"Elsa?"

Four-year-old Anna looked up from the picture book in her lap to her older sister sitting next to her on the bed. The candle on the side table was low; soon it would be time for bed for the two royal sisters.

"Yes?" the elder princess looked down at her little sister.

Elsa watched for a moment as Anna's brow furrowed and she shifted her gaze back to the book in her hands. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times while she appeared to think hard about her next question. Elsa silently giggled, wondering what could possibly cause her younger sibling to think so hard on a single thing when she usually flitted from topic to topic.

"You'll always protect me from monsters, right?" Anna looked at Elsa again with searching eyes, hoping that her sister would affirm that she would.

"Oh, Anna." The seven-year-old pulled her sister into a side hug. "I will always be there to protect you from monsters. If one tries to scare you, I'll freeze them." She wiggled her fingers and let a small flake float over to Anna's nose where it promptly melted against her sister's warm skin. Anna sat cross-eyed for a moment before launching herself onto her sister, causing Elsa to fall back against her comfy goose down pillows laughing.

As soon as their shared giggles died down, Anna grew serious. "Do you promise?"

Elsa took a deep breath, sat up, and picked up something from the far end of her bed. Anna followed suit and sat up, peeking over Elsa to see what was in her hands.

"Absolutely. Plus, you have my doll." She handed the blonde-haired doll to her younger sister. "She'll protect you too." Anna held the doll up so that she could take a good look at it. She believed – as four-year-olds tend to do – that what her older sister said was completely and unquestionably true. She gave the doll a hug and her sister a kiss on the cheek.

She clutched the doll to her chest and jumped off the bed. She quickly shuffled across the cold floor to her own bed and pulled her own red-haired doll from its spot on a pillow. She ran back to her sister's bed, jumped up with a huff, and set the doll in her sister's lap.

"And my doll will always protect you from scary monsters."

Eight-year-old Elsa pulled the thick blanket over her head as silent tears streamed down her face. Outside of her rapidly freezing room, her younger sister was screaming.

"I – hiccup – I want Elsa," the red-head wailed to her parents who were just awoken by a guard who had been patrolling the royal residence when a crying blur ran past him towards the large white door with blue snowflakes painted on it.

"Sweetheart, Elsa is asleep," their father tried, knowing that this would not end the tantrum brought on by a 5-year-old's nightmare. He looked up from his kneeling position to his wife before briefly turning his gaze to the closed door.

Inside, Elsa grasped her blanket tighter in order to drown out the desperate cries, but nothing could keep her from hearing her sister's next words.

"But she promised!" Anna, now reduced to a blubbering mess, wiped the tears from her flushed cheeks.

"What did she promise, dear one?" Her mother bent down next to her husband, and carefully pulled Anna into a hug, which the little princess returned with a death grip.

"She promised to keep the monsters away. She even gave me her doll to protect me." At this admission, her parents noticed the doll on the ground near the princess's feet.

Briefly turning his gaze to his wife with look of shared sympathy, the King picked up the doll and handed it back to Anna, who immediately let go of her mother and clutched the doll close to her heart.

"Your sister told you that her doll would keep the monsters away?" the King clarified.

Anna simply nodded and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, which her parents overlooked just this once. It would not do to admonish their younger daughter during such a state of distress. Both feared it would cause the redhead to put her lungs to good use again and wake up the household staff (if they weren't awake already).

"She promised." A single tear escaped her eye and made its way down her cheek.

"Darling," her mother took her chin in her hand and raised it so that their eyes met. "I know these past two weeks have been hard with Elsa moving to her own room and everything." Anna whimpered. "And I know that you miss having her close by." A small murmur of agreement. "But Elsa is growing up. She is going to be queen some day. She needs to begin her lessons so that she'll be the best queen ever. Do you understand?"

Another sniffle and then a small nod. Her mother let her chin go and planted a light kiss on her forehead. Anna just looked down at the floor.

"Your sister loves you more than anything," the Queen continued. "I bet that's why she entrusted her doll with you. Did you give her your doll?"

Anna looked back at her mother with a sad smile. "Yes."

"Well," her father began as her took his daughter up into his arms and turned with his wife back towards Anna's room. "I think that your sister has tasked you with a most important job." Despite the sudden drowsiness brought on by her father's gentle steps, Anna's interest piqued, and she desperately tried to stay awake to hear what this job might be. The fact that her sister gave it to her without her realizing it made Anna want to know what it was even more.

Hearing his daughter's silent question, the King continued. "By giving you her doll, Elsa trusted you with her most prized possession. You have to protect her doll, just as you would protect your sister. One day, Elsa will be queen of Arendelle. Do you know what that will make you?"

"I'm already a princess, Papa."

"Yes, you are, angel," the king smiled down at his daughter. "But you will also be her right-hand. She will look to you for advice in ruling our kingdom. You will back her up and protect her when her council disagrees with her."

