After 14 years, it was finally time. You've been thinking about this forever but it had always been a fantasy. A way to remain sane while your heart longed to see her smile. But now, by some gift of the gods or pure luck or fate, you had that chance. A chance to finally give your beloved sister everything she deserves for everything you have put her through.

And it's going to be perfect.

So you plan for weeks, barely sleeping, hardly eating. Such things are frivolous when you're making up for 14 years of silence and hurt. On the day of, you rise before dawn and unwind hundreds of feet of red string. There is a dryness in your throat and an uncomfortable tension in your nose but you decide it's just from nerves about something going wrong or one too many sleepless nights.

Kristoff of course, insisted on helping out. He caught you untangling the red string two weeks ago and offered his assistance. It would have been rude to turn him down. So you gave him little jobs here and there, things to keep him busy. But in the end, you were glad for his help and company. He always told you when to calm down, when enough was enough. And some of his ideas weren't bad.

So you trust him now with watching over the courtyard until you return. Everything has to be perfect for today and if Kristoff can manage to string up a 'Happy Birthday Anna' sign without breaking anything, then surely he can keep the cake from being decimated by unforeseen circumstances.

So you sniff deeply, trying to lessen the pressure in your nose and head inside to wake up your sister for her perfect day.

6th birthday: Dress

The two of you had always gotten new dresses on your birthdays. It was a tradition, one that you had ceased to follow this year, the year the door closed. Celebrations were kept separate and if Anna got a new dress, you never saw it.

You'd had this dress made special, with the final design only in your mind. As Anna excitedly slips into it, you sneezed, the sensation sending an odd tingle through your body, almost as if your powers were activated momentarily.

Anna sounds concerned about you but you shrugged it off. You'd never been sick, why should today be any different?

She loves the dress, her eyes widen in surprise as you alter it expertly with live sunflowers and ice trim.

"Just follow the string!" You tell her with a grin.

7th birthday: Bracelet

Anna follows your trail of red string curiously, eager and excited to see just what you have done for her. She finds her next gift in the helmet of a suit of armor.

Anna had asked your mother for your grandmother's old sapphire bracelet that year. The Queen had only smiled and told her it would be hers when she was older. It passed to you when you became Queen.

You have no need for it, you can easily make your own out of ice but more importantly, it means so much more to Anna then it ever will to you.

You slip it on her hand and smile as her face lights up. She recognizes it.

Nothing's going to get in your way.

8th birthday: Cuckoo clock

Your sister has never been one for being on time. This was the year she decided to rectify that by having her own cuckoo clock in her room.

Father had only patted her on the head and assured her that having a clock wouldn't necessarily make her more punctual. But you knew the real reason. Clocks were no longer being made in Arendelle, they instead had to be imported from Weselton after the copper shortages. You would know, you had just studied the copper trades in your lessons. On average, it took three weeks for a shipment of clocks from Weselton to make it to Arendelle. Too late for Anna's birthday.

Your father knew that the gift (ironically) would never arrive in time. He knew by next year, Anna would have some new ambition or desire and the clock would be forgotten.

But you knew better. Anna's ambitions didn't change. She just knew there was no point in asking again. After all, she'd been asking for two years for you to leave your room.

But now, you've fixed that. You've gotten her the gift your father couldn't.

Anna finds the clock inside the wardrobe in your father's old drawing room, tied with a little bow of string and sporting a tiny Olaf figurine. Her smile is radiant.

Perfect.

9th birthday: Flowers

The string leads out to the balcony and Anna hurries along after it, scooping up the bouquet of flowers balanced on the railing. She takes a deep inhale. Sunflowers, her favorites.

It must just be the sudden change in atmosphere from the dank inside of the castle to the bright sunny outside because you sneeze again, the unfamiliar action sending a stronger jolt through you.

You remember this year especially because Anna had demanded on this birthday that she be allowed to plant sunflowers in the castle gardens. You had watched her toil away in the sun, moving soil and tucking little seeds in the beds and hauling water to them. They had grown beautifully, tall and bright, bursting with seeds. They begged to be plucked and set in a bouquet. But then you'd killed them. One touch from you, one harmless pluck and the plants had withered under a sudden frost.

