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Holding On Tight To You | Olanna

Date: 17 June 2023 Featuring: @olaf-likeswarmhugs

Olaf and Anna embark on their next adventure.

ANNA

Anna usually did this trip alone. She knew it well: a short Uber to the train station, a slightly longer train ride to The Next Town Over, a transfer to another train to London, and then the Tube to Heathrow. It was long, but Anna brought books and listened to podcasts and downloaded episodes of her favorite shows, so she never minded much.

Today, though, she could hardly focus on any of those things. But that was okay. Because she wasn’t doing it alone. This time, Anna had Olaf there with her, too.

They made it through security, then through the all-important trip-to-the-gate-to-make-sure-it-existed. And then Anna had to get Starbucks, of course, and then there was some time to wander around Heathrow’s many gift shops. An alarm on Anna’s phone went off (she had set it long ago, knowing that she would probably get distracted) and then she grinned at Olaf, nerves and excitement all bubbling up all over again. “I guess we should probably make our way to the gate?”

OLAF

For Olaf, this was like deja vu!

He’d only ever done it one other time: spring break, headed to Arendelle. And then he’d been with the entire class. They’d taken a bus all the way to London, chattering the entire time with frenzied, pre-trip excitement and then ended up in Heathrow, just like now. As Olaf moved through security and then scurried toward his gate, he could remember stopping by one of the convenience stores with Nemo to pick up snacks, keeping Anna company in the Starbucks line, and eventually watching people’s bags for them while they went off to the washroom.

That entire trip had been preparation for this one, Olaf realized. He couldn’t shake the nostalgia as he went to that same convenience store, picking up chocolate-covered raisins and a water bottle, just like last time. And there was Anna in the Starbucks line, just like last time. The only difference was it was just them two on their way to a grand adventure, and when he boarded the plane, he’d not be coming back.

He missed his friends already. But he was also excited. Ah, wasn’t it silly that you could feel these two things at once? To be happy and sad and everything in between?

“Ah, already?” Olaf exclaimed. “Woooow, I bet the plane ride is going to go just as fast, huh? I read somewhere– that excitement makes time move differently. That’s why going to a destination feels so much quicker than coming back home again.”

ANNA

“Huh,” Anna responded, her eyebrows furrowing pensively as she stepped out of the gift shop and started in the direction of the Norwegian Air part of the terminal. “I actually don’t know which one this is, for me.”

Wasn’t that strange? It was the same path she’d always traveled every time she went home, except, this time she wasn’t exactly going home. She was going to have her own flat now, and a new job that was hers, not anyone else’s idea. She would cook her own dinner and sit on her own floor until she found her own couch secondhand somewhere, and the best part was that she didn’t actually have to do it alone. Because she was going to do it with her friend. And that was another strange thing, another thing that Anna had not even really begun to fathom or understand before she set off on her own for the first time: a friend.

Anna had to admit to herself that the idea made her a little nervous. She’d been living in the dorms on her own ever since Ashleigh had left, and she’d gotten comfortable. Would she even remember how to be a good roommate? What if the same things that used to annoy Ashleigh would annoy Olaf?

But Olaf wasn’t Ashleigh. And Anna had learned a lot from Ashleigh, even if those lessons had been tough. She knew what kind of roommate she didn’t want to be. And she knew how lucky she was to have friends who actually liked her— and what that actually looked like,

“I guess it is something new. I don’t know. It’s weird,” Anna added with a shrug. “I never thought I’d be back in Norway so soon. But none of this happened the way I expected it to.”

OLAF:

Olaf could agree with that.

He supposed he wasn’t the type to plan ahead though. He did think about the future a lot, but always in the most abstract sense, usually in the form of questions. Who would he be, when he was all grown up? (Olaf was grown up, but didn’t feel like it.) What was the world going to look like? How long would the icebergs last? What colour would the Northern Lights be tomorrow? Was he always going to miss his mothers, or eventually, did the missing soften?

If he had had an idea of his future, he did think it would be back in his Hollow. But you know, that future was not closed to him yet! Olaf had learned in the process of this year, in anticipation of graduating, that there were many futures that a person could have, and there was nothing stopping you from taking one future, then trading it for another. All you had to do was have the courage.

He had learned courage in Swynlake. He had also made friends, and having friends along with you in the journey made the future not scary at all. Instead, the risk was part of the fun.

“But isn’t that kind of nice?” Olaf shared part of this thought as they walked on to the gate. “I think I’ve started to really like surprises. I feel like I learn something new about myself whenever one happens!”

ANNA

Anna had learned a lot about herself these past few years, too. She remembered the person she’d been when she first arrived in Swynlake: so eager to begin the life she’d always dreamed of, and so inexperienced at just about everything that life required. She’d stumbled her way through all of it, making a lot of mistakes and some enemies along the way— and she was grateful for the friends who had forgiven her and grown with her. There was still so much Anna didn’t know, but she was a little smarter, a little stronger, a little more sure of what she really wanted. And who she really wanted to be.

