Chapter Text
The first thing Anna noticed, was that puberty had hit her sister like a truck.
Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course not. Anna would be the last to deny that Elsa had become beautiful. But she looked so… different from what Anna remembered. Anna remembered a little girl, eight years of age, with soft blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes sparkling with mischief whenever her younger sister suggested playing a prank on their father.
This Elsa, on the other hand, was not a little girl anymore. She'd grown up, like Anna had done. She was taller now, with sharper features and a sense of maturity that Anna herself didn't possess. Her hair was tied into a perfect, messy French braid (how did she make 'messy' and 'perfect' fit in the same sentence?), and her body, well, if Elsa would ever feel the need to apply for a job as a supermodel, she'd be hired straight away. Even her eyes were different, though they still shone the same brilliant blue; they'd grown just a little colder, and the twinkling Anna had loved was nowhere to be found.
All in all, Elsa Arens did not look like someone who'd been dead for twelve years.
When Anna had entered the police station, flanked by Kai and Gerda, she had promised herself to double-check if Elsa (or, she thought, the person claiming to be her deceased sister) was not, in fact, a zombie. Anna really hadn't known what to expect; it had to be an intruder, it had to be, because there was no way the little girl her parents had buried could still be walking around somewhere… right?
When Anna first laid eyes upon this Elsa she didn't know anymore, she had to alter her previous thought process: if this woman was an intruder, just a lousy impersonation of who her sister could've become, she did a damn good job.
Anna had watched a great deal of vampire shows on Netflix, and she'd binged The Walking Dead on top of that, so she considered herself to be sort of an expert. She checked for signs of anything supernatural, but there was no earthy scent of death lingering, or sharp fangs hidden away between Elsa's perfect white teeth. There were no signs of rot or decay on her sister's hands, and though she hadn't said a word yet, Anna didn't expect her to suddenly let out some inhuman growling.
Elsa wasn't a vampire, or a zombie, or another undead creature. What did you expect? This supposed sister of hers turning to dust in front of her, returning to nothing but a memory? No. If this was Elsa, and Anna wanted to think it was true, that meant that she… had been alive all along.
Somehow, the vampire explanation seemed more likely.
"Anna?"
The officer's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He was a friendly, elderly gentleman with dark skin, and she instantly felt guilty for her silence. "Ah? Oh, yes, I'm- yeah! I'm listening!" She bit her lip and added a quick 'sir' after her words, remembering her manners.
Manners. The manners her mother had tried to teach her, along with so many other things. The thought of her mother made her eyes burn, but Anna wouldn't cry now. She'd done her fair share of crying, at the funeral, when even the chocolate cake after left a nasty taste in her mouth. She glanced at Gerda, who'd been there for her after her parents' accident, who'd hugged her even if Anna desired her own mother's arms more.
Kai gave her a nod, his face solemn, wordlessly encouraging her to stay strong. Anna cleared her throat and waited for the policeman to break their silence.
"Anna," he began dutifully, realizing she didn't have an appetite for starting a conversation. "I need you to be honest with me, please. Is this woman your sister?"
Anna's eyes found Elsa's, making eye-contact for the first time in forever. Okay, maybe the light that had been in Elsa's eyes before had dimmed, but Anna recognized the shine, the familiar shade of blue cold as ice.
And for the first time in twelve years, Elsa spoke to her.
"I'm sorry."
The words were few, and not even close to enough, but they would do for now. If there was anything Anna remembered, it was how Elsa always seemed to apologize, even when they were kids. Had they been caught trying to steal chocolate out of dad's secret cabinet? 'I'm sorry'. Receiving a scolding for laughing so hard past bad time? 'I'm sorry'. Hell, even when Anna used to run through their old house's big halls like a chaotic mini-racecar and she'd bump into Elsa along the way, it was still Elsa who apologized for absolutely nothing.
Anna nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "That's Elsa, I'm sure."
The officer nodded, almost in relief. "Good. Please, take a seat if you want, and feel free to make yourself a drink. The machine can give you tea, hot chocolate, and three types of coffee." He gave Elsa a curt nod and held his hand out for Anna to shake. "I'll give you folks some privacy. It seems you have a lot to discuss."
Anna hummed in reply, answering his handshake. When the officer had shaken Kai and Gerda's hands too, he kept his promise of leaving the room, and Anna found herself alone with her sister and her parents' oldest friends. She tried to make eye-contact with Elsa again, but her sister, who already sat at the small table, kept her eyes on a plate of dry cookies in front of her.
"You look amazing," Anna said as she sat down in the chair opposite of Elsa, Kai and Gerda taking place at her side. "I mean, not in a weird way or something. I just mean that, uh… most people who come back from the dead don't look so… you."
Elsa startled out of her thoughts at the sound of Anna's voice, the nails of her left hand clawing at the table. She looked up, perhaps intending to meet Anna's gaze again, but she failed, her eyes wandering between Anna and Kai and Gerda with a restless unease, observing the three people she faced now after twelve years of total silence.