"Are they monsters?"

The King chuckled. "Sometimes I wonder if they are monsters, Anna."

The Queen opened the bedroom door that Anna had left ajar when she ran out earlier. "It's true, Anna. Sometimes those stuffy old men argue with your father, and I must protect him."

Her father placed her in bed, and pulled up the covers. Anna looked down at the doll still clutched to her heart. Just as he placed a kiss to her forehead, she said, "I can do it, Papa and Mama." She hugged the doll for extra measure. "I can protect Elsa when she's queen."

"We know you will, princess." Her mother kissed her again, and they bade her goodnight.

Just as she fell back asleep, Anna looked into her doll's eyes. "I will protect you, Elsa. You protected me from monsters, but I'm not scared anymore. I will protect you from now on. I promise."

Back down the hall, Elsa hugged her doll close. She peeled the covers back to survey the damage she knew she wrought on her poor room. Ice spiked from the ceiling, glistening in the moonlight from the large window. Frost covered the entirety of the floor, and a pile of snow gathered at the foot of her bed. She looked at the doll and realized, "I'm the monster, Anna. I have to protect you from me."

She fell asleep with tears frozen to her cheeks and snowflakes suspended in midair.

"Majesty, with all due respect, the council believes we deserve answers," Lord Erickson began as delicately as possible. No need for the Queen to set off another winter so soon after she thawed the last one.

Queen Elsa sat stiffly at the head of the long table, Anna standing to her left as still as was possible for the 18-year-old. She narrowed her eyes at the lord who had undoubtedly lost a bet with his colleagues and now had to deliver the news that the council questioned the queen's competency at leading their great country.

"Answers, Lord Erickson?" the queen asked coolly.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Erickson exhaled audibly before glancing around the table and continuing. " It's just that… well. How do we know that you won't- I mean, how do we know it won't happen again?" He slumped back in his chair, eyes darting to the table, as if not wanting to be the subject of the queen's wrath.

Anna gasped and stepped forward, reaching for her sister's hand, which grasped the one of the arms of the great throne so tightly that her pale knuckles were even whiter.

"It won't." Elsa looked up at her sister's words. Anna looked down at her, at her hand covering Elsa's. Elsa searched Anna's eyes trying to find the truth in those words.

Realizing that Anna's hand now held hers, she pulled it away and rested it in her lap where it joined her other hand. She began wringing them underneath the table, thankful that the room temperature seemed stable at the accusation that she would willingly plunge her kingdom back into another winter.

Intuitive as ever, Anna noticed Elsa's shaking hands, and decided to take matters into her own. Clenching them at her side, she looked at each of the lords with a hard stare as she confidently said, "My sister will not cause another eternal winter. It was an accident. Surely you all remember what happened that night last week. I pushed her." She looked down at Elsa. "I didn't know. If I could take back my provocation, I would. But I'm glad I know her secret now. I'm glad she no longer has to hide. I have my sister back." She smiled warmly; Elsa still looked nervous. Anna looked back at the council.

"My sister will not cause another winter. I promise."

"Anna-"

"No, Elsa. I'm right about this. 'Love will thaw,' remember?"

"Your Highness, perhaps if we had some kind of assurance that the Queen will not-" Lord Hansen spoke up.

"You want it in writing?!"

"Anna-"

"We simply need to take precaution, Your Highness. The treasury needs to be prepared should it happen again."

"It won't."

"But if it does, the people need-"

"The people know Elsa is capable of ruling without another incident."

"But-"

"No!"

"Quiet!"

Every head in the room turned to the largest man at the opposite end of the table that had just spoken up. Lord Olsen had been on the council since Elsa and Anna's grandfather had been on the throne. The man was traditional and did not put up with any nonsense. "Be careful with Olsen, Elsa," her father had said once. "My father told me that his gaze was enough to make anyone avoid a conversation with him, and I know from experience that it's true."

Elsa tried to maintain her gaze as Olsen stood and leaned his beefy hands onto the table.

"Gentlemen," be began. "Ladies," he looked at the queen and princess with thinly veiled contempt. "Perhaps the question we should be asking is how do we stop the queen if she causes another winter?"

Anna couldn't contain herself. The promise she made to her doll came back to her.

"You will not chain my sister up! She is no monster!"

"But what if she is?" Olsen did not back down.

It was Elsa's turn to gasp, the implication of Olsen's words hitting her and everyone else.

The temperature at last dropped several degrees, and Olsen smirked. "Cold isn't it? And I thought it was July."

A jerky, uncoordinated move later, the queen was out of her throne and running from the room.

She barely heard Olsen say, "Always running from her problems, isn't she?" Nor did she hear her sister calling for her.

Three hours later, Anna found Elsa in the most unlikely of places.

