For all of you who have started following me, I'm sorry that I don't have a sequel to post yet. I have been editing and adding to the original while figuring out the sequel in my mind, and thought it would be good to repost it in its more final draft. Have fun reliving the journey once again. Some of the names have changed, but I think you're going to like this version that goes a little deeper.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Beginning

Queen Elsa sat alone on the balcony of her bedchamber. She watched the summer stars twinkling over her kingdom and window after window grow dark from candles being blown out for the night. "Alone once more," she thought to herself as the warm breeze danced through her hair. Only she wasn't alone anymore. The events of the past few days had in many ways swept away the barriers of the past thirteen years. Hers was no longer to be a kingdom of isolation, but a kingdom of love and open gates.

Love. Love for her sister, love for her people, love for the very land of Arendelle, these were what brought about The Great Thaw, once Olaf made her realize what caused Anna to thaw. Despite what many probably thought, it was never that she didn't or couldn't love. Quite possibly she loved too much, and the fear that her powers would hurt those so dear to her only fed her powers and caused them to be uncontrollable. Grand Pabbie had tried to warn her that fear would be her worst enemy. Somehow her parents, her father mostly, misunderstood what he tried to tell them. In retrospect, she could look back and understand that their plan to isolate her from everyone and everything was probably the worst course of action in the long run. It did more damage than even her powers could. It damaged her, possibly forever, and hurt Anna when she didn't deserve to be.

It wasn't concealing and not feeling that lifted the freeze. It was being open and up front about who she really was and opening herself up to all the love that she had shut out for so long that did it. Not a crocus petal, grain of wheat, nor blade of grass was permanently harmed once the winter thawed. Everything was as it had been. Well, mostly everything. Her secret; the secret her parents had worked so diligently to conceal was known to all. From what they could tell, the vast majority of her people seemed accepting of her powers, at least once she learned how to thaw that which she froze. Most importantly, Anna forgave her. She loved her enough to sacrifice her own life for her. After thirteen years of shutting her out, believing that it was the best way to keep her safe, Anna still loved her and wanted nothing more than to be close as they once had been.

After Anna's act of true love thawed the heart in which Elsa had frozen, she had held on to her sister, refusing to let go except to punch her former fiancé square in the face. Then she returned to Elsa and latched on to her arms as she had when she was just learning to walk seventeen years previously. It was the most physical contact Elsa had had with anyone in so very, very long. It was frightening and wonderful at the same time.

She could still feel Anna's hands on her arms even though hours had passed, it was late at night, and each had gone to her respective room to try and rest after their ordeal. Elsa half expected to hear that all-too-familiar knock that belonged only to Anna on her door, but it never came. Of course Anna had given up knocking on her door by the time she was a teenager, except for that one time after their parents were killed.

Oh how she had wanted to open the door and hold her baby sister as they grieved together, or at least slip her slender hand under the door to grasp Anna's, which she knew was right there. She didn't. She didn't believe that she could then without harming Anna. In her own grief, her powers had been so out of control that she hadn't even been able to attend the memorial. She had left Anna completely alone when she shouldn't have; when they had needed each other the most. So why should she have expected, nay wanted, to hear that familiar knock now, after it had gone unanswered so many countless times before?

She did expect and even longed to hear it though. She wanted to open the door and welcome her sister with open arms. It never came though, and she was afraid of falling asleep lest she awake to find that Anna thawing was but a dream - that she indeed was her sister's murderer. She needed to see with her own eyes that Anna was fine. She wanted to make up for thirteen years' lost time. Most importantly was that after thirteen years, she didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted to build a snowman.

"Why should Anna be the one to come to me? I am the older sister, after all. It's my job to look out for her well-being. It's not as if I haven't been trying to do that for the past three years the best way I knew how. Only this time I'll take the hallway, rather than the secret passageway," she told herself, referring to the hidden doorway behind her bookcase that led to several key places throughout the castle, including Anna's room. Among the many things Anna was unaware of was that every night for thirteen years, Elsa would sneak in her room to check on her once she was asleep. So she decided to go to her sister.

