mewsbawks | post-DRRP shenanigans masterpost for loveisanopendoor

[Every week. Elsa can't keep the look of horror off her face as her sister says that. She had been through so much... no wonder her sister was having nightmares.]

We can work on that. Just focus on making happy memories to block out the sad ones... it won't happen immediately, and it might take a long time, but I think we can do it.

[She's almost surprised at the amount of confidence she has right now. Confidence.... isn't really a thing that comes easy to Elsa. But she has to be the strong one now, for Anna's sake.]

I...really hope so, Elsa. Really, I do...it won't be easy, but, having you with me is going to help a lot. I know it will.

[Anna looks back at Elsa...and can't help but be proud of how strong she's being for her. It was strength that she's known Elsa had all this time, but it's still strength that she can't help but admire.]

...Thank you for that...

What are sisters for?

[She leans forward a little, just enough to press a kiss to Anna's forehead.]

Don't worry, Anna. I'll do my very best to chase away any nightmares you may have.

Elsa...

[It looks like the tears are starting up again, but...they don't seem nearly as bad this time as she takes Elsa and wraps her in the tightest embrace she could muster.]

You're the best...

[Now those tears, Elsa doesn't mind seeing. She panics a little, yes, but at least they're happy tears. Or... what Elsa assumes to be happy tears.]

I'm really not, but I certainly try to be. I'm glad it seems to be working.

[They most certainly are tears of joy.]

It is. I'm...really glad that we decided to stay together.

...By the way, I'm sorry if I was a little too clingy before...

I won't lie, I'm almost glad you're a little clingy. [Elsa's smile returns, reaching up to playfully pinch her sister's cheeks.] I missed this. I know I'm not always that good with people getting too close to me... but you're the exception to that. Just being near you helps me calm down a lot.

I can definitely say the same for you, considering, well, everything that happened right now...

[She says, ruffling Elsa's hair..]

I'm so happy that you're here. Not that I'm not a bit of a wreck now, but I was...a lot more of a wreck without you, that's for sure.

[... She can't even imagine Anna being in a worse state than she was just now. Really, she doesn't want to.]

But you still endured. You were able to survive... you couldn't have been that much of a wreck.

[It's not that she's underestimating what everyone went through. It's just that she has that much faith in her sister.]

Well, I had swore to myself that I was going to be strong...strong enough to see you again, mostly. I wanted to survive for you, and for everyone else, really...

[Why don't you want to survive for yourself?]

I was about as strong as I had to be.

... You want to survive for me, and for the others, but... what about yourself?

[Whoa, we got a mindreader here.]

Well, I did want to survive, don't get me wrong...but you were always my top priority, Elsa. After everything, you should definitely know that. And my biggest concern while we were there was making sure we all got out safely, so that I could see whether or not you were alright because I honestly didn't know, and, well...

You're the reason why I had to be so strong, Elsa. I knew if I didn't get out, I wouldn't be able to see you again...and if I did manage to get out, and heaven forbid something did happen to you while I was away, I...

[What would she even do..?]

[Elsa is speechless. Really. It never fails to amaze her just how much Anna puts others before herself. Even after her disastrous coronation, she's still surprised that Anna puts Elsa before her own safety. That she wanted to make it home not just so she'd be home, but because she wanted to make sure Elsa was okay is just... god.]

... I really don't deserve a sister like you, Anna.

Yes you do, Elsa. Yes you do. You deserve a sister like me and so much more.

...

I'm going to tell you what happened, now, if that's okay with you.

[But I hurt you. I almost killed you twice. I shut you out and ignored all of your please for an explanation. She wants to say it all. Because she's happy to have a sister like Anna, but for Anna to put the well-being of someone who did all that to her above herself... she really doesn't deserve it.

But she doesn't say any of that, because... well. This is the first time that Anna's offered to talk about what happened. Elsa had given her time, and refused to push the subject at all, but now... Anna was willing to talk, and so Elsa would let her talk.]

If you're comfortable with talking about it now... go right ahead.

[Anna thinks she most certainly does...but they'll have to get into that another time, it would seem, because Anna's steeling herself and getting ready to tell the story.]

So...I guess I should start from the beginning, even if I still don't really remember it. The whole Future Foundation Hope's Army thing is still a big blur to me...I can't remember signing up, or even what the base was like, or anything the 28 of us did before we went on that mission of ours. It was supposed to be a relatively quick job; an ex-Future Foundation operative had gone renegade, and he intended to set off an apocalypse in another world called Kalos. We were sent to locate his base and to apprehend him and bring him back to headquarters.

...Unfortunately, we were beaten, and trapped there. Not only that, but we were all stripped of our memories with some kind of drug...not all of our memories, but they covered a pretty important gap in our lives, it'd seem. Like I told you before, I couldn't remember anything that happened after I left Arendelle, right after your coronation. But he had wanted to turn us, the "Hope's Army", against each other from the inside...he was trying to make a statement, more or less, about the nature of humanity. And to do that, he orchestrated something called...

