This story was written as an Elsanna Secret Santa 2019 gift for Overlord Penguin.

Rubble of Babel

chapter 1

Anna knocked on the cold, hard wooden door.

She could hear the footsteps from inside, accompanied by a few swears and what sounded like a possibly fatal crash, before the door swung open, revealing the concerned face of her cousin.

"Anna!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw her, pulling her in for a bear hug that almost cracked her back and knocked the air out of her lungs. "Damn, I thought you weren't going to make it!" He released her, cupping her face in both of his giant hands to get a good look at her in the dim light. "We couldn't reach you for an hour."

He released her, and Anna dropped down from the tiptoes she didn't know she was standing on, rubbing the stretched skin of her neck. "Yeah, my service died as soon as I entered your county." She coughed. "Middle of nowhere, huh?"

"Middle of freaking nowhere."

He moved out from the doorway to let her pass, a wave of warm, gourmet-scented air brushing past him as he helped Anna get her coat off.

"But you had no problems aside from that, right?"

"No, the road was smooth, maybe a little snowed in at some points, but still passable."

He helped her unwrap from the giant scarf she'd gotten from his mom a few years ago.

"Glad to see you, cous."

"Glad to see you too, Kris."

He led her inside the house, through the literal warzone of his younger siblings and cousins playing cowboys–not a very Christmas thing to do, but hey, Anna was not going to stop them, especially if no one else cared–and the slightly older kids moping around on their phones, straight to the kitchen where aunt Bulda was working her magic with a wide array of pots and pans.

Soon as she saw Anna enter, though, Bulda dropped from the stool she'd been standing on and practically ran over to her. "Anna! Dearie, we are so happy to have you here!"

Anna patted her back, feeling her midriff crushed once again in the strong bear hug that was apparently a staple in Kristoff's part of the family. "I wouldn't miss it!" she breathed out, looking to Kristoff for help, but he only shrugged as he watched his mother pulverize her further.

She finally released Anna after what seemed like hours, and looked at her closely. "You've grown so tall and pretty," she said, a tinge of pride in her eyes shutting down Anna's you mean I was ugly before? question before it could leave her mouth. "And so smart, too! Your parents would be so proud."

And there it was. Those few words that Anna really hoped not to hear, and that were sure to bring tears to her eyes if she didn't change the topic quickly.

"Thank you, auntie," she said simply in a small voice, taking a cautious step back. "I hope they would."

Her voice cracked at the end, but all in all, she didn't break down.

She felt Kristoff's reassuring, giant hand on her back.

"Mom, Anna's surely tired after her trip," he said quickly, cutting in before Bulda could continue the uncomfortable subject. "Why don't I get her to the table while you're working your cooking magic?"

Bulda smiled, then came over to take Kristoff's free hand in both of hers. Anna briefly reflected how tiny she was next to him, and tried not to wonder what genetic mishap led to the creation of the literal boulder that her cousin was. "You're a charmer, you know that? Now, get out of here." She shooed them out out of the kitchen with a wave of the cloth she had tucked at the waistband of her skirt. "And sit Anna close to the fireplace. She's red in the face from the cold!"

Kristoff rolled his eyes, but at the same time he nodded and sighed yes mom, before putting his paw around Anna's shoulder to steer her into the living/dining, where most–Anna hoped it was most of them, actually counting them would be as easy as counting flies swarming a jar of jam–of the kids were doing god knows what, screaming and jumping all over the place.

"Family, am I right?" he murmured, gently elbowing her in the ribs as she stared at the scene with shoulders slumped in defeat. "You know, whenever I start missing home too much and think it would be nice to move back in with everyone, I just remember about these rascals."

Two of Bulda's youngest ran past them, screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Keeps me like a spell for half a year. Come on, you're sitting at the Big Kids Table."

Anna followed him to the sacred land she'd never been allowed when they used to all come here, years ago, when her parents were still around, and–

No. She was not gonna think about it. This was supposed to be a nice evening.

"Ooh, so I'm a big kid now?"

He looked down at her with a smirk. "To me you'll always be a poopy pants toddler, but mom insisted."