"Elsa, finally!" She breathed a sigh of relief. "What on Earth are you doing down here?" She looked at her surroundings. The castle dungeons were cold and damp, a far cry from the warm of the royal quarters and with an odor that made the stables smell sweet. Her sister was facing the far wall. Anna assumed she was looking out of the small barred window.

"He's right, Anna." Elsa's voice was barely a whisper.

"Olsen is an idiot. After you left, everyone agreed that it's time for him to retire. He objected of course, until I told him we'd compensate him."

"Anna!" Elsa spun to face her younger sister.

"What? I'd rather pay him to never step foot in our home again than have to breathe the same air as that pompous ass." She smiled slightly, trying to gauge her sister's current emotional state.

"He's right though. I am a monster." Elsa turned back to the wall, her head down – a far cry from the queen Anna knew she was.

At this point, Anna noticed thick chains bolted to the floor in front of her sister. At the ends of the chains were two iron gloves.

"Elsa, when did? How? Why?" She placed herself between the wall and her sister, stepping over the chains and grabbing her sister by the shoulders.

Her voice was barely a whisper when she spoke again.

"Why would you have these…" she was at a loss for words. "These shackles rebuilt?"

Elsa looked up at her sister, her eyes glazed over. "The shackles will be able to contain me should I cause another winter."

"But you told me you got out of them last time."

"These are stronger."

"But. No." Anna was frustrated now. "No. Elsa, you will not need them. Nothing is going to happen again. Your powers are beautiful."

"I'm dangerous, Anna."

Anna knew that what she did next was a bit dramatic, but she didn't know how else to get her sister to listen and believe her. Plus, she figured she was a redhead; it was in her nature.

CRACK!

Elsa recoiled from the slap, bringing her hand up to her face and looking at Anna with wide eyes. The already cold dungeon felt just a bit chillier, Anna thought offhandedly.

"Don't you ever, ever, ever say that again!" Anna yelled at her sister, hot tears falling down her face despite the cold air around them. Her wild eyes matched her sister's but with more confidence in what she was about to say.

"If you ever say that you're dangerous or that you're a monster again, I will slap you harder than that. Queen or not, I'll do it."

Elsa just looked at her and rubbed her cheek.

"I know that we have a long way to go before everything is totally fine, but I need you to believe that everything will be totally fine."

Her sister remained silent, which Anna took as a good sign. It meant that Elsa was listening.

Looking around, the redhead asked, "Can we please talk somewhere else? I really don't want to be down here. I'll get Gerda to make us some hot chocolate…" A peace treaty. Anna edged closer to her sister.

Finally, Elsa opened her mouth. "It's summer, Anna. You can't drink hot chocolate during summer."

"Please, if I had a carrot every time Mama, Papa, Kai or Gerda told me that, Sven would like me better than Kristoff."

"I think Sven does like you better."

"It's because I have a bubbly personality." Anna slipped her arm through her sister's, pretending to ignore the flinch. "Everyone loves me."

Elsa nervously laughed at that. "Ok. Hot chocolate it is."

"Besides, they can't say no to you, Elsa. You're the queeeeeeeen. They gotta make us anything we want if you tell them to." At that, Elsa laughed. She would never tire of her younger sister's steadfast belief in her.

They left the room, and Anna almost commented on the fact that it was Elsa that closed the door.

That night, Anna couldn't sleep. After they had left the dungeons together, the sisters enjoyed hot chocolate in the library. They talked about everything. Thirteen years of separation melted away as they rediscovered their friendship.

It was when Elsa had finally yawned, which caused Anna to yawn, that they decided to retire for the night.

Anna had walked Elsa to her room, where the queen turned to face her fully. "Thank you, Anna. I- well, I- I think today was the first step in healing and coming to terms with everything."

"Elsa, you're my sister. I love you more than anything and will protect you always." Elsa had kissed the top of her head and turned to the door. As she opened it, she looked back at Anna as if lost in memory. Anna grinned at her.

"Good night, Elsa."

"Good night, Anna. I love you too."

Now Anna was lying in bed staring at its grand canopy. She remembered the promise she made all those years ago to her Elsa doll. She smiled as she hopped out of bed and went over to a chest at it's end. She carefully lifted the lid, and pulled out the doll. She hugged it tight as she closed the chest. Walking to her door, she grabbed the handle and flung the door open.

She jumped when she saw that Elsa was on the other side, wide-eyed and with one hand up, poised to knock at the door a second before Anna opened it. She was pleased to see that in her sister's other hand, held close to her heart, was the Anna doll.

"I figured we could protect each other tonight," Elsa said shyly, looking at the ground.

Anna's grin could not have been wider. "Come on in."

The next morning, Gerda found the queen and princess sleeping, leaning up against each other on the window seat with their dolls between them.