felt that Anna deserved better than anything she’d be able to provide; she’d be lucky to give half of what Anna gave to her.

“I thought you would like it,” Elsa said quietly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I love it!”

***

Their reservation was a really nice place in the heart of downtown Chicago. It was called ‘The Palm’, a new place they were trying out. They tried to go to a new upscale restaurant for Christmas. This would be their third Christmas together - as a couple; not including their Christmases while they were growing up.

They were served quickly and Elsa ordered their most expensive wine. She allowed herself this one treat, every year, saving up all year for this one special occasion.

“Oh, yes, Elsa the sommelier,” Anna remarked, trying her best to pronounce the French word.

“It’s just right for the occasion.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t!” Anna joked, and gave Elsa her best smile. Her teeth were white and perfect, something Elsa always envied about her. “Honestly, we should get fucked up tonight, like old times.”

Elsa reminisced on their Christmases together in high school and college. Many years they went to Christmas parties, and many years they hosted their own parties. Every year, they would get blacked out, cross-faded, or something along those lines, ending up doing crazy shit together in the middle of the night with their friends. They probably weren’t the best friends on Earth - maybe people they shouldn’t have even hung out with - but the memories they all made together were cherished in Elsa’s middle-aged mind.

“Perhaps,” Elsa replied, teasingly. “What’s in it for me, though?”

“Um, you get to be drunk with the sexiest woman on the planet?”

Elsa turned away quickly, her smile lingering, and she pretended to look around. “Oh? Is she here tonight? Where is she?”

“Oh, please. You’re luckier than you’ve ever comprehended.”

Elsa turned back to look at the redhead, extending her hands out, which Anna graciously accepted with her own. “Oh, Anna. I love you. I know I’m the luckiest person ever every single day. But I don’t think my intestines can handle the way we once partied anymore.”

“You chicken. Kidding! Of course. I love you too, Els.”

***

After their dinner, they visited their parents’ graves, as per tradition. Elsa knew that other people found it sad that they did this on Christmas, but to her, it was a way of including her parents in their celebration of Christmas. It was nice, not depressing.

Their parents were buried together in a cemetery outside of the city, where it was peaceful and quiet.

“Ol’ Aggy and Iduna!” Anna exclaimed. “Merry Christmas!”

She laid down the roses they had bought for them on top of their graves.

“Don’t say ‘Aggy’, Anna.”

“I don’t hear him complaining about it.”

Elsa huffed but didn’t respond. She stood there in silence as she thought to herself. She missed them, of course, but mostly she wondered where they were, or if they were looking down upon the girls now, as she often wondered. What would they think? What would they say?

She knew that they had always wanted them to be successful and live their lives to the fullest - not to incessantly wonder about them. It was hard, though. She loved them very much.

“Okay,” Elsa said finally, and she looped her arm through Anna’s, who escorted her towards the gazebo. They always walked the trails of the cemetery, taking in new things each time they visited.

The gazebo was lit with fairy lights, which Elsa remarked in her mind, because she couldn’t remember exactly if they were there before, or if she forgot about them. She looked out over the field. Oak trees were large and demanding of attention, and the graves were all surrounded by grasses, moss, and trees. It was really a beautiful sight to behold.

“Elsa,” Anna said softly.

“Yes?” Elsa said, turning around - only to find Anna kneeling with one knee on the floor. “What are you doing?”

Anna looked up expectantly at her, a huge smile on her face. “Elsa, my wonderful sister, my beautiful partner, my one-and-only, moon of my life. Will you marry me?”

Elsa started laughing, but ceased when she saw the expression on Anna’s face. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yes! Why wouldn’t I be, Els?”

“Annnnaaa. You know we can’t get married.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re sisters.”

“So?”

“So… that’s not in the cards for us.”

“It could be. You always play so carefully by the rules. You listen to what everyone tells you about what you can and can’t do. Why can’t we be married? I love you, Elsa. I love you more than words can say. I love you more than any love song has ever tried to convey. I couldn’t imagine a life without you, and I want you to be by my side every step of the way. We can’t be legally married, sure. But you could still be my wife, however that works, whatever way we want it to be. Besides, how could I not propose to you with that dress on? Please say ‘yes’; my leg is getting tired.”

“Anna, in what universe would I say ‘no’ to you?”

“Hopefully not this one!”

“Yes, Anna, yes, I will marry you, whatever way it is or will be. I love you; I’ll always love you, for all of my days.” Elsa started tearing up, while Anna was sobbing as she jumped up and put her entire body around Elsa, and with great strength, lifted her up and spun her around.

They both devolved completely into tears and laughter, and kissed each other long and hard, passionately yet gentle.

***

A few hours after they had gotten home, watched a shitty Hallmark Christmas movie, and blasted themselves with wine, they were exchanging gifts between them.

Some gifts were from friends and other family, but for the most part, they were gifts to each other.