Anna had been puzzled when she discovered her dead flowers but you knew under it all, she was heartbroken.

That was when you'd started wearing the gloves everywhere.

10th birthday: Sandwich

From the balcony, you take the window-washers' platform down to the first floor.

Along the way, Anna finds the sandwich you had Gerda make this morning and hang in a basket outside the second floor window.

This was the year Anna asked you to share her birthday sandwich. And the year you almost joined her on her birthday.

You were both so lonely, so desperate for some shred of human contact with one another that you'd actually thought you could do it. But then the ice had crept over the doorknob and that was the end of that hopeful thought.

You're starting to feel a little light-headed, almost as if dehydrated or like you've just been spinning very fast. But no matter. There's still so much more to see.

11th birthday: Painting

You remember this year with particular sadness. The year Anna first started talking to Joan. The year she replaced you with new friends. Granted, they were paintings but they were someone else nonetheless. And even though you knew it was selfish to expect Anna to keep talking to you while you ignored her through a door, you couldn't help but be hurt as time went by and her visits grew fewer and further between, the gallery becoming her new place to talk.

The gallery is very nice. Perhaps a little too dimly lit but it's hardly ever used outside of Anna's visits. Anna seems to know where you're heading even before the string disappears under the door to the room. She rushes in eagerly, her gifts balanced haphazardly in her arms. She hasn't wanted to put a single one down.

The two of you run in together, following the string up by bouncing on the cushions of the ancient couch in the gallery. At the crest of your jump lies one of your favorite gifts for Anna.

The artist hadn't been very happy with the subject but you paid him handsomely enough so he stopped complaining and did as he was told. It's a portrait, but not just of the two of you. Sven, Kristoff and Olaf have all joined the royal portrait, making for an unorthodox but undeniably wonderful family scene. These are her new friends. Well, new and old. An official family portrait to remind her that she's not alone anymore.

Anna loves it and she makes another jump specifically to retrieve it and tuck it under her arm.

12th birthday: Scarf

A bike ride is in order. The old tandem bike has seen better days but the repairman you took it to last week assured you it was up to the task for today. You pedal along the hallways, effortlessly balancing your sister's weight behind you.

This was the year you made it snow on Anna's birthday. Anna had run around the castle like a tornado, searching for her scarf so she could play in the unexpectedly early snowfall. She'd never found it. You had, several weeks later hanging from the chandelier in the ballroom. How it ended up there, you have no idea. But you'd never returned it. Not until now.

The sneezing is getting worse and more frequent. But it's nothing, probably just dust or a delayed reaction to the pollen in Anna's sunflowers. You shrug it off, even as you suffer an unexpected attack while bumping down the stairs. As you get off the bike, you are struck by another dizzy spell. Well, it has been a long time since you've ridden a bike…

13th birthday: Fishing rod

The string leads you both outside, down towards the docks. One dock in particular. Anna has told you the story of how she met Hans and fell for his charm several times since the Thaw and each time, you feel a subtle, stabbing pain in your gut that you were never there to teach her to watch out for people like him.

That stabbing pain seems to have transferred to somewhere between your lungs and throat on the way down here. The stuffiness in your head has increased as well, almost to the point where you can hear your heartbeat in your ears. But you ignore that. This gift is especially important to today.

This birthday was the one where Anna decided she wanted to be a fisherman and tried to run away from home to enlist on a ship. The captain of the navy had to bring her home and you heard her crying softly all that night about her failed attempt to get away. She had fallen asleep outside your door that night, after yelling at you about why you couldn't come out for her birthday. All she had wanted was for the two of you to go fishing.

Her fishing rod from 6 years ago is long since fallen into disrepair. But the captain of the navy himself had procured this new rod for you. He'd always had a soft spot for Anna.

You sneeze violently as you hand it to her, the involuntary action sending a brief wave of pain through the inside of your skull. Everything goes foggy for a second and you feel Anna's hand on your wrist. She tugs you away from the docks, voicing her concerns about your health.

Well, aside from that stabbing headache that wont go away you feel fine…just… great…!

