A/N: Reference to war rape (the rest of the chapter is rosy, I swear)

Ice magic bursts forth from Elsa's hands, powerless to stop the beast from thundering down the path and smashing into her. Crushed beneath its iron hooves, Elsa screams and screams as she watches the resistance get swept away by a tidal wave of men, steel and lead. Machine-guns, earlier so tenacious in their defense, now fall silent as their nests are overrun by the fury of Arendelle's blitzkreig.

Elsa's strength is robbed from her the beast's assault, and when it tramples her again, even her screams are stolen as well. Summoning her last ounce of strength, Elsa turns her crippled body to see Anna crouching behind a pillar with an assault rifle clutched in her shaking hands, ready to ambush a squad passing underneath.

"No, don't," Elsa whimpers, trying in vain to signal to her sister, "there're too many of them-"

With a yelp, Anna leaps into the open, firing with wild abandon. Her assault lasts two seconds before she's cut down by bullets.

"No, no," Elsa mutters, her crushed larynx unable to utter more than broken syllables. Her eyes widen in horror as an officer approaches Anna and yanks the helmet off her head.

"A girl, still alive," he sneers, turning away from Anna, "you know the drill."

The snow beneath Anna's body turns pink as she bleeds from her wounds, but still she makes a vain attempt at crawling away from the soldiers coming up behind her. Elsa screws her eyes shut as she hears the sound of a zipper being undone and clothes ripping, before every ounce of air is crushed from her lungs as Anna's screams echo through her ears.

Lurching upright, Elsa sucks in a lungful of salty air before shielding her eyes from the searing sun. Her other hand closes around some sort of powdery substance beneath her hips. Is that….sand? Flinching at the sound of children screaming in her ears, she looks up and sighs at the kids laughing and playing in the lake's azure waters just a stone's throw from her. With her head still throbbing, Elsa rubs her temples, ignoring her ice slippers melting in the sand under the sun's rays.

Noon already? Elsa thinks, as a breeze caresses the pleats of her ice gown. Feeling around behind her, Elsa's hope is kindled when she reaches into the picnic basket and grasps a bottle of wine. The hope is soon dashed when the bottle fails to yield anything more than a sip of red. Propping herself on her elbows, Elsa allows her eyes to wander to the horizon, dotted with Arendelle's gleaming skyscrapers, now populated with as many immigrants as the vanquished state was willing to allow in. Further west, a dense haze blankets Grimfold, her factories chugging along at maximum capacity as it settles into its new role of industrial powerhouse in a new age of peace. The constant buzz of surveillance drones is gone, replaced by liberated voices on the streets as citizens on both sides dare to speak their minds without fear of execution.

But the old hatreds persisted: Oaken's authority clashed frequently and bitterly with the new civilian administration in charge of Arendelle, though their arguments were confined to meeting rooms instead of pitched street-battles. The demobilization of thousands of soldiers led to massive unemployment, before their numbers were put to use running the centrally planned state farms.

Turning to put back the picnic basket, Elsa catches sight of the five-storey house she had built in the woods. It wasn't her idea, but Anna's - as a way to care for the children who lost their parents to war and oppression. Children like they once were. Despite the prediction that more specials would come out of hiding once Hans was gone, a year passed without anyone turning up. It soon occurred that they were the only ones of their kind left.

Not that it mattered anyway.

Elsa watches as a slender figure emerges from the lake, slick red hair glistening in the noon sun. Biting down on her lip, Elsa brushes a lock of hair from her eyes as she gazes at Anna sauntering up the beach towards her.

"You sure you don't want a swim? The water's warm today," Anna asks, sitting on the towel beside her sister. Elsa's eyes rove up and down every inch of Anna's body, from the beads of water dripping off her shoulders, to the scars littering her torso. Every scab and line told a story of how she just couldn't quit, couldn't stop loving, couldn't settle for anything less than the love of her life.

Turning to Elsa, Anna notices at once something's wrong. She's seen that look too many times, both in the mirror, and in her sister's vacant, blue eyes.

"You're staring again," Anna whispers, peeking at her sandy toes, "is everything alright?"

"Y-yes."

Anna wipes the sheen of sweat on Elsa's forehead.

"You're sweating," Anna observes, "you never sweat."

"I...I..."

"C'mon, Elsa, we talked about this," Anna says, massaging a free hand into Elsa's scalp, "it's much better when you open up to me."

Elsa stares into Anna's eyes, revealing an undoubtedly broken soul like hers, but somehow still capable of carrying another's burdens.

"I m-must've dozed off."

Anna ties a towel around her hips as she ponders on Elsa's words.

"And…you had a nightmare? Or a daymare, whatever you want to call it-"

"Y-yes," Elsa mutters, as her cheeks flush pink, "I-I'm sorry, I don't even know why, it's the middle of the day."

"Shh," Anna hushes, planting a finger on Elsa's lip, "why're you even apologizing? Apologies are for when you do something wrong, like when one of your golems plows through a power-line, or I rest my elbows on the table and cave it in. Nightmares aren't wrong."

"You get them too?"