Of course, the biggest gift this year was the engagement ring. It was golden, with an emerald in the middle, adjourned with amethysts running along the band, twisting about with a golden vine that protruded out of the gold and back into itself at the other end.

“I love this ring,” Elsa said suddenly, in her wine-drunk stupor. “It’s perfect.”

“Yeah, I have pretty good taste, huh?”

“I want to get you one. You deserve one, too.”

“Surprise me, then.”

Soon they were climbing into bed (at ten P.M. like the old people they were), cuddling and stealing a few kisses from each other.

Anna broke the silence, quietly. “How great was this Christmas, Els?” she whispered.

“Amazing. Best one yet. It’s going to be difficult to outdo this one in the future.”

“Yet in the future Christmases, you’ll be my wife. That’s pretty awesome.”

“Yeah. It is. I love you so much, Anna.”

“I love you, too, Elsa.”

[elsannasecretsanta]

In The End It Was Her (gift for Andrew)

In a boat, on a lake, sat two figures.

The first was a queen, the second a spirit.

The sun beat down on them from a clear blue sky, and the crystalline water sparkled back. The only ripples came from the drifting boat disturbing the placid lake. A gentle breeze cooled their faces from the heat of summer.

The queen found herself content. What more could she ask for? Before her sat the love of her life, finally at peace. Before her, the vast expanse of her kingdom; rolling hills and soaring pines, the bustling castle town filled with the good people of Arendelle. 

All seemed well, and she found her eyes drawn to the face of the woman before her. She knew every inch by heart and could trace it without looking. What was it about Elsa that she adored the most?

Maybe it was her eyes, whose blue seemed like tiny lakes of their own, also sparkling. She could see herself in the reflection and she wondered if Elsa was reflected back in those tiny eyes. How many of them were there? Just holding eye contact? And if Elsa’s gorgeous eyes were lakes, the pupils could be the tiny boat in which little Annas and Elsas both stared at each other! What if she and Elsa were sitting in a giant Elsa’s eye!

Anna grinned to herself because that mental image was just far too silly. Would giant Elsa be some kind of mossy troll like the ones in the valley or did hairs simply look like trees at such a tiny level? Maybe the forest was her eyebrows!

“Someone’s up to something.”

Elsa’s voice broke her out of her reverie (which had gotten really quite detailed at some point). A sheepish grin spread across her face as she rubbed the back of her head saying,

“Up to something? I am the last person to be up to something, as the current queen of Arendelle,” said Anna.

“I don’t know, that bag of chocolates I sent you and the boys mysteriously went missing after not even a day.”

“Well it must’ve been some chocolate thief that snuck in after Kristoff delivered the ice to the palace!”

Elsa’s laugh made Anna’s heart flutter. She could listen to that sound without ever growing sick of it.

“I guess I’ll have to tell Gale to keep an eye out for those pesky chocolate thieves,” said Elsa, smiling.

“There’s definitely one living in the castle,” confirmed Anna.

Her eyes were amazing, that was true, but maybe Anna’s favorite thing about Elsa was her voice. The clear, high tone as she spoke, and the way it sounded whenever she sang. The stories always spoke of princesses with magical singing voices that sounded like the song of a nightingale. She’d never actually heard one, but she figured that they must sound like Elsa. She even had magic and maybe that was one of the side effects! Powers and a special voice.

And even better was just hearing the content of what Elsa talked about. Elsa, like Anna, was a well-read person from their childhood of isolation. Above all, Anna sometimes thought Elsa would much prefer to be an architect than a queen with how she spoke of designs and patterns. Heck, she built an ice castle when the whole eternal winter fiasco occurred! Who even did that? It was very pretty, though.

Maybe that’s what she did in the forest. As the representative part of the fifth spirit, she built giant ice sculptures that didn’t impose on the land. And bridges, definitely bridges. Maybe the entirety of Ahtohallan secretly held all of them!

But she also joked, and talked about queenly subjects they could both relate to (ugh, trying to negotiate trade with some of their neighbors) and all sorts of little things that caught her eye. Elsa was an observant person, and Anna enjoyed listening to all of them.

Hm. Maybe her favorite part of Elsa wasn’t her voice but the lips that shaped them and mouth that spoke them and throat that voiced them. They were very pretty lips that she quite thoroughly enjoyed both looking at and touching. The exact shade of pink that perfectly complemented her undertones, the way she bit the lower one when in thought.

They were part of the system that let her hear Elsa but only one so they couldn’t be it. They were more than the sum of their parts and she was trying to find which part she liked best!

Before she could get any further into debating this, Elsa grabbed her hands and held them. They were now so close they could touch noses if Anna just decided to lean forward a little.

And oh! Elsa’s hands were so soft in hers, the gentle pressure from the almost squeeze reminded her of how tender they were. Somehow, even though Elsa lived in the Enchanted Forest and likely had to work hard, her fingers felt as smooth as the day she was born. Kristoff’s hands, in comparison, were rough and calloused from the work he did. 