There was fear in those cold eyes, Anna noticed as she took a cookie from the plate and put it in her mouth. It tasted dry and bland, and she wondered if the police couldn't do any better. Right. Police. Elsa, sitting in front of her with that anxious expression, looked awfully like a criminal being interrogated by a bunch of tough cops.
"I wasn't dead." She said it so softly Anna almost couldn't hear it, folding her hands together.
"We can see that," Kai replied, his voice as neutral as he could keep it. How did he and Gerda feel about this? Of course, Elsa hadn't been their daughter, but Anna knew how much her parents' most trusted friends had always cared about her and her sister. Were they angry at Elsa for coming-back
-from-the-dead-but-not-quite, out of nowhere? Were they happy to have their little girl back again? Were they proud of who Elsa had become, whoever that person may have been?
Anna couldn't tell. She hadn't even figured out how she herself felt about all of it.
"What happened to you? Where have you been?" Gerda asked the question before Anna could do so herself. Unlike Kai, she was less in control of her emotions; her voice quivered, betraying her. There was surprise in that voice, and anger, happiness and sadness, the whole goddamn emotional spectrum in two simple sentences. And affection, god, so much affection even Elsa seemed taken aback for a while, as if she'd forgotten the meaning of the word 'love'.
"Most of that is classified, I'm afraid." Elsa spoke more surely now, having found courage somewhere. She stirred the drink she had to have poured herself before Anna's arrival, took a sip and pulled a face. "Ugh. Cold."
Was she complaining about a drink, right now, in this moment? Anna almost couldn't believe her ears.
"Classified?" Kai asked, frowning.
Elsa nodded and took another sip. "I'm sorry." Another apology for yet another atrocity. Except this time, Elsa actually had something to apologize for. Faking your death and disappearing for twelve years certainly demanded an apology in Anna's book.
"I'd tell you if I could," Elsa continued, downing her coffee in one go and shifting her gaze to glare at her empty cup. "But I'm not allowed to. The only person I can tell is Anna, and only if she decides to…" she didn't finish the sentence.
Anna knew what she meant. "Only if I decide to stay with you."
Elsa nodded, fingers tapping a rhythm on the wood of the table. "It's up to you, really. I'll accept whatever decision you make."
In the end, it all came down to decisions. Decisions spelled out the future, every last one, though some more than others. The decision to skip breakfast today hadn't impacted Anna's life in any way, though she did feel hungry now (those cookies held no nutritional value whatsoever). Her parents' decision to visit their friends in Sweden, though, had led to a whirlwind of consequences. If only they hadn't stepped into their car on that fateful night, if only they hadn't hugged her goodbye and left, they would not have had an accident and they would still be alive. And if they had remained alive, Elsa would have stayed somewhere in the shadows, playing no role in Anna's life whatsoever.
But life had other plans. Because somehow, Elsa Arens found out about her parents' tragic death within hours after it happened, and if what Anna had been told wasn't a lie, she'd appeared at the police station in Bergen at the early hour of 4 A.M., claiming to be Anna's older sister who did not mind if she got custody. And of course Anna had been informed of this, along with Kai and Gerda who had taken care of her in the days following the deaths of Agdar and Idun Arens, but she hadn't attached much hope to it. Elsa was dead, and nothing could change that.
Except she wasn't dead. The Elsa in front of her turned out to be very much real, against all expectations.
And Anna had a chance to live with her.
"Classified or not, you owe us an explanation," Anna stated, "whether I choose to stay with you or not. Come on, you gotta understand! They told us you were dead, Elsa. They told us you got mauled by wolves when you ran away into the forest. There wasn't even much left of a body to be buried."
There hadn't been a body because Elsa was alive. How had Anna missed it? It took her a few seconds to realize she wasn't imagining it, but Elsa was laughing. laughing. Whatever had been the appropriate reaction, this was not it. "They told you… what?"
Kai narrowed his eyes. "Wolves," he repeated, his tone sharp.
"Mauled by wolves? That's a good one." Elsa picked at her empty plastic coffeecup. "Next time I'm faking my death, I'll go with trampled by moose."
"There won't be a next time," Anna said, sounding more agressive than she'd intended. Elsa fell silent. There had been a twinkling in her eyes when she'd made her severely inappropriate joke, Anna noticed, but while she'd missed that twinkle earlier, she didn't find herself enjoying its presence now.
"I'm sorry," Elsa said. Apology hundred, with many still to come. "It's not a matter to be taken lightly at all. Nobody ever bothered to tell me the wolf story, it seems."
Anna itched with questions, but no sound came out of her mouth. All she could do was stare at her sister as if she were an alien, a fictional character, a phantom taking shape in front of her. Elsa was real, Elsa was here, Elsa, the last family member she still had, wanted to take her in. All Anna had to do was say the words.
"Like I said," Elsa began after a pause, "I know a lot has been going on these days, but I hope all of you can forgive me. For not coming to the funeral, for running away, and everything inbetween." She sighed. "You don't have to, though. If you chose to turn away and never look at me again, I'd understand, and I'd leave you alone."