She threw herself down on the chair he pulled out for her and stuck a tongue out at him.

"Case in point."

Suddenly, a hellish shrieking–so it wasn't all of the little demons here yet–erupted from upstairs, and Kristoff's eyes widened.

"Hold on, I need to take care of that."

Without waiting for her answer–not that Anna had any, really, too overwhelmed with everything to even think of forming coherent thoughts–he turned around and dashed out of the room, then up the stairs until he was gone upstairs and she could only hear his muffled screams of what in fresh hell are you doing to her.

She took a deep breath. Even if he usually claimed they're just a bunch of annoying boogers, Kristoff loved his siblings. All of them. All of his cousins too, and his cousins' cousins, and some of his cousins' children…

Kristoff's side of the family was massive.

Sometimes it struck her how different aunt Bulda really was from her sisters. Gerda, the eldest, never even married nor had children, though she did live with one man and a bunch of dogs for much longer than Anna's been alive. And then her mother only had her and–

A doorbell ringing pulled her out of that thought, and she sighed in relief. No time for that, no time at all. Think happy thoughts, you idiot.

The doorbell rang again and Anna blinked, looking around for anyone to like… care? At least acknowledge the sound? But the younger kids were currently busy hog-tying one of the boys or playing dolls dangerously close to the open fireplace, and the teens were mostly still looking at their phones.

Another ring.

Meanwhile, the adult-adults were gathered in Pabbie's office, helping Bulda in the kitchen or taking care of the youngest children and toddlers, and none of them seemed to notice anything either.

A knock.

Anna sighed. Bulda did tell her once this was her house as well, and apparently Kristoff, currently still busy upstairs, was on door watching duty so nobody else cared about it.

Typical Bjorgmann family gathering.

She got up and slalomed across the room, making sure to avoid all kids and toys alike. A second knocking hurried her up when she finally managed to get through to the corridor, and she quickly skipped across the cold, tiled floor, cursing at herself for not wearing any shoes when she almost slipped and fell in her haste.

She reached the door and pulled on it hard, the hinges whining from the strain and frost outside. "Hey, sorry it uhhhhhhh–"

She froze.

Not from the cold, though the sensation was oddly similar.

Her mouth was still open and she was still making an only vaguely human sound. She made an effort to can it, but it only turned to an almost silent gargle.

She should probably be at least a little self-conscious about that, but the visitor looked equally shocked, equally frozen with her hand still up where she was knocking on the door, and equally unable to speak.

Bulda crashing something in the kitchen seemed to break the spell.

"A-Anna?"

"What are you doing here?"

Elsa looked down to the ground, and Anna almost felt guilty. She didn't mean to lace her words with acid quite like this, but hey, sometimes your emotions take control. And hers were a storm now.

"I–"

"You know what, don't answer. I'm not dumb."

Elsa's cheeks went red, a drastic change from her being white as a ghost just a second ago. "Alright." She looked inside, past Anna, then briefly at Anna, then turned to look back to where Anna could only guess her car was parked. She sighed, then placed the giant plastic bag she'd been holding next to an identical one on the ground. "I guess I'm gon–"

"Don't even think about it," Anna almost growled. She looked down at the bags, full of wrapped gifts of various sizes, before seizing both in one hand and grabbing Elsa's wrist with the other to harshly pull her in. "I'm pretty sure Kristoff invited you, not the presents, so you're going to get inside and spend the evening here with everyone, capiche?"

She slammed the door shut with her foot and looked back at Elsa, who seemed to go into an even deeper state of shock. Anna realized what she was doing and let go of her, both of their hands falling limply to their respective sides.

It felt weird, touching her. Looking at her. Talking to– or, maybe more precisely, at her.

It's been years.

"Are you gonna just stand here in your coat or what?"

Elsa made an oh, right! face and quickly began unwrapping herself from a mile-long, signature Bulda-knitted scarf, not much unlike Anna's. Anna watched her, noting how her fingers trembled as she fumbled with a knot, how she bit down on her lower lip with eyes still cast to the floor, how when she finally shed off her thick coat she could literally see her heart hammer through her beige blouse as it shook her entire chest.