14th birthday: Snowglobe

Your nose is itching uncomfortably now and your heart seems to be beating faster than normal. You wipe your nose heavily on your sleeve. Is it suddenly warmer out here?

Anna has been guiding you since the docks, trying to steer you back home and speaking to you in a gentle voice.

"I think it's time that you go home and get some rest…"

You catch sight of the string along the road under your feet. You're downtown, very close to the next one. You shake your head violently at Anna's suggestion and pull her towards the cart the string is tied to.

This one is the best of your gifts. Possibly. Or maybe that's the next one.

Anna had always had a fascination with snowglobes. You had always wanted to think it was from her altered memories of your powers but that was just selfish. So you'd had this one made special, with a little ice magic of your own. It would always snow, even without been shaken. The tiny model of Arendelle within is perfectly to scale, even including tiny figures of the two of you in the gardens.

Another violent sneeze overcomes you as you pass Anna the snowglobe. Immediately, Anna suggests that you return home. Not after this birthday. This was the year Anna had broken her snowglobe, the one you'd given her nearly ten years earlier. Finally, you'd gotten your chance to replace it.

15th birthday: Cloak

Anna's 15th birthday had not been easy on either of you. She had gotten sick after an ill-advised horseback ride through the rain and spent the entirety of it curled up in bed with a fever. You'd actually left your room on this birthday. You'd walked all the way down the hall and around the corner to Anna's room, a spare blanket curled in your hands. You'd waited outside her door, listening to her mumble deliriously and toss and turn in her fevered dreams. By that point the blanket had become iced and useless in your hands. You'd failed to take care of your sister when she needed you.

The thick cloak you drape across Anna's shoulders now is a delightful assemblage of orange and blue. Crafted of the finest wool in Arendelle, it will always keep her warm. But rather than enjoying her gift, Anna seems more concerned with you. She's still trying to persuade you to go home, as if you're not up to finishing this day.

Sure you're tired but that's natural. You've been planning this for forever and it's finally catching up to you is all. The headache and general stuffiness must just be from that is all.

The doorknob to Oaken's sauna plays a little game of catch-me-if-you-can with you but finally you manage to grip it and open the door. The steam is heavenly, providing a moment of relief from your now constantly clogged nostrils. It even eases your headache a bit.

Oaken himself pops out from the interior, offering you cold medicine you definitely don't need. You don't get sick. You aren't sick.

You notice Anna take it from him before she hurries after you.

16th birthday: Choir

This one was most important. You couldn't mess this one up. This was Anna's first birthday after your parents died. The first one she had to spend alone. But rather than dwell on that, this gift was going to focus on the celebration of being together again. Of the gates being open and the people happy.

In addition to the headache, your head is starting to swim and your nose keeps clogging up but you're fine, more than fine. You have made quite a lot of young friends among Arendelle's children with your gifts of ice rinks and snow. You quickly found that they all love and adore Anna. It hadn't taken a lot of convincing for the local children's choir to put on a little performance for the princess.

You have to blow your nose rather violently during their song, but they sound fantastic.

17th birthday: Fireworks

Everything is starting to feel hazy but you cant stop now. Anna had wanted fireworks on her birthday this year but with the kingdom planning a coronation soon, the expense could not be afforded. Another birthday ruined because of you.

But ever since the Ice Trades opened (with more than a little help from you), the kingdom has prospered beyond belief and this expense has become a necessary one. So rather than a fireworks display, you had a custom-made sparklers hat crafted for today. It is a little big for her (they had measured it on you after all) but once it's lit, it looks fantastic.

Anna has been trying to convince you to take Oaken's cold medicine ever since you stumbled over a hole in the road. It must have been a hole, why else would your feet suddenly have been so uncoordinated?

But you brush her worry away. This day is about her, not you! Now where is that string…?

18th birthday: Clock tower figurines

The going is much slower now, with Anna weighed down by all her gifts. You guide her down the main street of town to the clock tower as the sun starts to set. Perfect. Right on time.

