thecapitol | watch out cause everyone knows

Entry tags:

watch out cause everyone knows

Who| Anna and Elsa
What| Having an Important Talk about Hans
Where| The Tribute Center's rooftop
When| 7/11
Warnings/Notes| Death mentions, Frozen spoilers.

It's been over a week since her run-in with Hans, and though Anna's been trying her hardest to act normal around her sister, around everyone, it's clear that something is bothering her in a big way. Finally, she can't hold off anymore. Things are too weird, knowing what she does about the previous version of herself being here and the nature of her sister's relationship with her murderous ex-fiance.

She sends Elsa a message asking to meet her up on the rooftop garden after dinner, and at the appointed time, Anna's sitting on a bench surrounded by beautiful rosebushes, wrapped in a sweater to keep away the cool night chill.

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It would be a lie to say that Elsa hasn't been tiptoeing around a few certain subjects. She hasn't been entirely honest with Anna, mostly in regards to what happened in their first arena together. It's not been something Elsa wants to bring up- the last thing she wants is for Anna to be afraid of her, especially with how well she's learned to control her powers so far. That incident is one she just wants to put behind her.

The other thing is Hans. Elsa's feelings towards the man have been confusing for a long while now. Is it a crush? She doesn't know. All she knows is that his company makes her feel happy. Safe. Protect. He's been so good to her, and... it's hard not to like him. Impossible, even. So when Anna came back and then... didn't mention him, Elsa wasn't gung ho to bring him up, so it's been a bit of a large, awkward pink elephant in the room. She just assumes they spend time together when she isn't looking- and that makes her jealous, in a way.

But she would bring him up eventually. She thinks. The truth is she doesn't know- facing it would be like admitting that there's something there, when she doesn't really want there to be. But she does know that things lately have seemed off. But she trusts Anna to tell her if something is wrong. When she gets the message asking her to meet on the rooftop garden, Elsa can immediately tell something is wrong. Wouldn't she ask in person? With everything going on lately, she can't help but be afraid. Did something happen? Is this another engagement announcement?

Regardless, she makes her way there quickly, trying not to let herself get too afraid. Once she's up there, she looks around for Anna, rushing over when she's found her. The look on her face is concerned, and her hands are shaking lightly out of nerves. "What's wrong?" she asks immediately, not wanting to beat around the bush for longer than is necessary.

Anna looks up to see Elsa rushing toward her, and she stands to give her sister a hug. "Woah, woah, hey, it's fine, Else. I just needed to talk to you about some stuff, okay?" She takes Elsa's hand, leading her to sit down on the bench next to her.

"Look, I don't want to worry you, but...I saw Hans. Last week." Her face is nothing short of worried, nothing short of unhappy about the brief but traumatic encounter she'd had earlier in the week. It's really hard to talk to Elsa about this, especially when Elsa doesn't seem to know exactly what happened after she was pulled away to the Capitol. "And Elsa, I need you to know some things about him." She hates to do this, hates to break her sister's heart, but if Elsa really likes and is close to Hans like he said, she needs to disillusion her of those sentiments as soon as possible.

Elsa follows her and sits down, but she's still on edge, despite Anna's reassurance that she's fine. She's extremely nervous now, wondering what it could even be. The whole situation feels very ominous.

She takes in a long breath, bracing herself as Anna begins to speak, and- oh. Hans. She hadn't been expecting it to involve him, to tell the truth. If anything, she had thought it be about what happened in the previous arena, that maybe she'd watched tapes of it and had questions. But of course it's about Hans. Maybe it's the guilt she feels for letting the pink elephant sit in the room for so long, but suddenly she's speaking and can't stop herself.

"I should have known this was coming," she says, and her voice is a little shaky. Elsa stands up, and throws her hand up a little, in frustration at herself."Before you say anything, I'm sorry, Anna," she says. "I... if it seemed like I was keeping things from you, it's because I was...scared... and confused." It feels like the cat is out of the bag now. All she's assuming is that Anna must be upset that Elsa never mentioned him, like she was hiding something, or trying to keep his presence a secret. It's definitely guilt speaking at this point. "I know you two are together, I'm sorry- I-I can stay away, I don't want to cause problems, I just-"

Elsa presses a hand to her forehead. "He's so sweet. It's hard not to feel that way about him." There. It's the truth that she's been keeping inside, not even admitting to herself until now, and it all blurts out so quickly, her voice is full of regret and pain. "I wasn't trying to hide anything, I just didn't know how to tell you, or to... deal with it. I've never experienced anything like this before!"