So that was kind of a comforting thought. Arendelle might be familiar, but it was also going to be entirely new— full of surprises, like Olaf had said. All spring, Anna had joked that she couldn’t imagine a world past June 16th, that the murky time after graduation looked like a black hole to her. And there was some truth to that joke. Yet, the world went on. Today was June 17th. Time kept moving, whether or not Anna was ready. It was a terrifying and comforting thought all at once.

“Yeah, me too,” Anna agreed. As they approached the gate, Anna began to hear the familiar sounds of Norwegian chatter around her. Parents promising their children “soon” and businesspeople signing off their last-minute calls because they were taking off soon. There were people from all over the world, too, but this was something Anna loved about Norwegian Air. You always felt a little like you were already home, just being at the gate.

As the gate agent began announcing groups to board (certainly not Olaf and Anna yet— they had opted for the cheapest tickets) Anna’s phone chimed. She opened the text and frowned. “Surprise number one,” she muttered. “My dad wants to get dinner.”

OLAF:

Olaf had received texts from his mums too, but they’d come early in the morning. His mothers knew his schedule, after all, and so they were quick to wish him good luck and safe travels! It had been so comforting waking up to those texts and feeling their spirits as he finished packing up and then headed to the train station, like even though he was no longer returning home to them, they were with him anyway. Just as Anna was a piece of Swynlake, those messages were a piece of Iceland. He was a collage of these places and experiences now, which meant he was never really far from any of his homes.

At Anna’s tone though, it was clear she did not have that same relationship with her father. Olaf knew a little bit about this. He knew that it was complicated. There were lots of things between Anna and her father that she still needed to work through.

He frowned for a moment, and reached out to put a hand on Anna’s upper back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. Then when Anna glanced his way, he smiled gently. “Well, you can always tell him you want to get settled first,” he said. “You should do things on your timeline. This is your journey, after all.”

ANNA

It was complicated. Even if Anna had said to her father, as directly as humanly possible, that she was going to make her own decisions here and he didn’t have to approve— Anna still wanted her dad in her life. She hated him and she loved him and those feelings seemed to live side-by-side in her heart instead of flip-flopping around. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but Anna was starting to realize some things in life just didn’t.

If she was honest with herself, she did want to get dinner with her father. Eventually. And she appreciated that Olaf seemed to understand that, despite all the drama she had been through with him. But she also appreciated that he suggested waiting. Because maybe that was the right move here.

It was an emotional time, after all. There was so much excitement and sadness and nostalgia and hope all wrapped up into one surreal week. Anna had barely gotten a chance to talk to her dad when he had flown in for her graduation (and flown out the same day— duty called, apparently). But maybe that was for the best. She needed time to figure out how she was going to navigate this new stage of how she defined her family.

In the meantime, she had Olaf. And all her friends, even if they wouldn’t be here physically. “That’s true,” she agreed, putting her phone back in her pocket.

She was quiet for a moment, watching the groups continue to board. “Oh, I think we’re next,” Anna said, shaking herself out of her reflective haze. “You ready?”

OLAF:

They were next? Already?

Emotion rushed through him, too complex to name. It was like a rainbow– an entire spectrum, from happy to sad and everything in between. Olaf knew that this was the start of the journey, rather than the end of it, but he couldn’t help but look around him like it really was the last time he was going to be in Heathrow airport. Ah, he wasn’t ready! But he also was ready– or, he knew that he wasn’t going to be more ready than he was right now. Over the past few years, Olaf had learned that the only real way to prepare yourself for change was to go through it.

And so Olaf took in a deep breath and gathered his things. A backpack on his back (which would go under his seat) and his little carry-on. Not much at all, but it represented everything he had come with, and everything that he had learned, over the past four years.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Pretty much! Frost, I hope I didn’t forget anything!” Olaf said this jovially, in his typical way as he and Anna clambered into line. “I guess if I did I’ll just have to find it again in Arendelle!”

Find a new home. Find new experiences. Find new friends.

It all waited for him, just ahead.

ANNA

It all seemed to happen very quickly after that, or maybe Anna’s memories of that day would forever take on a blurry, unreal quality with all the emotions wrapped up in them. Little things stuck in her mind. The brief moment when Anna thought she spotted Harry Styles in line. The kind, tall person who helped Anna get her carry-on into the overhead compartment. The first ten minutes of the new Spiderman movie, before Anna fell asleep.

When she blinked awake again, her head having fallen onto Olaf’s shoulder at some point during the flight, it took Anna a moment to remember where she was— or why she was here. The pilot’s voice came over the intercom.

“We’ve just landed here in sunny Arendelle, the temperature outside is a beautiful twenty-three degrees and there’s not a single cloud in the sky. Thank you for flying with us today, and for those of you visiting, welcome to Arendelle. And for anyone returning home to Arendelle, welcome home.”

Anna smiled, thinking again of her conversation with Olaf on the way to the gate. Arendelle was new, and it wasn’t. It was home, and yet it wasn’t— at least not yet. Whatever they’d left behind in Swynlake, they could find it again. And again, as many times as they needed to.

And the best part, Anna thought, was that she didn’t have to do it alone.

#SOBSSS #para #olanna #:)

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