The headache has faded to a constant dull throb and small chills keep racing through you. Are you using your powers? You cant even tell anymore. Nothing looks frozen…

Anna is still telling you that you need to rest. No chance! You just need to climb this very tall, very wind-y clock tower…follow that string…

This birthday should have been a chance at a new future, the chance you should have given her last year, before everything happened. Before you froze her heart. Before you ran away. Before she tried to marry Hans. Before you were crowned Queen.

So many regrets. But not today. Today was a perfect day. It has to be.

You reach the top and burst out into the air. You dance past the new figurines on the clock tower. They are you and Anna, smiling and happy on top of the world. Just like you two will always be…

You want to dance, you want to spin. Everything is so wonderful at last. Today has been great! You've started to make up for the past…you'll never stop trying to make it all up to your sister…she deserves perfection…you're still spinning…

Suddenly the world is gone, there is nothing but air and the sensation of gravity starting to tug harder at you…are you… falling?

It's okay. Anna is here to catch you.

She pulls you back over the edge and cradles you in her arms, safe and secure. She feels your forehead, her hands actually feeling cool against your skin. How had you not noticed how warm you'd gotten?

The exhaustion hits you then as your heart begins to slow. Every muscle in your body aches, your head is swimming and you're not even sure where you are. Underwater? Curled up in bed? No, you're still on the clock tower, failing at making today a perfect day. Once again letting your sister down.

"Come on, admit it to yourself…" Anna tells you gently, pulling your head to rest against her shoulder. You fall heavily against her, unable to even support your own weight.

You feel so pathetic.

"Okay…I have a cold."

19th birthday: Cake

You didn't think it was possible but you have once again ruined Anna's birthday. Despite all of your planning, and work, and nights without sleep, you still found a way to mess it up. Old habits never die, you suppose.

Anna consoles you as she practically carries you back down the tower, her gifts abandoned with a few kind townspeople. She guides you quietly back through the town, keeping you out of sight of everyone so you can maintain some kind of dignity.

You try to apologize but Anna wont hear it. She gently takes you by the shoulders and looks you in the eye, assuring you everything is fine. She just wants to get you home and to bed so you can sleep off the shame of your failure.

Anna opens the door to the palace courtyard just as you remember the final gift. The surprise.

The gates open slowly, giving you enough time to unfold yourself and look up.

This has to be some kind of fever-induced hallucination.

Because the courtyard is a mess, Kristoff is juggling your beautiful cake precariously and there are tiny snowmen everywhere.

Literally an entire mound of them. It must be at least fourteen feet high.

Everyone freezes as they spot you and Anna. Hastily rearranging, the scene explodes into festivities. "SURPRISE!" Everyone screams.

"Wow!" Anna shouts, amazed and thrilled.

"Wow." You echo, somewhat more subdued.

The next few minutes are all a blur: Anna is whisked away from you by Olaf, the village children and some of those tiny snowmen.

Left alone, you shiver then sneeze violently. Upon opening your eyes, you discover that roughly five new snowmen have winked into existence before you and are now running off to join the celebration.

You stare at one as it smiles cheerily up at you. Have you been sneezing those things out all day? How have you not noticed something like that?

Kristoff presents the cake to Anna, boldly declaring his love for her. The cake is whisked away from him and sliced by Sven, pieces falling onto the tables for the little snowmen to devour…everyone is happy, Anna is smiling and surrounded by people who love her…

You smile. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

"…a perfect day!" You exclaim. Did you forget the first part of that sentence? Immediately, all of your sister's attention returns to you. She starts to pull you towards the castle again, talking about bed and resting.

But there's only one thing left. The birthday bugle horn, a time-honored Arendelle tradition…

You struggle over to it, taking a deep breath...and you sneeze violently into the horn. An enormous snowball erupts from the end. It flies off into the distance in a long, wide arc.

Maybe you should just go to bed before you hurt anyone…

Today: the perfect gift

Sometime later, Anna has bundled you away in bed, wrapping you up in her new cloak and spoon-feeding you hot broth like mother used to when she was sick.

"Best birthday present ever." She says.

You're confused. "Which one?" you ask, leaning forward.

Anna smiles and pulls the warm cloak more securely around you. "You letting me take care of you."

wolfchic011

04/27/15