[She hesitates briefly...she doesn't really want to say the name, but, it's not like she has a choice. Elsa had to hear about it.]

It was called the School Life of Mutual Killing. And it was the fourth "game" of its kind, if you can even call it that. There was a bear...a stuffed toy, really, but it could walk and talk, and he called himself Monobear. He was supposed to be the Headmaster of the school...since he made his base an underground tower in the shape of a school campus, we assumed we were in an academy. The rules were...live in the school, under constant surveillance, with no means of escape except for one: a culprit who kills a fellow student is able to "graduate", assuming they don't get themselves caught...

[Elsa is silent for a while after Anna pauses speaking, partly because she has no idea what to say. And also because she feels sick, honestly sick at the thought of her sister being put through some sadistic game like that. Who in their right mind would do something like that?

Elsa isn't foolish, she knows there are some pretty horrible people in the world. Like Hans, who sadistically manipulated Anna and hurt them both in ways that were more than physical. And the Duke, who didn't hesitate to order her killed without a second thought. But this... this was so beyond comprehension.]

That... how.... [There are no words for how horrifying and upsetting this is, but she does manage to choke out a question.]

How did you escape? The Future Foundation... they had to have known about this. It took them this long to get to you...?

[It had to have been outside intervention. It doesn't even cross Elsa's mind for a second that Anna could have escaped through the methods she just explained.]

We actually got out ourselves...it was me, and eight others. After eleven weeks...we finally made it out as a group. You see...

Every Tuesday, the bear would give us a motive, an incentive to kill...one day, it was a threat to reveal our worst secrets. Another, it was a video of our loved ones in danger...they were awful, but...every Friday, we'd wake up and someone else was...was...

[Poor Anna's struggling to say it without crying again, but..]

They were murdered. And we'd have to examine the bodies...and after that, there'd be a trial where we had to figure out who killed them...and if we figured out who did it, they were executed for disturbing the peace. If we couldn't...then everyone else would be murdered, and the culprit got to escape. I...a lot of my friends were...even Naomi was...

Oh god...

[Again, Elsa has no idea what to say here. But now she at least knows what to do: wrap her arms as tightly as she can around Anna, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.]

Anna, I'm so sorry...

[She's regretting ever letting those people take her away. If she hadn't agreed to it, if she'd tried to convince Anna not to go, maybe Anna could've avoided all of that heartbreak...]

Elsa...

[Anna's actually...kind of surprised at the amount of strength Elsa's giving her in this hug, but, Anna will hug right back in an embrace that she wouldn't let go of if her life depended upon it..]

...Don't apologize. It's not your fault or anything...I'm just...really happy that we managed to bring them back...

When Naomi was murdered, the bear...he tried to cheat, to get all of the rest of us executed. But thankfully, he was stopped before he could...and the person controlling the bear challenged us to one more trial, where we had to figure out all the mysteries of the school. And we succeeded. After we found our way out...we met up with the Future Foundation, and found a creature called Xerneas. It was a beautiful deer with rainbow horns...and it was also a god of life. It brought everyone back...

[A deer with rainbow horns? That sounds... beautiful, actually. Like something out of the stories about the old gods. Elsa had always had a soft spot for those legends.]

So you were able to see Naomi again. That's good... I can't imagine losing someone like that.

[Well. She sort of can. She almost lost Anna twice, after all. But Anna lost someone she cared about in some sadistic game... that was completely different from what Elsa had to go through.]

And you were able to help unravel the mysteries of that school? That... that's amazing, Anna. [She certainly sounds a bit awestruck.]] I knew you'd be able to accomplish great things.

Yes. Naomi, and Richard, and Tobias, and Inaba, and Homura...we got to see them all again. It was amazing.

[She looks like she's about to tear up just thinking about it..]

But, I mean...I knew they were all there with me in spirit, just like you were, so...that's how I was able to be strong. We all did it together...and I couldn't have accomplished those things without having them, and you, by my side. During that last trial, the room we were in was so cold, and all I could think of was you, and how close I was to seeing you again.

[Elsa can nearly hear the tears coming, so even before they start falling, Elsa is gently rubbing Anna's cheeks.]

Sounds like the person who did this to you was trying to intimidate you, but wound up making you even more determined... [She laughs softly.] And I know just how impossible it is to fight against that determination.

Well, I wouldn't say it's impossible. ...But it is pretty darn close, I will say that.

You're just being modest, now. [She playfully pinches one of Anna's cheeks.] Like I said, I have first-hand experience. No matter how hard someone tries, it's impossible to fight against your determination for long.

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loveisanopendoor - 2014-09-02 02:54 (UTC) - Expand

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