Anna blinked as her sister focused on her. "Kai and Gerda are wonderful people," Elsa continued, "and I'm sure they'll take great care of you. They'd probably do better than I ever could. But if you still believe in second chances like you used to, I'd… I'd like one. So my offer stands."
Anna looked at Kai, at Gerda, at Kai and back to Gerda again, like she was watching a slow-motion tennis match. Gerda placed an affectionate hand on Anna's, and while Kai remained more stoic, he gave her a soft glance and the tiniest nod.
She understood. It was her choice, and hers alone.
Elsa leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling, still absent-mindedly picking at her cup, tearing the object apart some more with every movement of her fingers. Anna studied her face, the one she'd known so well once, the one that had changed so much she couldn't read it anymore.
It made her more curious than she'd ever been before.
Of course, staying with Kai and Gerda would be amazing. If Anna chose them, she could stay in Bergen, keep living her old life, even if the ache of her parents' death remained. She could still go out with friends on weekends, she could go to her own school for her final year when summer break was over, and Gerda was the most talented cook Anna had met in her life. It could be ideal, the future the couple accompanying her here today could offer her: free of problems, sorrows, worries and other inconveniences. Free of answers.
In front of her sat a woman who had all the answers. Elsa Arens, Anna's sister who ran away and never returned until now, who came back from the dead as if it was nothing. Her sister who, for some reason, decided to show interest in her only now, her sister who could offer her an entirely new life.
Maybe it wouldn't be as free of problems and sorrows as her life with Kai and Gerda would be. Living with Elsa would mean a new city, new school, new friends. New life. And above all, Elsa could give Anna answers to the questions she'd held inside ever since she'd learned her older sibling was alive. How hard would it be to sacrifice her old life if it meant a chance at rebuilding the relationship with the sister she'd once been so close with? If things turned south, Anna would be eighteen next year anyway, so she could move out as an adult if she wanted to.
Gerda squeezed her hand lightly. Anna made her choice.
"I still believe in second chances, sis. I'll accept your offer."
Elsa smiled, a familiar smile, a smile that felt the same as it had twelve years ago. Elsa's smile wasn't big or flashy, but more subtle and in the background, always, and yet it was as beautiful as the rest of her. Anna drank that smile in and decided to cherish it; it didn't appear often, after all. No vampire teeth in it, at least.
"Thank you," Elsa said, standing up to throw what remained of her plastic cup in the trash. "I'll do my best to make sure you won't regret it."
Had it been the right choice? Anna couldn't tell, not even when she found herself in the backseat of Kai's car again, letting him drive her home so she could pack her bags. The Elsa she'd met today was different from the one she'd remembered, yes, and Anna hadn't been able to decide if it was a good or a bad kind of different. The only thing she knew for sure, was that she yearned to learn more about this new Elsa.
'There is nothing permanent except change.' A quote she remembered from her Philosophy class. It was a Greek dude who said it, not Heracles but definitely a Hera-something, and Anna had buried it somewhere far away in the depths of her brain when she didn't need the knowledge anymore. She'd gotten a 3+ for the test, so she was content. She couldn't pinpoint exactly why this particular quote resurfaced in her mind, but it had to have something to do with the many sudden changes in her life. All it did was serve to remind Anna Arens that she was taking her first step into the unknown.
But she wouldn't be taking that step alone, right? Elsa, her sister, would be there too, taking that same step. Though Anna knew nothing about Elsa and her life anymore, this had to be a major change for her too. It baffled Anna to think about it; Elsa had never approached her in twelve years, and now that their parents were gone, she appeared out of nowhere to ask if Anna was interested in living with her.
Why?
While packing her bags, Anna thought about it long and hard, without finding an answer. She'd have to ask Elsa about it in the car later, she figured as she searched her bookshelf for her favourite romance novels. She'd bring those, of course, along with enough clothes, the small stash of chocolate she kept under her bed, and a few knick-knacks that reminded her of home: a bottle of her mother's perfume, a particularly interesting blue rock her father had given her (troll rock, he'd called it), and a picture book of her family and friends she'd made last year. Her fingers traced its cover, and she remembered there were pictures of Elsa in it too, pictures in which she was still the smiling child Anna had known once.
Maybe she'd show Elsa someday. For now, she placed the little book with her other possessions worth taking (she was growing too old for the movie posters on her bedroom walls anyway), and she took her bags downstairs with a little help from Kai.
"Are you sure?" He asked with caution. He didn't mean to insult her good judgement, of course. She understood his worry; though Elsa wasn't just anyone, it still felt like he was giving her away to a stranger.
Anna nodded, blessing him with a small smile. "She's my sister. She'd never hurt me."
Kai hummed in approval and opened the front door to go outside, but the look in his eyes showed the slightest hint of doubt, as if he wanted to believe Anna's words but couldn't.