She was shorter than Anna remembered her. Skinnier. Paler. Just… smaller.

With an angry sigh, she snatched the coat from Elsa's hands. "Go say hello to aunt Bulda."

Elsa just nodded curtly, still not looking at her as she stepped out of her winter boots and dashed for the kitchen.

Of course Kristoff sat them right next to each other.

"Are you okay?" he asked Anna quietly halfway through the (delicious, Bulda really outdid herself) dinner, looking at her with concerned eyes.

He couldn't have known, obviously.

"Suwe," she lied around a mouthful of roasted turkey. She was not okay, but damn, was she going to at least enjoy the food. "I'm gweat!"

Kristoff raised his brows, then softly tilted his head in Elsa's direction.

Anna swallowed, sighed, and, though she really didn't want to, turned just a bit to look at Elsa at her side.

Her plate was almost unused, safe for a small pile of salad that she'd barely even touched, and she was looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

With another, deep, frustrated and maybe just a bit exaggerated sigh, Anna turned to her fully.

"Elsa." She poked her in the ribs, and Elsa jumped in her seat before looking at her with genuine fear in her doe-like eyes. Anna swallowed uncomfortably, but didn't let that deter her. "Eat."

She glanced to the side to make sure nobody was looking at them. They had been staring intensely not long before, what with the entire oh Elsa, we haven't seen you in what? Five, six years now? deal, but it did calm down considerably now that everyone was busy talking with each other. She shot a look back at Kristoff as well, but he was getting up, pointing at the kitchen and mouthing something, as if she was supposed to make any sense of what he was trying to say.

She turned back to the trainwreck at her right. "Listen," she whispered, getting closer to her and instantly feeling Elsa tense up even more. "Please, try to act normal. You're freaking Kristoff out."

She gave a delayed nod before reaching out for her fork robotically and scooping up some of the salad.

Anna rolled her eyes. "And eat something else too. The turkey's delicious."

There she went again. Always worrying about Elsa. She sat back in the chair, frustrated, watching as her sister ate in silence, waiting for Kristoff to get back so she'd at least have someone to talk to.

Their knees were practically touching under the table.

Kristoff couldn't have known.

She'd kept him in the dark for so long. Always telling him they were good, that Elsa was fine, that they saw each other recently, whenever he asked. That Elsa came to visit and stayed for a few days. That she was planning on coming back for good, soon.

All the while she only had a very vague idea where Elsa actually was from her rarely used social media. Last she was aware of, she'd gotten some nice job somewhere in France about a year ago, and that was it. That was all Anna had to work with.

She'd really gotten used to lying to people.

Kristoff got back a few excruciating minutes later, and sat across the table from Elsa, where one of his cousins, whom Anna barely even recognized, vacated a seat to go to hang out with the teens near the fireplace.

"So, how have you been?" he asked, looking square at Elsa, arms crossed on his chest. "Haven't had time to talk to you properly, yet."

Elsa swallowed the food in her mouth. "Good. Working, mostly." She said quietly, and Anna was sure Kristoff couldn't even hear her on the other side. "I'm transferring to an office in New York soon."

Anna almost dropped her fork.

"Oh right, Anna did say you were going to come back to the States soon!"

Elsa shot her a short confused look, but she didn't say anything that would expose Anna's lie. Or her lucky guess, depending on how you looked at it.

"Well, yeah, had enough of Lyon anyway." She laughed nervously. "And it's going to be amazing to just speak English only for a while."

Anna shifted uncomfortably. This felt more like an official interrogation than a conversation, even if Kristoff was totally non-imposing.

Spoken too soon. "Okay, I'll be blunt. I can see something's off with you two," Kristoff said, his eyes dashing between the two of them. "I don't know what it is, and I don't need you to tell me," he added quickly, putting his arms up as if they were already throwing explanations at him. "But you really gotta figure something out before the end of the night."

Anna felt a chill run down her spine.

"Why before then?" she chanced a question, though she already had an idea what the answer could be. There was still hope, though. Elsa was certainly busy with her precious work. She surely wouldn't have agreed to stay–

"Cause you're both sleeping in my old room."