Chapter 3: Hide and seek.

Seven years – Four years.

As years passed, the sisters' bond became even stronger, partially because they spent most of the time together, but mostly because they barely had any interaction with other human being… not a pleasant one, at least. The only ones the girls sometimes talked to were the monarchs, but they were always busy and, in the rare occasions they put aside their duties to pay attention to their daughters, it was only to scold them about something… mainly Elsa because she was the older and, therefore, the responsible one.

Elsa, however, had gotten used to be scolded, and often just laughed it off, mocking her parents when she was alone with Anna. She also usually mocked her nanny and tutors, mainly the etiquette ones since she despised all the rules and manner a princess was supposed to possess (some even said) naturally. Of course she was quite the disappointment, preferring to wear blue and manly clothes instead of the fine dresses with gaudy colors her mother bought for her, and wanting to play with the servant-kids in the mud instead of with the noble girls that often went to the castle. But she just didn't care; as long as Anna was with her to reassure her self-steam, everything would be fine.

Anna was always very sweet with her older sister and never hesitated to follow her on crazy adventures and mischiefs. She missed Elsa so much when she was busy with lessons, being that the redhead was too young to take them yet and got easily bored by her own. Soon, her parents found a solution letting the daughter of one of the servants play with her, but even if Anna did appreciate the company, it wasn't the same as being with her sister.

That day, Elsa was tired from all her lessons and all she wanted to do was to lay down and not wake up till dinner, however, as she was walking down the hallway to her room, she saw a familiar little redhead sliding through the carpet towards her, as she had taught her to do.

"Elsaaaaaaa!" She shouted as she approached happily. Elsa smiled at the sight as she opened her arms to receive her. The younger sister, however, tripped before she could slow down and ended up tackling the older on the ground, something neither of them minded and made them laugh cheerfully, the kind of laugh that can only be emitted when you find the one you've been looking forward to see after a whole stressful or boring day.

"Anna!" A voice came from behind the princess, making both girls turn to see a peasant girl, older than both, panting clearly from running after Anna. "I-I mean y-your highness." She stammered looking at Elsa with frightful eyes, then giving a small curtsey. "Princess Elsa." She said in a formal tone.

"Hi." Elsa answered smiling. "You're…" She tried remembering the girl's name. "Iris?" Iris nodded, still remaining on her stiff position. Elsa then got Anna off her and pulled them both up. "Anna's told me about you. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand for her to take, but the servant girl just looked at it warily.

"I'm honored to be at your presence." She stated politely, her head still down. "Ann… Princess Anna has told me about your Highness as well."

"Pfft, drop it!" Elsa said playfully. "You can call me Elsa, if we're going to be friends, then…"

"I'm sorry, your Highness." Iris interrupted her. "But I shall go to fulfill my duties." She curtseyed again and then turned to look at Anna. "See you… princess." And with that, the girl walked away.

"What was all that about?" Elsa asked confused, and Anna just shrugged. "Anyways." She sighed. "Where were you going?"

"I was just carpet-skating." Anna said. "Since you were not there, I really didn't have anything better to do. What about you?"

"I was going to my room. It's been an awful long day." The princess looked away sighing.

"Your tutors again?"

"Yeah…"

"Was it monsieur Antoine saying that a princess should be full of charm and grace?" She asked pronouncing wrong the manners tutor's name.

"No, but he did reprimand me because of my outfit."

"Oh, yeah 'A princess wears pink and frilly clothes'" Anna cited giggling and acting as the stiff man, which made Elsa laugh. "I think you look pretty with your blue dresses, like an Ice princess!" She complimented.

"I know, right?!" Elsa agreed. "But when I disagreed, he said that a princess always 'knows her place'. Which place? I'm heir to the throne! I could order his execution! And when I threatened him with it, he said that…" Elsa adopted a sophisticated posture with her cheeks swallowed and lowered her voice a few octaves. "'A princess doesn't do that; she's poised, calm and never, ever speak her mind'." Anna clutched her stomach as she laughed, making Elsa smirk proudly. "But forget about him, what do you want to do now?"

"Will you play hide and seek with me?" Anna asked hopeful.

"Of course!" Elsa answered. Even if she was tired, she could never let down her little sister.

"You count!" Anna said and ran away.

Elsa chuckled and started counting out loud since one, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the wall. When she was just about to say "twenty" (She usually counted till thirty), a voice brought her out of the game.

"Elsa? What are you doing here?" Her father asked. Elsa turned around startled and started fidgeting with her hands nervously, knowing she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to do.

"I… well… I was…" The princess couldn't think of an excuse and didn't want to tell the truth either, so she stumbled with words.

"Elsa." The king said impatiently. "A princess doesn't stammer like that. She's always good with words, confident and honest, no matter what. Tell me what you were doing." His voice turned strict, almost bordering in anger, and Elsa knew she had to speak before things got worse; she was being punished anyways.

"I… was playing with Anna." She mumbled, deviating her gaze to the floor.

"What?" The king asked. "Speak louder, please, I can't hear you."

"I was playing with Anna." She repeated, this time raising her head in defiance. "Hide and seek."