They found Gerda in the yard with Elsa, discussing… whatever they had to discuss. There were so many options, Anna didn't bother going through them all. When Gerda spotted her husband and her sort-of-daughter, she rushed over to help with the luggage while Elsa remained where she stood, leaning against the wooden fence.
When they placed her bags in the trunk of Elsa's car, Anna couldn't help but yawn. It was still early in the morning, even though the summer sun already shone, and in the days between the accident and now, Anna had not managed to get a whole lot of sleep. She hoped the last days of summer break would be a little more relaxing and studied Elsa, searching for an indication that there would be trouble.
There was nothing. Of course not. Elsa was a master at keeping her emotions in check. When she asked Anna if she was ready to go, there was nothing in her voice that betrayed anything. No excitement, no annoyance; only the slightest hint of doubt, as if she only now realized that this was really happening. Other than that, there was nothing.
"Remember to call us every now and then," Gerda reminded her as she pulled Anna into a hug. It dawned on her that this was really goodbye. "I gave Elsa our number too, so she can keep us updated, but it would be nice to… it would be nice to hear your own voice sometimes."
Anna nodded, blinking away a few tears. She didn't regret her decision, not yet, but she'd always hated goodbyes. It reminded her of her parents, who'd left for Sweden a week ago and never came back.
When Gerda released her, Kai slung an arm around her shoulder and squeezed lightly. "You'll be okay," he told her, "and you're always welcome here." His eyes travelled up to meet Elsa's. "Both of you."
Elsa gave a weak nod. "Thank you." Surprise crossed her face when she found herself embraced by Gerda too; she hadn't been expecting that, of course not, Anna hadn't foreseen it either. She reminded herself that Elsa had been Gerda's little girl as much as Anna was, and it had to break her heart to let both of them go again, right when she'd gotten Elsa back out of the blue.
"You'll do fine," Gerda said as she freed Elsa from her embrace. Elsa blinked a few times, still surprised at the development, but she regained her composure quickly.
"I won't disappoint you."
Anna never figured out who her sister had said those words too, but she didn't mind. She wondered what the neighbours would think if they could see this now. Just the bubbly orphan girl and her dead sister saying goodbye. It sounded like a scene from an awful American comedy show.
"It's a seven-hour drive to Oslo, if we're lucky," Elsa said. "That is, if we don't stop anywhere and there won't be any complications with the traffic. We should go."
"Alright." Anna gave Kai and Gerda a final wave and sat down in the passenger's seat of Elsa's car. It felt surreal. She watched Kai and Gerda's figures grow smaller and smaller as Elsa drove away from them, watched her home grow tiny like a speck of dust, until there was nothing left and all she could still see were the road behind her and the pine trees around it.
A seven-hour drive with Elsa. That would be fun.
"You must have a lot of questions," Elsa said, her eyes stuck to the road. "If you want to ask, you can. You should."
Anna snorted. "A lot of questions is an understatement." A million questions bubbled in her mind, waiting to be pushed to the surface and out of her mouth. And yet, she couldn't find one to start with. There was so much she didn't know, so much information she wanted, but none of her questions seemed important enough to ask. In the end, they all came down to the same: 'who are you?'
"Why did you leave?" She settled for the obvious question, the one she'd asked herself since she was five. Even when under the impression that Elsa had died, there was still a reason; Anna remembered, clearly, how Elsa had looked that night she'd went into the woods all alone with no plan of returning.
Elsa sighed. "That's the one question I can't answer right now. I'll answer it someday, I promise, but all I can say for now is that it… was for the best. Yeah."
It would be so very easy to yell at her. It wasn't like Anna wanted to be angry with her sister, of course not; but she deserved answers, right now, she'd been waiting for so long it made her physically sick. She was about to give Elsa a piece of her mind, when a more rational voice in the back of her head told her not to: if Anna got pissed right now, Elsa might close up and refuse to answer any other question flung in her direction. Anna had enough of those to squeeze out at least one satisfying answer, and she had all the time in the world.
"Fine," she said. "Is it okay to ask why you returned now?"
Why was Anna so important now, when Elsa didn't seem to care before? It puzzled her, from the moment she'd been informed of her sister's random appearance in Bergen.
"I don't know." Elsa gripped the steering wheel tighter. "I could've gone back before. Maybe I should've done so. At least I… at least I would've had a chance to talk to them before they died if I did."
Agdar and Idun Arens. Elsa's parents as much as Anna's. And still Anna had buried them alone.
"But I guess I was just… scared of going back. And after the accident, I… I don't know. I had to at least talk to you."
Anna nodded, somewhat satisfied with the answer. It sounded truthful enough, but it still felt incomplete; it didn't mean much if she didn't know why Elsa had left in the first place. And to figure that out, Anna would have to wait, annoying as it may be. It was stupid, but she realized pushing Elsa wouldn't get her anywhere; all she could do was try to bring up some patience and hope for the best. Elsa had promised, after all.
"When Gerda asked you where you'd been, you said it was classified. Tell me about that." It had been a pretty cryptic comment, but Anna knew it hadn't been a joke.
