Anna walked into her apartment as she always did after class. After throwing her keys into their bowl on a little shelf near the door, kicking off her shoes, and dropping her heavy bookbag, she wandered further into the living room to greet the few cats who were actually awake. “I’m home!” she called out to no one in particular. The cats might want to know, but she wasn’t sure if her sister was home. She remembered Elsa getting a call for a last-minute job just as she was heading into school that morning. So she assumed that Elsa was either already out on another job, or sleeping. Either way, she probably didn’t hear her come in.
Then Marshmallow came racing into the room. That was weird enough already as he almost never ran around the house like a bat out of hell like some of the younger cats did. But he was also making a noise she could only describe as the cat version of screaming.
“Marsh! Buddy! What’s wrong?” she asked desperately, dropping down to her knees to meet the cat.
Marshmallow went right up to her and actually bit her pant leg before tugging hard, indicating he wanted her to follow him. Still not entirely sure why, Anna suddenly felt a spike of fear pierce her heart. “It’s not Elsa, is it?” she breathed.
Marshmallow merely howled again and went racing off toward their bedrooms.
Anna quickly followed the frantic cat, making a brief stop in the bathroom to grab a few first-aid supplies from the medicine cabinet just in case her sister was really messed up. She reached her sister’s door to discover it slightly ajar and Marshmallow pacing just on the other side.
Upon entering the room, Anna noticed that it wasn’t cold. Ok, it was summer and their old building’s air conditioning wasn’t perfect but Elsa normally kept any room she was in slightly cooler simply because, well, she did. Ice powers tend to do stuff like that. But now...it wasn’t even remotely cool. It was almost kind of hot. And stuffy. Like walking out on a high-humidity day where the air feels too thick to breathe.
“Elsa?” she asked anxiously, noting the Elsa-sized lump of blankets on the bed, “You ok?”
The smallest of moans answered her from underneath the sheets.
“Please tell me you’re not dying under there,” Anna told her, reaching for the sheets as she did, “Because if you are...”
She pulled back the blanket to reveal her sister and she audibly gasped, releasing the blankets as she did. “Oh my god, Elsa!” she exclaimed in alarm, “Are you serious?”
Elsa was lying on her stomach, her head turned to one side facing Anna and her limbs splayed out in every which way. But that wasn’t the concerning part: what was concerning was Elsa’s black tank top revealing one of the worst sunburns Anna - the future nurse - had ever seen completely covering her sister’s back and shoulders.
Elsa groaned again, louder this time, and tried to move before giving up relatively quickly. “Nooo... The light hurts...”
“How the fuck did this happen?” Anna demanded in shock.
“D called last minute. I didn’t have time to change. Or put on sunscreen,” Elsa explained weakly, “I had to lie down on a roof for five hours in full sun.”
“Y...you had five hours to put on sunscreen or something to cover your back and you didn’t do it?” Anna sputtered.
“I couldn’t look away, you know, just in case. I tried to make a small ice shelter, but I think that only made things worse. Like magnifying glass with ants worse.”
“God you’re an idiot,” Anna said with a defeated sigh, “Hang on. I assumed you were bleeding out in here so I’ll go grab the aloe gel.”
One quick trip to the bathroom later, and Anna was back with the medicated gel. “Ok, so is it just your back and shoulders?” she asked.
Elsa nodded weakly. “Everything that you see. By the time I got home it hurt too much to touch it, let alone take my shirt off.”
Anna winced. “Yeah, I can believe that,” she said in agreement, further studying her sister’s bright red skin, “But here: this should help.”
She squirted some of the aloe onto her hand and went to rub it onto Elsa’s shoulder. She didn’t get very far, however, as the moment she touched the skin she was forced to sharply pull her hand back in alarm. “Ow, you’re hot!” she yelled, checking her hand to make sure it wasn’t burnt.
“Not with this sunburn I’m not.”
“No, you dork, like literally. Look.” Anna reached for a nearby water bottle and poured a few drops onto Elsa’s back. It actually sizzled when it met Elsa’s skin, before evaporating in a matter of seconds. “It’s like touching one of the burners on the stove.”
“...Well that might explain why it feels like there is an actual thunderstorm happening inside my body right now.”
“Like my ice magic has not been working properly. At all. And on top of the headache I’m super nauseous like I got stuck on a spinny ride for the whole day and I’m really dehydrated and I...can’t move. Like at all.”
“Ok... Well, they certainly haven’t taught me how to handle anything like this,” Anna stated blankly, wondering the best way to approach this insane medical mystery.
“I’m never going out in the sun again,” Elsa declared, “Clearly I’m meant to exist only in the shadows.”
“Ok, no need to become an ice-wielding supervillain,” Anna sighed, “Hang on. The aloe will help this but I just need something to apply it with.”
Anna returned moments later with a spatula from the kitchen. When she met Elsa’s comically annoyed glare, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Oh my god I never thought you of all people would be throwing this many loops my way,” she said as she started applying the aloe gel onto her sister’s back like she was layering icing on a cake.
“I’m glad my misery is at least a little humorous,” Elsa said dryly.
“Ok, ok, I’m sorry,” Anna replied, “It’s just... Well, now we know you need to always wear sunscreen. I mean, that should have been a given, based on our Northern European heritage, but... I just never thought I’d have a walking weather system as a sister - who apparently turns into the surface of the sun if she gets sunburnt.”
“The moment I can move again I will get you,” Elsa warned in the most unintentionally non-threatening way possible.
“Oh no, I’m so afraid!” Anna declared sarcastically, “Not a walking cooked lobster!”
With some degree of difficulty, Elsa managed to wave a hand in the manner she normally did to call a pile of snow to appear in the air above her sister’s head. What actually manifested, however, got her sister considerably wetter.
Anna wiped the water from her eyes in shock, having been completely soaked by her sister’s malfunctioning ice magic creating a wave of water instead of snow. When she shot Elsa a glare, her sister merely shrugged before immediately wincing in pain.
Upon seeing just how much pain Elsa was in, Anna sighed. “Ok, fine. I guess I deserved that for teasing you,” she relented, “But I’m still maintaining that you’re an idiot for not wearing sunscreen. And then not thinking how bad taking cover under a giant magnifying glass would be.”
“I have definitely learned my lesson,” Elsa stated, “I’m not sure I like being the ‘Water Queen’. Or an ant...”
“Yeah, Ice Queen does sound better, at least for you.” She then snorted a little as she struggled to hold back her laughter. “And I never thought of you as a red ant.
“I swear to god I will soak you again.”
AN: A few weeks ago, I was dumb and went to two bridal showers in one day without any sunscreen, and my exposed arms and shoulders paid for it severely. It fucking hurt and was a painful reminder for a good week or so as to why my Irish-Canadian ass always needs to wear sunscreen. But as I sat inside, avoiding all contact with the sun and slathering aloe vera on my bright pink shoulders, I got thinking about how paler-than-even-me Elsa would deal with a sunburn. And I thought DA!Elsa would be a good candidate.
I definitely think it would affect her powers. Whether or not it would do so as drastically as I portrayed here is up for debate, but I exaggerated for comedy purposes. Maybe I’ll do something for canon!verse, too. After all, they live in a time when sunscreen wasn’t invented yet, the dangers of the sun weren’t entirely apparent, and post-Thaw Elsa seems to only wear shoulderless dresses so it’s almost like she’s asking for it. But that’s another story to sit in my WIP folder.