God, she feels like a terrible sister.

Anna's not quite expecting Elsa to blurt out all of this information. What she definitely isn't expecting is the guilty way she blurts all of this out, and Anna looks downright confused as her sister goes on talking. Periodically, she attempts to interrupt.

"Wait."

Together? She and Hans are definitely not together.

"Wait, Elsa--"

The way she feels about him?! This is--this is downright bizarre. What is happening here. Is Elsa confessing to a crush on Hans? Finally, Elsa stops talking, and Anna only shakes her head, trying to understand.

"Wait, what? Elsa, Hans and I are not together anymore. Not by a long shot!" She looks downright concerned for her sister. "Are you trying to tell me you like him?"

Elsa's eyes widen- she knew Anna was from her future, but she never realized that the two of them weren't together anymore- it brings up a flurry of questions, but more ashamedly? A little bit of hope, because she isn't picking up the vibe that there's something horribly wrong just yet. A hope that possibly- maybe... they could be together. Somehow. Where is this coming from? Up until two minutes ago, she hadn't even faced the fact that she feels this way.

But it explains so much. Denial is a heavy burden. She tries not to get her hopes up, because Anna seems so... surprised. Elsa doesn't know how to interpret it, and her face turns bright red as she starts stuttering, trying to figure out how to even answer.

"I-I don't know!" she says quickly, turning away from Anna, hugging herself and in general drawing in to make herself smaller. She feels a little ashamed right now- or rather, a lot ashamed. And conflicted, like she doesn't know what feeling to latch onto right now. "Maybe! I never... let myself think much about it, because you were here, and you were talking about marrying each other still, and...and..."

A painful memory comes back to her, and she trails off for a moment. "You asked me to bless the marriage," she says. "And I did, even though a selfish part of me didn't want to." It hurts to admit that. She feels like a terrible sister. "Not even for the reasons I had before- because you two did know each better by then. But... I g-guess because... I was jealous..." The last bit comes out like a whisper, because she doesn't want to admit it, but she knows she has to. She can't lie to Anna, not now of all times. Not when she feels like their relationship could hang in the balance.

Anna's completely flabbergasted, and all she can do as Elsa admits to having a crush on the Actual Worst Person in the world is cover her face with one hand. Part of her wants to take Elsa by the shoulders and shake her, but she can't do that, not when she looks so scared and miserable about all of this.

"...Elsa." It takes her a moment to speak after Elsa admits to jealousy over her and Hans, but somehow she finds the words, and lays a hand on her shoulder gently. "Elsa, that's--that's okay, I'm not...me and Hans, we're not anything anymore. But you need to know something."

Anna gets up and sits on the other side of the bench, so Elsa is facing her, and looks into her sister's face, suddenly looking far more serious than she ever has.

"You know how I'm from the future where we come from? Well, Hans is, too. And Elsa, things went wrong after you last saw me in your castle." Anna shakes her head, can't even decide where to start, how to put this lightly. "Really, really wrong."

It's maybe a good thing that she isn't facing Anna, because she would take that gesture as anger, or... something negative. She's not in the space to take anything for what it is right now. She has absolutely no idea what Anna is thinking, or that she's somehow made a huge mistake by trusting Hans, and falling for him on top of it all.

When Anna moves to sit in front of her, she scoots back on instinct, unable to look Anna in the face. Relief floods over her when Anna says that it's okay, and it almost sounds like Anna is about to give her blessing- and who knows what she'll do when she has it. In a way, she feels a bit like Anna right now, ready to do something rash or drastic, like... like kiss him, or something. It's so strange, but she feels simultaneously heavy and light right now-

But then Anna is continuing, and her stomach sinks as she mentions something going wrong. "What?" she asks, urgency in her voice. "What happened? Please, just... just spit it out, you're worrying me!" Did someone die? Is it something to do with her powers? There are so many things that it could be- the last thing on her mind is that Hans is anything but the wonderful, charming person he's presented himself to be.