"My job. It's complicated."
"Could you tell me about it?"
"Only if you swear to keep it a secret, like it's supposed to be. I'm actually not allowed to tell anyone about it, so the higher-ups had to give me special permission. It could endanger everything." Elsa grimaced. "And if you say a word to the wrong person, both of us are done for." She said it as casual as can be, as if she was only giving Anna instructions on what to buy for dinner.
Anna mentally sighed, wondering if all of Elsa's 'answers' would only lead to more questions.
She made a gesture like she was zipping her mouth shut. "I'll keep your secrets, but please, tell me now or I'm going to explode."
Elsa closed her eyes for a bit. "Okay. So the organization I work for is… secret. It has ties with several governments, including the Norwegian one, but it's as independent as it gets. Anyone who knows about it can assign, well, assignments to us, and it will be taken care of." She paused and looked up, trying to figure out how to continue. "Most clients ask for intelligence. That's what I provide. I give them the information I can get my hands on. But there are some more… shady assignments too. If you need someone dead, it's… all you have to do is ask."
Alright. That was quite a story.
Anna nodded, soaking up the information. "So what you're saying is, you're basically a super-spy for a shady organization that's a cross between MI6- you know, from James Bond? You gotta have seen at least one movie, you can't be a spy without having seen James bond-"
"Anna. I know who James Bond is and on top of that, MI6 exists. Please just go on."
"So, like, a cross between MI6 and the Italian Maffia. Does that sound right?"
Elsa sighed. "It's not goddamn Cosa Nostra."
"Then, pray tell, what's your supershady secret service called?"
Anna had not expected a shrug. "It doesn't have a name. I mean, I guess we call it the Company, but mostly because it's convenient. That name doesn't raise a lot of questions if you say it in a conversation."
"Makes sense, I guess?"
Elsa pulled a face. "Why do you just… believe all of this?"
Anna frowned. "Wait, hold up. Are you lying to me?"
She could see her sister tense up. "Of course not. But it's… weird. I told you I'm a 'super-spy', like you called it, and you… I don't see how you go along with it like it's nothing."
It was Anna's turn to shrug. "I thought you were dead, but you came back. Nothing surprises me anymore right now. You could tell me you were secretly headmistress of Hogwarts and I'd believe you."
"Seriously?"
"Perhaps. Besides, that weird… sort of government job of yours does explain why the police lied to us about your death. Fuck, you were smart for an eight-year-old, but not smart enough to fake your death and disappear all on your own."
Elsa moved her hand to her heart as if she'd been stabbed. "That hurts, you know? But you're right. And the reason I even got a chance to take you in was Company courtesy." She paused. "Because let's face it: if you were a cop, and you'd have to give a seventeen-year-old orphan girl a new home, you wouldn't give her to her estranged sister she hasn't talked to in twelve years. No one in their right mind would do that, unless there were very special circumstances."
Anna nodded, leaning back in her seat. "Okay. My sister faked her death to become female James Bond. I get it."
"I didn't leave for that reason," Elsa said with a sharp voice. "It… it happened. Some things happen, alright?"
Anna put her hands up. "I wasn't going to say anything! There's no need to get all defensive on me."
Elsa shook her head. Somehow, Anna got the feeling their conversation was over. "I want coffee. Something better than the stuff they had at the station. You might want to start thinking about what you want."
She didn't start a conversation again. They drove in total silence for around ten minutes, ten slow minutes full of agony.There's the awkwardness you expected. Anna wished she could turn on the radio, any song would do, if only it could clear the tension and lighten her mood. There was no way to know how Elsa would react to it, though, and Anna didn't want to take the risk. And, if she had to be honest, she felt tired. Her lack of sleep was catching up to her, the swaying movements of Elsa's car making her eyes grow heavy, like her mother's lullabies had done back when she was a little girl with no fear for the future, when Elsa was still there with her.
Another five minutes later, Elsa stopped in a town they'd passed for a cup of coffee. Anna ordered a muffin (Elsa paid), but she didn't enjoy it much with the uncomfortable silence leaning over them. Elsa did not look her in the eyes. Why not?
What did Anna want from her? Yet another apology? More answers she may or may not have been ready for? The story of the life she hadn't been a big part of? Or did she want Elsa to ask about her life, to show some interest, any indication at all that she hadn't simply forgotten her younger sister, written her off as a mere silhouette from a worthless past?
Anna didn't know what she wanted. So when she stepped into Elsa's car again, headed for the unknown, she closed her eyes and let the car lull her to sleep. It didn't seem to bother Elsa anyway.
She didn't remember much of what she'd dreamt. There had been a car, an accident, and she recalled snow. Whatever. It lost its importance when she felt the car stop, having reached its destination. Elsa shook her shoulder, in a way Anna could only describe as gentle. "We're here."
Anna got out, taking in the twilight surrounding her, breathing the air of Norway's capital. She'd never actually been to Oslo. Sure, she'd wanted to visit, but it was a long drive and she didn't have a reason to go until now. Now it had to become her home.