"Is that so?" He asked as he started pacing around her, rubbing his chin. "What have we told you about hide and seek? "After a few moments of Elsa just glaring at him in silence, he stopped in front of her and looked down at her angry eyes. "Elsa?"

Elsa sighed, knowing he was the one with the power there, and answered trough gritted teeth:

"It's a peasant's game."

"And are you a peasant?"

"No." Was her short answer.

"What are you, then?"

"I'm Princess Elsa of Arendelle, Duchess of Nordfjell, first in line to the throne, daughter of King Agdar The Third and Queen Idunn." She recited, rolling her eyes.

"Exactly. But if you know that, then why were you playing a peasant's game, making your sister, Princess Anna of Arendelle, hide in some dirty corner of the castle, just so you could have fun?!" He asked, dangerously angry.

"I didn't oblige her!" Elsa complained. "She wanted to."

"Oh, really? Whose idea was it?"

Elsa clenched her fists, knowing that, is she told the truth, there was a possibility that her father wouldn't believe her, but he could also punish Anna, and Elsa was getting punished anyways because she was the older. She had to protect her sister.

"Mine." She sighed.

"Well, then go to your room and stay there the rest of the day, reflecting in what you did. You're not having dinner today."

What? Just for playing hide and seek?

"But father..." The princess protested.

"Now, Elsa. I won't say it again." He said sternly.

"Alright, but can I at least find Anna first? I don't want her to stay hidden all this time."

"Don't worry about her. I'll make a servant find your sister. Now go."

And, knowing it was useless to protest any further, Elsa went to her room, pouting.

It was late night when Elsa heard her bedroom's door opening. She supposed it was her mother, maybe even her father, going to check if she was still there. Not wanting to face whoever it was, the princess pretended to be asleep.

"Elsa? Pst, Elsa." Sounded a high pitched voice that definitely didn't belong to an adult.

"Anna?" Elsa asked, sitting up to see her cute face illuminated by the moonlight. "What are you doing here?"

"Father told me what happened, so I came to bring you chocolate, you know, since you didn't have dinner." Anna extended her arm and opened her little fist, revealing a single half-melted chocolate.

"Thanks." Elsa said as she took it, and Anna smiled. As the older girl's stomach started growling, she didn't hesitate to put the sweet food in her mouth, moaning as she enjoyed the delicious flavor. Finally, she licked her fingers clean (Her tutors would totally kill her if they saw her), not getting enough of it. She then eyed at her sister's hand, still covered in chocolate, and smirked at an evil thought surged between her mind. She captured her wrist and brought the little fingers to her mouth, licking them playfully.

"Ewww! Elsa! Stop!" Anna protested, struggling against her strong grip. But the older girl only kept doing it while giggling at her sister's disgust.

"Sorry." She said as she released her after licking the little girl's fingers clean. "But you totally deserved that. It is your fault that I got punished, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Anna asked as she wiped the saliva off her hand in her sister's bed sheets.

"Didn't father tell you?" Elsa asked, surprised. As her sister shook her head, her astonishment grew even more; she'd thought Anna would at least get scolded.

"He said he caught you doing something you shouldn't be doing and that, because of it, you wouldn't be attending dinner."

"Oh." Elsa felt a pang of pain. It was unfair that Anna wasn't even reprimanded while she got to stay locked in her room without food. She knew it wasn't her sister's fault, though; it was her father's. "I-I see." Elsa swallowed to get rid of the knot that had formed on her throat and pressed her fingers to her eyes to prevent the tears from falling. Why did their parents always treat them so differently? It wasn't the first time; she'd always get the worst punishment, no matter if it was Anna who started it all, and they sure paid more attention to the younger girl, who got practically all the kisses and hugs that the monarchs had for their daughters. It was really unfair and Elsa couldn't understand why.

"Elsa? Are you Okay?" Anna asked concerned while touching her sister's shoulder. Not wanting her sibling to see her cry because she knew she always had seen her as a strong person, Elsa took a deep breath to calm herself down and looked up at her with a tender smile.

"I'm just a little tired. That's all." She lied.

"Oh. Okay. But what were you going to tell me about it being my fault? Because it wasn't, I swear!" She put up her arms defensively and Elsa chuckled.

"Nothing important." She said. "But now that you're here, why don't we play something?"

"Oh! Like what?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Well, we didn't have the opportunity to play hide and seek." Elsa smirked. She knew she was pushing her luck, but it was a way to rebel from her father's orders, to prove to herself that she hadn't submit to the authority of someone who wasn't being fair.

"Let's do it!" Anna exclaimed. "You count."

"Alright." Elsa giggled at her sister's enthusiasm. "Just don't go out my room. I'll give you twenty seconds." As Anna nodded, Elsa got up and pressed her forehead to the wall, counting and feeling better now that she was with her sister and doing something she liked. She felt… free.

A/N: So, that was chapter 3, I hope you liked it, and I want to thank you all who favorited and/or followed this fic, and especially the ones who reviewd, really, you inspire me to keep writing :)

Also, for those of you who are reading my other stories, I haven't ditched them for this one; I wrote this a long while ago and I'm just posting chapters I already had. I've been busy lately, that's why I haven't update my other fics in a while, but I will soon, I promise.

Again, thanks for reading, and thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13 :)