Only, going to Anna required Elsa leaving her room - through the door! Old habits die hard, even after the cathartic experience of letting all of it go. She took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the handle and… opened the door. The hallway was dark and quiet, as it was by then the wee small hours of the morning. With her back and shoulders set straight, her head held high, and all the queenly regality she could muster, she walked down the hallway to Anna's room, and stood there as if she had frozen herself. She forced her hand to the door in order to knock, but remained paralyzed, muttering nonsensical things to herself when the door opened without her having to knock.

"Elsa?" Anna stood, motionless and surprised in her nightgown, robe, and slippers.

A sheepish grin crossed Elsa's face. She brought down her hand and used it to rub her other arm like she did whenever she was nervous. "Hi! I-a-a-a-a. I wanted to check and see how you were doing?"

"Really?" Anna asked incredulously.

The grin disappeared from Elsa's face as she realized Anna had a difficult time believing her. "Really. It didn't feel right to leave you alone after everything. I needed to see with my own eyes that you were here, safe and… unharmed." She paused a moment before admitting to Anna that she always checked on her when she was asleep. "So in the spirit of being open, I decided to not wait until you were asleep and sneak in through the secret passageway."

"Wait, what?" Anna turned her head from side to side, looking for any evidence of a secret passageway in her room.

Elsa laughed and walked over to the bookshelf next to Anna's vanity. She pulled down a copy of Dante's Inferno, a book Anna obviously never touched, causing a door to slide open, revealing the secret passageway. Anna tiptoed over to peek through the opening. "No way! How could I not have known about this?"

"Anna," Elsa softly called her name. "I'm sorry that there have been a great many things you didn't know about."

"Yeah, of course." She glanced at her feet and ran her hand through her hair, her nervous trait. Then she remembered what Elsa said about sneaking in while she was asleep. "Did you just say that you would sneak in here to check on me while I slept?"

"Every night."

This so surprised Anna that she had to take a seat on her bed. "Every night? For how long?" She motioned for Elsa to sit next to her.

"Since the night after the first accident. I missed you. I knew that Papa said that I had to stay away from you to keep you safe, but I couldn't resist just checking to make sure that you were safe and well every night. I had been keeping watch on you since you were born. I couldn't just stop doing what had become second nature to me."

"How did I not wake up when you would do this? Anna still had a difficult time believing that Elsa checked on her each and every night.

Elsa chuckled. "You sleep like the dead, Anna. You always have."

Anna nodded, knowing it was true. Then she remembered something from her dreams. "Did you… Would you sing to me while I slept?"

"Most of the time, usually lullabies that Mama sang to us before bed, when we shared a room."

"I always thought that was just part of my dreams. We never stopped being close there." Anna grew unusually quiet as it dawned on her how much her sister really did love her. Though Elsa shut her out believing it was best for her, she had never stopped loving her. "What do you mean, 'first accident?"

Elsa was very slow at meeting Anna's eyes with her own, but she knew that she couldn't start this new, open chapter of her life without telling Anna what had happened in the ballroom all those years in the past - the catalyst to thirteen years of closed gates. So she told her everything and not without tears from both sisters. Elsa was certain that Anna would never want to move out of the castle after learning the truth.

Then Anna grasped Elsa's hand and did something wholly unexpected by Elsa but completely Anna-like. "You gave up your freedom, our friendship, your life because you were led to believe it was the only way to protect me?"

Elsa sighed. Being so open and honest wasn't something that she was accustomed to anymore. "You're my baby sister. I would do anything for you." At this, Anna enveloped her in a giant bear hug.

Anna finally let go of Elsa, only to dramatically collapse on the bed in both real and fake exhaustion. "So much has changed in the past three days. So much…" She paused a moment before quickly rolling to her side and asking, "Is it wrong that I almost want to thank Hans for maniacally trying to take the throne and killing both of us, because if he hadn't we wouldn't be where we are now? I mean, I know that he has to face the consequences of everything, but I feel that I should at least write him a thank you card."

"I, I, I honestly don't know, Anna. Wait, what? A thank you card?"

"You don't think I want to see him in person again, do you? I don't think my hand could handle having to clock him again." She gingerly rubbed her right hand. "In all honesty though, if he hadn't set all of this in motion by preying on my loneliness and need for love then you and I wouldn't be here, having this conversation, and I wouldn't have met Kristoff." Her eyes got this dreamy look in them as she mentioned Kristoff. Elsa, on the other hand, tensed up when she mentioned how lonely she had been and what that loneliness almost caused her to do.