She smiled to herself. It would turn out fine in the end; she truly wanted to believe that. It would be fun, or, she told herself, she'd create her own fun. The unknown wasn't so scary if you chose to believe it wasn't. She'd do her best to rebuild her relationship with her sister, she'd make more friends, and she'd figure out every single detail of whatever Elsa's life had become. A solid plan, if she could make it work.
"You own an apartment?"
What a question. When Anna looked around, she could clearly see that she stood in the middle of the parking lot of a large apartment building. It was greyish, colourless like most of the apartment buildings she'd seen, but it looked tidy and clean.
"No. That's why we're at an apartment building."
Anna rolled her eyes. "Hilarious. Didn't you say you'd answer my questions?"
A small smirk appeared on Elsa's face as they approached the entrance of the building. "I did. You got an answer, didn't you?"
Anna laughed. "Okay, you got me."
Elsa had changed, that was clear to her. Her sister wasn't the little girl Anna remembered, but in the way Elsa had sassed her, she saw traces of the sister she'd always loved. So maybe Elsa had changed, some changes good and some bad, but deep down, she was still that same person Anna knew once. If Anna worked hard enough, she'd be able to bring that girl out again, she was sure of it.
As they reached the third floor of the building (the stairs tired Anna, but her sister didn't show any sign of trouble), Elsa halted without warning, grabbing Anna's sleeve. "Wait. Someone's at my door."
Anna followed Elsa's gaze, and sure enough, her sister was right. In front of a door that had to be Elsa's stood a tiny old man, clutching something white and furry in his arms. He adjusted his round little glasses with some expertise, glancing at his watch every other second with a haughty look. From what little Anna could see of him, he seemed like a man who considered himself rather important; one of those old men who liked lecturing kids and prided himself on his very exciting collection of stamps.
"Who's that?"
"My next-door neighbour, Mr. Weselton." Elsa said the words as if they were dirty. "Ignore him. He's a bit creepy."
Anna narrowed her eyes in amusement. "Are you scared of an old man wearing a toupet? You? My super-spy sister?"
Elsa motioned for her to keep quiet. "Don't shout that from the fucking rooftops, remember? And I'm not scared. He's just a major pain."
Anna stuck out her tongue, feeling bold. Elsa's neighbour, huh? Perhaps he would be able to tell her a few things about her sister. "I'll go and make his aquaintance."
She danced away from Elsa's grip before her sister could stop her and dashed in the man's direction. His sneaky little eyes darted from her to Elsa following behind with a look of contempt. Up close, Anna could see what he held in his arms: the little white bundle was a young kitten, pawing at the man's sleeves.
"Hello," Anna told him, "are you Mr. Weselton? I'm Elsa's sister, Anna Arens." She held out her hand with a smile. "I'm going to live with her, so we'll probably be seeing eachother around. Nice to meet you."
The man scoffed, ignoring her outstretched hand as if she hadn't washed her hands in years. He kept his own hands buried in his kitten's fur, stroking absentmindedly. "You're related to that?"
"Excuse me?"
Elsa walked past them, searching for her keys. "Forget it. What do you want?" The small man was still blocking her front door, and if Anna had to guess, it didn't amuse Elsa one bit.
Anna frowned, growing annoyed with the man. "I don't see why you talk about my sister as if she's some… thing."
"Oh, she's quite something," the man spat. "Always running around with that damned thug, and she doesn't have her cat under control either!"
Now that was something Anna could ponder. She'd have asked Weselton more if she hadn't considered him such an annoying little creature; even if Elsa was weird, Anna found it abhorrent how this neighbour spoke of her, and he'd treated Anna herself rudely too.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Elsa began, sounding like she'd indeed said this a thousand times and was growing tired of it. "There are hundreds of cats around here. You don't even know if my cat is responsible for those kittens you got. You just want to get on my nerves."
Weselton's cheeks turned red. "Those kittens are your cat's!"
Elsa didn't do so much as blink. "Marvellous. I'll tell Marshmallow he needs to pay child support once every month. I'm sure it will go over well."
Anna quickly covered her hand with her mouth, trying to hide her laughter. Weselton puffed his chest out in a rather amusing attempt to make himself look intimidating, clutching his kitten tighter.
"Besides," Elsa continued, "I don't see why it's a problem to you. You've sold almost all of the kittens, didn't you? It's good money."
"But I've had to pay for all of their food by myself," Weselton whined. "Seeing as they're your kittens too, I want a compensation."
"Oh, so now I need to pay child support?"
Weselton nodded. "Call it whatever you want to call it."
Elsa's reply was cold as ice. It gave Anna shivers. "By that logic, you should share the profit you made off of those four kittens you sold with me. But you haven't. Why is that, Weselton? I mean, they're my kittens too, right?"
"But I never asked for them," he sputtered, "and nobody wants this kitten here. It's too small and sickly, and I refuse to pay for its food all by myself."
