A Journey of Two

Chapter 2

Anna stared at her sister. "Wait, what do you mean you lost your powers?" she asked.

"I don't know. I just – I just can't use my magic anymore."

"No, that can't be. You used your powers this morning, didn't you?" asked Anna, giving Elsa a confused look.

Now it was Elsa's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about? I couldn't have used my powers, because I realised that I'd lost them the moment I woke up."

Anna, still refusing to believe what she had just heard, persisted, saying, "Maybe you still have your powers, but you just don't realise it. I mean, who else could've made it flurry in my bedroom?"

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "It flurried in your bedroom?"

"Yeah," said Anna, "And not just that. There were patches of ice forming on the floor, too. I thought that you were in trouble or something, and that you were trying to signal me for help."

"But, my powers can't work so far away," said Elsa as she gave an unintentional glance at her hands, as though hoping to get the answers she was looking for out of them.

"That's what I thought too! But that was your magic I saw earlier. Trust me, I've seen it enough times to know what it looks like. You were probably just using it unconsciously."

"Anna," Elsa said slowly, in a tone that Anna knew only too well that it meant that Elsa didn't believe her. "I'm telling you, I definitely did not cause it to flurry in your bedroom. For some reason I just woke up powerless. It's no use trying to deny it."

Frustrated, Anna said, "No, there has to be a logical explanation for this. If you didn't use your powers, how did the ice and snow get into my room? Did someone else do it? Do you think there's someone out there who's just like you?"

"Anna –"

"I mean, ice doesn't just naturally form when it's not cold, right? I'm telling you Elsa, there's something that we're not seeing here."

"Anna, I think I know who was responsible."

"Who?"

"I think it was you."

Anna looked incredulous. "What? Don't be silly, Elsa. How could I have possibly –"

"Well," interrupted Elsa, "You're making what happened in your room happen again now. Look!"

As Elsa said that, Anna looked down. She was now standing on a patch of ice, similar to the one that was on her bedroom floor earlier that morning.

"Woah," said Anna, when she saw the patch of ice continue to spread further and further across the town pavement. "Are – are you sure you're not doing this?" she asked Elsa.

"No, Anna. I promise you that I'm not doing any of this. But you might want to stop whatever it is that you're doing now, Anna. The ice is already almost at Oaken's shop."

"Uh, okay. You've done this plenty of times now, how do I stop it?" Anna's tone was slightly worried now. Ice was now slowly crawling up the walls of "Oaken's Cloakens".

"Don't think about the ice below your feet. Try concentrating on something else," said Elsa.

Anna shut her eyes and tried to focus on something else.

'Elsa,' Anna thought, 'If she can control her powers, so can I. Sure, initially she had trouble, like when she froze the whole fjord, but in the end she still managed to thaw it all out...'

Anna opened her eyes. Ice was now crawling up the walls of the houses of some of the citizens of Arendelle. People were stepping out onto their doorsteps to see what all the commotion was about, and they gasped in shock when they saw what was happening. Panic quickly settled into the atmosphere.

"Anna, you're still not stopping," said Elsa. "What are you concentrating on?"

"I was thinking about you, and how you could control your powers," said Anna, "Then one thought lead to another, and..."

"And?"

"I remembered when you froze the whole fjord. I'm not going to freeze the whole fjord, am I?" asked Anna, who was now starting to panic. This only made things worse, as the ice spread even more rapidly. Some of the citizens had already started running in the opposite direction, screaming loudly for help. Panic was now turning into chaos.

Elsa looked around her. She had to do something, and fast.

"Anna, do you remember that time when you sacrificed your life to save me from Hans?"

"Uh, yeah. How could I forget?"

Elsa's eyes darted quickly to the side. The nearest house was now fully coated in ice, effectively trapping its inhabitants inside. Time was running out. If Anna didn't stop soon, the entire town would eventually be covered in ice.

"Did I ever tell you how grateful I was?" continued Elsa, "Grateful that you were willing to die to save my life?"

"Elsa, you don't have to do this again. You've already thanked me for this before. I know you would do the same for me as well," said Anna, who was still rooted on one spot, not daring to move in case she made the ice spread even faster.

"I know, I know. But I don't think that I told you how I really felt about what you did that day. You didn't just save me from Hans that day. You saved me from myself as well."

"What are you talking about?"

The ice was now slowing down. It was working.

"Anna, if you hadn't left Arendelle and come up to look for me on the North Mountain that day, I don't think that I would be standing here today. I probably would still be up there, afraid and all alone. You saved me from the fear that I was trapped in. And for that, I am truly grateful. I love you, Anna," said Elsa as she looked earnestly at Anna.

Anna's panicked look slowly faded away. She felt her heart swell up a few sizes. Anna had always known that Elsa was grateful that she had saved her life that day, Elsa had made sure of that, but didn't realise that what she did that day meant so much more to Elsa.

But before Anna could open her mouth to say anything, Elsa exclaimed, "Anna, look!"

Anna turned her head to look all around her, and she saw that the ice had stopped spreading. Instead, it was now gradually receding, creeping off the walls and roads. The town was being thawed out. All around, the citizens of Arendelle heaved sighs of relief.

Anna felt someone grab her hands. It was her elder sister. Immense feelings of comfort and safety filled her insides. She always felt better when she was around her sister. She pulled her elder sister in for a hug.

"Thank you, Elsa. I don't want to think about what would've happened if you hadn't stopped me."

Anna looked to her elder sister, who was giving her a weird, confused look. "Elsa? What are you looking at me like that for?"

"You have my powers," said Elsa.

"What? No, that can't be, I mean –" Anna stopped abruptly. Now that all the excitement of the past few minutes had died down, the realisation of what had just happened began to dawn upon Anna. Her eyes widened in shock. She started rattling off a bunch of sentences in one go.

"Oh no! I have your powers! On the same day that you lost yours! That means - that means that I was the one who caused the flurry this morning, not you! Did I somehow accidentally take your powers from you? How do I give them back? Oh, Elsa, I'm so sorry, what are we going to do?"

Anna's ramblings were met with a soft expression from Elsa. "It's alright, Anna," said the elder sister, "You don't have to apologise for anything. It's not your fault that any of this is happening." She gave Anna a reassuring smile, who returned it with a rather sheepish one.

"Right, so, what are we going to do about this?" asked Anna. "We can't let you stay powerless forever. We have to find a way to reverse whatever this is."

"We have to tell someone about this," replied Elsa, "And I think you and I both know who they are."

"The trolls?"

"Yup, we're going to see the trolls."