"Oh!" Anna suddenly jerked up her head, startling Elsa. "I need a really big advance on my allowance, Elsa!" Before Elsa could ask why, Anna continued, "I sort of owe Kristoff a new sled, and all the equipment that was on the one that crashed and burned when we were chased by the wolves."

"Wait, you were chased by wolves?" Elsa asked, realizing exactly how much danger her sister had put herself in to bring her back to Arendelle.

"Yeah, but I threw a flaming blanket at them so that they let go of Kristoff, and we jumped across the gorge and were ok. Then in the morning we met Olaf! Hey Elsa, I don't want to marry Kristoff, right now at least, but am I going to have to since we basically spent two nights alone together? I mean, I don't think there's any chance of a baby, but has my honor been compromised or anything like that?"

Elsa busted out laughing. "Oh Baby Sister, I have missed you more than you'll ever know! No, you don't have to marry anyone until it is right, and you want to!" Then she hugged her baby sister. It just seemed like the natural thing to do, and without thinking she wrapped her arms around Anna and hugged her closely to her.

Anna stiffened a little at first, because it had been three years since she had been hugged on a regular basis - thirteen since the hugs had been from Elsa. It just felt good and right to be this close to her sister again. She found Elsa's term of endearment for her nice and wonderful to hear. She wanted to talk until they were completely caught up on everything, but a huge yawn escaped her lips. Then another and another. She hadn't really slept in days!

Elsa noticed the yawns and felt her own fatigue. As much as she didn't want to leave Anna, she knew that they both desperately needed their rest! "I should let you get some sleep, Anna."

Anna yawned again. "Yeah, I guess so. We have the rest of our lives to catch up." She started to pull back her covers, and Elsa started to leave when, "Elsa, you know, I'm not in any hurry to be alone, in the dark either. Would you mind sleeping in here with me tonight? You know, like you used to do when I was little and scared?"

"Are you sure?" Elsa asked.

"I wouldn't have asked. Come on! I can tell by your eyes, you don't want to be alone any more than I do," Anna told her. She sighed and admitted, "I think Elsa, that we've spent more than enough time alone, don't you? At least for tonight?"

"You know what, Anna? When you're right, and when you're right, you're very right. I'm in no hurry to go to my room again. I've spent more than enough time making my own prison within its walls, I think." She crawled under the covers and sighed. "Goodnight, Anna. I've so very thankful and glad that you're my baby sister. I love you. I'm going to tell you so much from now on that you're going to grow tired of hearing it."

Anna was already drifting off to sleep but managed to whisper, "Goodnight, Elsa. I love you too," before her breathing turned into the gentle snores of sleep.

Elsa stared at the ceiling, listening to Anna's soft snoring, cherishing every breath her sister took, remembering how just a few short hours before, Anna had given her life for her - the very life's breath floating out of her after she froze. Anna was right, in some weird way they owed Hans for this new beginning.

In her sleep, Anna somehow managed to turn into Elsa's side, and she wrapped her fingers all in Elsa's hair as she had when she was just a toddler as a source of security in her sleep. The voices in her head haunted her and kept her awake. One small voice still lurking within her head told Elsa that she should be afraid of hurting Anna again with her powers, but an even greater one assured her that she no longer had any reason to fear what she was beginning to see as possibly being a beautiful gift. Yet another voice told her that she probably needed to have a very important talk with Anna regarding men and women that she just realized their mother obviously never got the chance to have with her, and soon. She cringed slightly thinking about the very awkward talk their mother had shared with her when she was sixteen. She remembered the foot of snow that had accumulated during the discussion. Something so intimate seemed the most frightening thing in the world to the teenaged girl who was afraid to merely touch anyone.

"Talk about the blind leading the blind!" she laughed to herself before dismissing the voices and passing out into her own deep slumber. Thanks to Anna, they had plenty of time to talk about everything; and to build that snowman Elsa forgot to even mention to Anna. Elsa realized that The Great Thaw wasn't the end of the story for them. No, it wasn't the end at all but actually the beginning of the beginining. While Arendelle may have thawed in minutes, she knew that it would be a far more gradual thaw for her to be half as free as her feisty, fiery sister... who just slapped her in her sleep.