What an annoying little man. Anna studied Elsa's face, trying to discover what she was thinking. To her surprise, her eyes had lit up; there was an amused shine in them, the same one Anna used to see so often, whenever her sister came up with a particularly impish scheme.
"Anna," Elsa said, turning to her, "do you want a kitten?"
"I mean… Of course? Why?" Anna had never had a pet in her life, due to her mother's allergies. She wouldn't say no when offered a kitten, but she didn't understand why Elsa asked.
She was about to ask why, but Elsa had already shifted her attention back to her awful neighbour. "A suggestion, if I may. You can keep all the money you made from selling the kittens, but I'm taking this one. That way, you won't need to spend any more money on food. Problem solved."
How red could one man turn? Weselton's face resembled something of a juicy tomato as he glared daggers. "You can't-"
Elsa gave him an innocent smile, prying the kitten out of his short, weak arms. "Why not? Like I said, they're my kittens too."
She gave the creature to Anna, who cradled it in her arms. It really was a tiny creature, a weak little thing, all alone in the world. She immediately decided she would love and protect it until the end of its days and held it closer.
"I think we're done here," Elsa said, motioning for Weselton to step aside from her door. "Good evening, Mr. Weselton."
There was a finality in her voice that made Weselton obey. Realizing he'd lost his battle, he slouched away, hopping to his door as fast as his little legs could go. Anna watched him leave, all the way until he slammed his door behind him. Then, she turned her gaze to Elsa.
"Did you just talk him into giving us a kitten?"
Elsa stared at the keys in her hands, puzzled. "I think so?"
The kitten gave a meow, as soft as its fur and as tiny as its body. Anna replied with an involuntary 'aww', scratching its chin lightly as Elsa opened the door.
"What are you going to call it? It's your present, after all."
Anna kicked the door closed with her foot and thought about this question for a minute. Such a sweet animal needed a special name, a name that meant something to her, a perfect start of her new life. It had single-handedly turned the unknown into something adorable, and its efforts had to be commemorated. She scoured her memories, trying to find a name of some significance.
Elsa didn't wait for an answer. She took off her coat and sauntered over to the large and fat white cat which had entered the entrance hall. "Hey there," she told it. "We got some company today. My sister, and a kitten too. He may or may not be your son, so be nice."
So my super-spy sister still talks to animals. Anna smiled at the realization; As a child, Elsa had a habit of talking to animals as if they were people every now and then. Anna had picked up on it soon enough, imitating her big sister in everything, and even when she'd considered Elsa to be dead and gone, the habit stuck. She still remembered the look on her friends' faces when they caught her talking to a stray dog once, when they were playing in the snow.
Snow?
Elsa used to love snow. Every winter, Anna remembered, they built snowmen together. They'd made a sport out of it: 'how many snowmen can we make in the garden until dad comes home from work?' Their father would come home in the evening to a small army of snowmen awaiting him, standing guard at his gates, and he would laugh about it all night because Agdar Arens loved snow too.
The first snowman Anna made with Elsa was the most special. Well, technically Elsa made it, because Anna had been far too young to contribute anything but audio commentary while her sister worked, but Elsa had still said it was their snowman. Anna loved the snow creature her sister made, even though it was cold; she loved its button eyes and bent branch arms, loved it even if it had no nose. "What's its name?" She had asked, and Elsa thought for a second and came up with one.
"Olaf," Anna said. "The kitten's name. It's Olaf."
Elsa looked up and stared into the distance for a bit, remembering. It warmed Anna's heart to know Elsa hadn't forgotten; it proved that her sister hadn't erased her from her memories altogether. Perhaps she still cared, and maybe, she hadn't changed that much after all.
"I love it." Elsa nodded ever so slightly and turned her attention to Marshmallow again. "You hear that? He's Olaf. And he's family, so we're going to take care of him, okay? We're going to make sure he'll have the time of his life."
Anna smiled, clutching Olaf more tightly. She'd doubted her decision to stay with Elsa before, but now she allowed herself to think she'd made the right choice, if only for today.
~~
Mr. Frollo didn't normally dislike being chased by girls.
He'd been called a dirty old priest many times. Every time, he had to remind whoever made the comment that he wasn't actually a priest anymore. After his first scandal, he had given up on the profession, turning to a darker side of life which allowed him to do whatever his heart desired.
Most of the time, his heart desired young girls.
So maybe the girls didn't do much chasing themselves these days. He had to pay most of them to share his bed, but he had accepted that fate. He had grown older, past his prime, and he did not look like the Adonis he'd thought himself to be in his youth anymore. Gone were the days in which he could get any girl he wanted; all he needed to do now was count his coins and spend them.
Nevertheless, he did like to chase the girls he desired whenever he found himself in a bar, his senses dimmed by the taste of alcohol. Oh, how they hated it: often, his objects of affection chewed him out, disgusted by his advances, claiming he was nothing but an old pervert, and they'd laugh at him with their friends or take a cab straight home. No, being chased after by women didn't happen a lot these days.