Anna stares at her toes. She swallows the lump in her throat, before nodding.

"So that ruckus you made last night, was that...sleep-walking?" Elsa asks.

"I'd have to be asleep for it to be considered, sleep-walking, so no, I wasn't. Perhaps I was...wake-walking?"

"Well, why were you wake-walking in the middle of the night?" Elsa asks, allowing Anna to rest her head on her chest, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

The ice gown bites into Anna's cheek, a welcome respite from the scorching sun. After everything they've been through, the steady thump of Elsa's heart sends liquid relief through her veins, almost like the tar she had weaned herself from. Anna bites down on her lip and inhales deeply, savoring every molecule of Elsa's scent.

"My nightmares are usually of losing you," Anna mutters, fingers bunching around Elsa's gown, "I'm fine once I reach your room and hear your breathing beneath the gap."

Elsa's lips tremble at her sister's words. She tries in vain to stop a tear from brimming past her eyelids, and hopes Anna doesn't feel the icy crystal plop on her wet hair.

"Y-you never told me," Elsa whispers, trying not to let the quiver in her voice show, "it's alright if you want to sleep in my room."

"No," Anna answers, "I'm afraid-"

"For a girl who can lift a truck over her head with one arm, it doesn't make sense that you'd be afraid of sleeping in the same room as your sister."

"It's not that. I'm afraid we'll end up doing the things we're not supposed to be doing...y'know, as sisters?"

Elsa touches a palm to Anna's abdomen. Even after the war, Anna was still as thin as ever, each scar punctuating the taut muscles rippling beneath her skin with every slight movement she made. Elsa enjoyed the way each one felt against her fingertips, but at the same time, she regretted that Anna had suffered so much for her.

"I don't think a lot of things were supposed to happen to us. We weren't supposed to be separated from childhood. You weren't supposed to find me in Arendelle again. We weren't supposed to fall in love. I wasn't supposed to die and live again. None of this was meant to happen, but it did."

"All I want is for us to be on the same page. Just like how we both like chocolate, we both have the same parents, we both like girls, we're both running an orphanage, and we're both-"

"-in love with each other," Elsa whispers, her voice so soft it would've been stolen by the lightest of breezes.

Anna pauses, before answering, "I guess we're on the same page then."

Elsa winces as Anna tightens her embrace around her ribs. Trailing her fingers down each bump along Anna's spine, Elsa sighs and takes in her sister's salty-sweet scent. The sight of Anna's eyes looking back at her forces a smile from her usually stoic face.

"There's no one else I'd rather be on the same page, than you-"

A harsh ringing noise cuts Elsa off, and she frowns at the alarm on her phone.

"Oh god," Anna scowls, "I thought you said you'd turn that damn thing off."

"It isn't a call. I just set an alarm for a meeting in the city."

"Non-negotiable?" Anna asks, "With the provisional government?"

"You know how it is," Elsa sighs, as she switches off her phone, "I'd gladly expend a little effort on my part for them to leave us alone."

"So you have to go now?"

Elsa looks at the children splashing about in the water, and then at Anna lying on her chest, before gazing towards the skyscrapers in the distance. A pang of fear strikes her cold from having to leave Anna, but for the first time in forever, she knows it's going to be alright.

"Yes. I'll be back before dark."

"Please," Anna pleads, the urgency in her voice almost coming across as begging, "could you...just...please, once, to last me until you get back."

"The children will see," Elsa sighs.

"Oh, I'm sure you can take care of that."

Elsa's lips curl into a playful smile. She stands with Anna, and points to the sky.

"Well, are you ready?" Elsa asks.

"For you, always," Anna answers, taking a step closer.

Frost explodes above them, showering the sisters with an avalanche of sleet. As soon as the snow blankets the pair, Anna stands on her toes and leans into Elsa's lips. The rush of ice touching her bare skin is matched by the unanticipated eagerness of Elsa kissing her back. Overwhelmed by the sensation, Anna finds herself holding onto Elsa's arms and gasping for air when the snow finally settles around their feet.

"Oh god," Elsa slurs, running her tongue over her lips, "I'd almost forgotten how delicious you are.."

"And you look amazing," Anna says, stepping back and taking in the enormous ice wings now adorning her back. Beneath the glare of the noon sun, Elsa's wings take on a crystalline quality, leaving the children on the beach squealing with delight.

Touching a hand to Anna's face, Elsa turns to leave, but her sister calls out before she does.

"Hey, would it be alright if I started a barbecue for their dinner?"

The triviality of Anna's question catches Elsa by surprise.

"You're free Anna, free to do whatever you want," Elsa smirks, before leaping into the sky.

A/N: Golly! My second 100K frozen fanfic done! A big thanks to all the reviewers/everyone who pushed this on reddit, I really appreciate each and everyone of you. The main goal of this story was to make good on the immense letdown that was ACAP, and I can only hope that my plotting has improved. I'll be thinking up of some ideas for my next fanfic, although I reckon it'll be a bit shorter. Stay tuned for more, and leave a review if you've any great plot bunnies!

Again, I couldn't have completed this without the great support of all the reviewers, thank you so much!