"Elsa, Elsa, it's fine, just--hear me out." Anna sighs, wishing she didn't have to be the one to explain all of this. But it's been festering for far too long now; Elsa needs to know.

"Well, after you hit me on accident, Kristoff and I went to visit the trolls, and they told me my heart had been frozen." She gives her sister a small smile, as if to tell her she doesn't bear her any ill will for the incident. "They told me that--that true love's kiss might cure me. So we went back to Arendelle so I could kiss Hans."

Anna can't help but look bitter at the thought. "But instead of kissing me, he--he told me all these awful things. How he came to Arendelle to marry one of us and take over the throne. How he met me and." She swallows, throat feeling awfully tight at the painful memory. "And decided to marry me and arrange an accident for you."

She gropes for Elsa's hand, knowing how hard it must be for her to hear all of this. "And then he left me to die of a frozen heart. He, he had you locked up in the dungeons, but you got out, and he went out and found you and, well, I was dying, Elsa. We were out on the harbor and I was trying to find Kristoff, only I saw Hans and you instead."

Her fingers are squeezing Elsa's awfully tight by now, and she avoids her sister's gaze as she finishes her tale. "You were on the ground, and he was raising his sword over his head to kill you. So I jumped in front of you, and that's when my body froze over."

She attempts a smile. At least the worst of it is over. "But see, Elsa, the trolls were wrong. The cure to my frozen heart wasn't true love's kiss, it was an act of true love. And that's what unfroze me. His sword shattered, and I came back to life, and, well, that's all that matters."

Right?

Edited 2014-07-13 14:41 (UTC)

Elsa falls silent at that, and just settles down to listen to whatever it is that Anna is about to say. Her stomach is twisting and turning as she waits for Anna to get to the point. All she can imagine is that something awful happened.

What she hears just isn't what she had been expecting.

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as she gets to the part involving Hans, wondering what could be so awful that he had to say. And then she gets to it, and her mouth falls open just a little, the smallest amount of disbelief registering, and Anna grabs her hand.

For the first time in her life, she feels genuinely cold as Anna mentions that he intended to arrange an accident for her, as if a bucket of the iciest water has been thrown over her. Anna wouldn't lie- she knows that, from the bottom of her heart, which is why all the voices telling her no, screaming that it can't be, are silenced by her faith in Anna. She has no choice but to believe it.

And it gets worse. Her expression grows more and more distressed as Anna continues, her breathing growing ragged as she fights with how overwhelming this information is. Even the revelation that she learned control and Anna ended up fine in the end isn't quite enough to pick her up out of the pit of overwhelming, crushing devastation this is making her feel. She stands up quickly, pulling her hand out of Anna's hand, her hands coming up to press to her forehead, her chest heaving as she tries to breathe.

"No, no, no, no..." She repeats it over and over, as if somehow that's going to make any of it go away. "He's so nice, he- he... we're friends. He wouldn't, I-" She doesn't know what she's trying to say. "Why? How? All of it was a lie?" Everything he's told her? Does he really not care about her at all? That's the most crushing part about this. That she'd let her guard down, and it was all a lie.

It's so hard, saying all of this and watching Elsa's face crumple as she takes in all this bad news. Anna wants so badly just to make her sister smile, to make her happy, and guilt washes over her in nauseous waves as she spills. By the time she's done, her hands are twisted into knots in her lap, and there's a long moment of silence after she's done, as Elsa frantically begins to question her tale.

"...Elsa, I'm. I'm so sorry. It was hard for me to find all this out, too." Her voice drops, and her gaze follows. "And, well, if you don't believe me, I understand. Only, I hope you do. Because I already lost my fiancé. I don't want to lose my sister, too."

She's terrified; scared that even after everything, after all that she's been through, that Elsa will close herself off again. Part of her will always fear that, because for things to be happily ever after for the two sisters is always too good to be true.

Elsa can barely hear her- it's like trying to hear through a blizzard. Her heart is pounding in her ears, and she can feel tears coming on. It's rare for Elsa to cry- she hasn't done it much since she's gotten here. It takes a lot to push her over that edge, but this feels like one of those things that will make her, regardless of how much she tries not to.