There was a girl chasing him now, though.
With a gun.
Frollo panted and wheezed, wondering how long it would take for his old lungs to give up. His legs burned with every short step he took, his muscles aching. Sweat gleamed on his forehead, soaked through his clothes, and the girl was still hot on his tail.
"Would you stop fleeing already? I only want to talk!"
He'd endured almost ten minutes of this mockery now, ten very long minutes. Oh, the women would have gotten him by now if she'd put an effort in the chase. She kept up with him with the ease those well-trained youths still possessed, and from what he'd read about her, very few people knew how to handle a gun as well as she did. She could've caught him by now if she'd given it a little more, but no; she had to humiliate him like this, make him think he still had a chance at life. And now he'd been running for ten minutes, running through dark alleys with no destination, all to make his life last a little longer.
"You need to tell me something, priest!"
He would've corrected her if his lungs hadn't been close to bursting from his chest. All he could still do was wheeze, ignoring his pain, praying to the God he'd once worshipped for a merciful end.
A sharp pain shot through him as the woman tackled him to the ground, his face colliding with the hard pavement. He used his scraped hands to push himself up, with great difficulty, but the girl placed a foot on his back to keep him down. Frollo didn't struggle, out of energy and motivation; he'd seen the end before it began.
He tried not too think to much about the cold gun pressed against his temple.
"Okay, priest. We're going to have a little chat."
He turned his head slighty, in a slow way, so the woman wouldn't be alarmed. He stared at her, a silhouette illuminated by moonlight. Her grey jacket was torn and ripped, the hood pulled up to shroud her face in shadows, but Frollo could make out a wild mess of red curls and annoyed blue eyes staring right through him.
The redhaired woman pushed down on him harder. "Are you listening? You better be listening. I want you to answer my questions honestly. Reasonable, right?"
Frollo nodded, not bothering to hide his anxiety. If he could tell her what she wanted to hear, he would have a chance to go back home. He'd request a girl be brought to him, so he could lose himself and forget the night's events, and he would never think about the redhaired woman again.
"I'm looking for a friend who went missing a few weeks back. Do you know anything about that? She's got this long blonde hair, she's always way too cheerful, and she doesn't know how to shut up about her boyfriend. Seen anyone who fits that description?"
Frollo shook his head. "N-no," he stuttered, almost frozen in fear, cursing his own cowardice. It wasn't even a lie; there was a chance his boss knew something about this missing girl, but he had not been informed of any such thing. He had been given a different assignment, an assignment he'd then passed on to two of his subordinates. The worst decision he'd ever made; if he'd chosen two more competent people, the redhaired woman wouldn't be threatening his life now.
"I don't believe you." Her voice was low and dangerous as she put some more pressure on his back. Frollo bit back a scream, gritting his teeth. "Because I've been looking into her disappearance for a while now, and out of the blue, two guys try to abduct me. A shame, to be honest. Tore my jacket up real good, and it's my favourite jacket. They gave me your name before they died." She pressed the gun against his head harder. "So tell me, priest. There has to be a correlation in there somewhere."
"I don't know," Frollo almost cried out. "I'm a disgraced priest, nothing more, I swear! I didn't mean you any harm! I still don't! You're one of the keys to the Catalyst, of course we wouldn't hurt you!"
The woman frowned. "Keys are for doors, mate. If you're not gonna talk, I'll shut you up forever."
"Please!" Frollo begged. He'd have gotten on his knees if he hadn't been trapped, forced to lie on cold hard ground. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you what you want to know, but please, spare me! I never hurt you!"
He had sent his subordinates to abduct her, but she'd never been in real danger, damn it, why didn't she understand? If he'd done her any harm, his boss would have killed him. Though Frollo hadn't been given any details, the higher-ups had told him how important this woman was, how big a role she played in their masterplan. All he'd had to do was bring her in unharmed.
He'd failed, and now he wouldn't escape unharmed himself.
"Spare you?" The woman laughed. "I won't lose any sleep over killing you, believe me. I've done my research, I know who you are. So many scandals, so many accusations. Sex trafficking, prostitution, everything inbetween. World's better off when you're dead and gone. Mr. Frollo, hasn't anyone ever taught you to keep your hands off of children?"
Cold sweat seeped down his forehead, mixing with the blood from his wounds. "Please," he croaked one last time, "I beg you! Remember Company protocol, for the love of God and all that's holy! No killing if it can be avoided, right? Rehabilitation, that's what this country believes in…"
His voice trailed off as he studied the woman's bored expression. "Norwegians are too soft," she said slowly, "and this is no Company assignment, mate. I'm doing this all in my own free time. And in my own free time, I like to fix my problems the Scottish way."
Frollo gulped. "And what is the 'Scottish way'?"
The woman flashed him a smirk. "Oh," she said, as if it was nothing special, "a bullet through your brain."
The last thing he saw were those unnerving blue eyes staring at him with that bored expression, as if the redhaired woman cared more about her ruined jacket than Frollo's life.
And the world turned black.