There was nothing wrong with that, they were a sign he made an honest living. But there was something about Elsa’s hands, her unnaturally smooth, magically smooth hands that just made Anna melt. She loved the texture of those things.

It had to have been magic, and Anna loved magic almost as much as she loved Elsa.

This warm feeling bubbled up from her stomach where it soon invaded her heart and then spread to her fingers. She just had to express it before it all built up and she exploded from the sheer joy. Imagine how terrible that would be! Elsa would be sad (and probably shocked, who the heck just explodes from happiness that isn’t Olaf?) and giant Elsa would probably flood Arendelle and that would be a disaster!

Wait, what?

Anna shook her head to clear those thoughts (which made Elsa wrinkle her brow and tilt her head though she didn’t stop smiling) and took in a deep breath. That just fueled the warm feeling and made it worse.

“I love you, Els.”

“I know, Anna. I love you too.”

“Yeah well I had to say it?”

“Did you now?”

“Did you not want me to?”

“No, of course I did.”

“You’re silly.”

“Says Miss Rides-Her-Bike-Around-The-Halls.”

“I was nine, Elsa! Nine!”

“And I’ll never forget the faces mother and father made when they heard the crash.”

“That’s what the suit of armors are for!”

“I’ll be sure to put those at the bottoms of cliffs in the forest.”

“Well, good! That sounds exactly like what a silly person would say!”

“Mayhaps.”

There was a pause, before both burst into laughter. Elsa’s grip tightened slightly on her hands as Anna leaned back, breathless. Her thumbs brushed over the backs, making the hairs on her arm stand straight as the skin pebbled. The feeling in her chest soared and maybe instead of explode she would simply catch fire. Or be electrocuted by how all of her nerves felt electrified.

“Oh my gosh, you should’ve seen your face!”

“My face? I thought you were going to fall in!”“Nope! Hey, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Yes, of course you can,” Elsa said.

In that moment Anna sparked on what her favorite part of Elsa was. It wasn’t the physical components of her body or the words she spoke or even the thoughts that gave them life. It was her mind, it was who Elsa was. Her favorite part of Elsa was… well, Elsa. Without that driving force of self, none of it would matter. Because it would be someone else, who she hadn’t shared a life with (though she wasn’t sure if it was sharing and more like individually living in the same place for most of those years)  and wouldn’t be nearly as compatible with.

It was her, all of her, and Anna couldn’t be more consumed with joy as their lips met. Because it wasn’t just anyone kissing her, it was Elsa. And wasn’t that just the greatest thing?

[elsannasecretsanta]

Merry Christmas

Thank you to everyone who participated! Gifts will be posted in a few hours, on a queue. There are a couple of gifts still outstanding, but both the santas and recipients have been contacted. These gifts will be posted ASAP. For the gifts being posted, creators are able to publish on their preferred site / personal blog as of January 2nd, just to give your recipients a chance to appreciate the gift in all its anonymous glory :) If you are posting to AO3, we do ask that you gift the gift to your recipient if possible :)

We'll be back next year, bigger and better. If you wanted to participate this year but weren't sure, why not pop over to the elsanna-shenanigans tumblr / discord and dip your toes into their monthly contests? :)

see you next year!

[elsannasecretsanta]

Just waiting on a few more gifts to be submitted! I hope y'all are as excited as we are!

[elsannasecretsanta]

gifts due today

Please contact us here or on discord if there are any issues :)

[elsannasecretsanta]

Submissions

Hi all! Sorry for being absent - this blog is kinda a one-man show (with some help! xoxo) and I got the spicy cough for the very first time.

Gifts are due in approximately 10 days. We are hoping to post them on the morning of December 25 PST.

If your gift is ready to be submitted, feel free to do it starting today. Just head on over to our submission point, make sure you're on anon, and upload / paste your gift into the submission box. Any issues, don't hesitate to reach out! :)

[elsannasecretsanta]

five more days! (and a bit)

[elsannasecretsanta]

Submissions

Hi all! Sorry for being absent - this blog is kinda a one-man show (with some help! xoxo) and I got the spicy cough for the very first time.

Gifts are due in approximately 10 days. We are hoping to post them on the morning of December 25 PST.

If your gift is ready to be submitted, feel free to do it starting today. Just head on over to our submission point, make sure you're on anon, and upload / paste your gift into the submission box. Any issues, don't hesitate to reach out! :)

[elsannasecretsanta]

PLEASE CONTACT US

It is absolutely imperative that the following users contact us ASAP. marylen prnmars mimamumemo If you do not contact us within the next 48 hours, you will unfortunately be removed from the Secret Santa.

[elsannasecretsanta]

If you have not yet received your secret santa, please reach out - either here, or on discord. We have a SS discord server that hibernates throughout the year and is used almost entirely just to get into contact with people :) https://discord.gg/FrcQzmuw

[elsannasecretsanta]

five hours and a bit to signup for secret Santa!