"I-I-" she tries to get out, knowing she can't just ignore Anna. She got the gist of what her sister is saying, and she wants her to know that she does believe her. "I believe you."

Her voice is small, and it's after she says that that the tears finally spill over and she buries her face in her hands. Because she does believe Anna, as hard as it is to face that truth. Anna wouldn't lie to her. There have been small, subtle signs that it's true- like how Hans had acted in the mini arena. Vicious and selfish. All for a victory. She'd seen hints of it then, but had allowed him to talk her down from it.

Elsa lets out a sob, trying to choke it off, not wanting to cry in front of Anna, but she can't help it. She takes a few wobbly steps forward, trying to remain upright. "Please g-go," she gets out, though her voice isn't mean. Just upset and full of pain, and she doesn't want Anna to have to witness it.

It's getting harder and harder to remain optimistic about all this, and any words Anna might have had to tell Elsa that, besides all of this, she knows what happened in the Arena between them die in her throat. She can't do it; not now. It'll have to wait. But what she isn't expecting is for her sister, her strong, confident, amazing older sister, to start crying.

"Elsa, please," she begins weakly. "I just...I want to be here for you. Like I couldn't be before. I don't want to leave you by yourself." Her hands are white, pressed against the seat of the bench in a death grip. She's shaking, she realizes, shaking from the effort of watching her sister go through all this emotional distress.

And all she can think of now is how angry she is at Hans for putting them both through this.

Elsa knows that Anna is only trying to help, but she can't help feeling annoyed when Anna seems to want to stay around- but she's forcing herself not to snap at Anna. She's been there and done that too many times, she knows what it leads to and she doesn't want Hans of all people to be the one to cause a permanent rift. So it's because of that, that Elsa doesn't say anything.

All she can do is force a nod to let Anna know that she hears what she said, but she can't bring herself to anything. It's a few moments later that another sob is let out and she can't stop it, nor does she try. Her face is buried in her hands and she begins crying openly, hunched in on herself as if she could make herself disappear if she tried hard enough.

To say that Anna feels terrible is a complete understatement. She's never seen her sister like this before; never seen her so upset and broken-down, and it kills her to watch her cry like that. And even though Elsa asked her to leave, and even though she isn't responding to Anna's vows to stay nearby, Anna still can't just go and leave her like this. So she just does what seems natural, what seems right, and moves closer to wrap her arms around her sister's hunched and sobbing frame.

"I'm so sorry, Else," she whispers. "I'm so sorry."

Elsa barely registers Anna at that point, but a small part of her feels comforted as arms find their way around her. She leans into Anna's arms without thinking about it, and just stays there for an indeterminate amount of time, not able to reply to Anna's words.

But eventually, she pulls herself together, the tears run out, and she quiets down and is left feeling empty.

"Anna..." she says, her voice raspy. "We should... we should go inside."

Anna's not sure what she can do to help her sister besides hug her, but it seems to help, at least, so she stays that way as long as Elsa seems to want her to, rubbing at Elsa's back in what she hopes is a comforting and grounding way. She can't help but feel guilty still, even though she knows it's not her fault; she wasn't quite expecting Elsa to break down like this, and it kills her.

But when Elsa finally seems to pull herself together, Anna's a bit relieved. She squeezes her sister's hand and gives her a weak smile. "Yeah. You're right. Come on."

It takes a lot more effort to pull herself up than she expected it to. Her legs feel like stone and her body feels as if it's been run over by something. She has to lean on Anna more than she wants to, but she gets to her feet and the two of them manage to make it to the elevator.

"Will you stay with me?" she asks, feeling bad that she has to burden Anna with watching over her. The truth is, though, her sister's presence has been more comforting than she thought it would be and she just doesn't want to be alone.

Anna helps Elsa up as best she can, her grip firm and steady, letting her sister lean on her as much as she needs to. She's worried, terrified that Elsa's going to relapse on herself and go back to the old Elsa. And maybe she won't want to see Anna anymore. But she can't let herself think about that for right now, instead giving Elsa a weak smile.

"Of course I will, Els. Always."

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