Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned below. All credits go to Disney and Dreamworks.
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"The bastard has raised the bounty on your head again." He's worried.
"Explain." Does it even matter anymore ?
"The Moon Festival is coming up. Citizens aren't happy with the latest reforms. The taxes have been raised again. Take your pick." Your people are suffering.
"You know that I can't do anything." I'm not who I once was. I'm powerless.
"Just be careful. There are rumours he's hired new hunters." He's never going to let you go. He tried to take everything from us. And he keeps taking and taking and taking.
"And they will fail, like every bounty hunter before them." Because I will never give him the satisfaction of taking my life as well..
Past midnight and the bar was filled to the rim with customers, guzzling beer and getting drunk off their asses. Once upon a time, Elsa had wondered why people wasted money on the god awful beer at The Snuggly Duckling. But then again, once upon a time she had been a naive queen who believed in happy endings and in good triumphs evil.
People change, and Elsa Whitecrown was a different person. She liked to think for the better.
The beer may have sucked at The Snuggly Duckling's but information flowed like water. The Barkeeper Hookhand, was kind enough to keep her abreast of the latest movements of the Arendelle "King" and tipped her off on the newest laws. Although, she had to admit it there was another reason she likes to frequent this bar.
After all, who would look for the disgraced Queen Of Arendelle in the most dodgy and filthy bar in Corona ?
She pressed the glass to her closed lips and let the beer drip along her chin into her bodice, tugging the hood across her face for good measure. One of the first things Elsa had learnt on the run was keep appearances. As a queen she was to be sophisticated, regal and poised. As a fugitive desperate enough to visit a bar as run down as this, she had to be inconspicuous, unremarkable and unmemorable. And a traveller visiting this dump always finished his beer.
It was decidedly different and similar, she thought. The life of a queen and a fugitive.
She cast a discreet glance around the room. Woman of the night by the plenty, most of them milling about and giggling at a group in the corner. A bunch of drunks at her 3 o'clock, two of them already passed out on the wooden table. Some beefy men at her five approaching the crowded corner.
Kristoff slammed the empty class into the wooden counter, eyes rolling back into his head as he silently retched behind his hand. While it was common agreement that the drink was terrible, it was bad manners to show it. Her lips curled and she set her gaze around the room again.
The corner table was getting busier and louder, she noted.
"You should come with me and visit Anna. She's worried sick."
Two of the men had stood up and begun to push each other. Voices getting louder by the second. Ruffians, she scoffed, and stood up, pushing a leather pouch into her brother-in-law's hand. She could use this commotion to exit quietly.
"You know that I cant, Kristoff. It's for the best." She pinched her nose as he realized what she gave him and tried to protest. "Not a word to Anna and keep the money. Its the least I can do."
"Elsa." He paused and she could see the growing weakness in his eyes. She knew he needed the silver. He had a family to take care of, and employment was scarce. She was in debt to him for taking care of Anna even if they were married. Kristoff and Anna wouldn't be in this twice-damned situation if it wasn't for her.
"Safe travels, sister." He gave up. Smart man.
"You too, brother."
She slinked through the crowd as the noise reached the unbearable pitch that signified the transition from a scuffle to a bar fight. The last thing she wanted was to get caught in the crossfire. Took long strides, slow enough to look unhurried yet fast enough to get out of here in time. She winced hearing the shatter of glass and strode quicker to the door.
She tripped.
For a moment, she gasped in incredulity. She was a high born royal, taught to walk in those ghastly contraptions they called high heels and trained since childhood to elegantly navigate shaking floors with a stack of books on her head. Those skills had been augmented by her extensive experience working as a waitress balancing trays in her hands and avoiding untoward advances. How did she trip ?
"Are you okay?"
Blue eyes, was the next thought in her head. Blue eyes that were deep and vast like the azure sky stretching above the castle. Blue eyes that were cold, like the arm around her waist and the cold steel of her stiletto knife digging against her thigh. Blue eyes that were dark and shadows and sent delicious heat sizzling in her blood.
She snapped out of her trance like she was doused with freezing water and stood properly on her two feet. Murmuring her thanks, she made to move away when she realized he was still holding her to him, his breath scalding across her lips. She could feel lean muscles under the fingers splayed across his chest and panic clutching at her throat, twisting her heart and drumming across her ears with her pulse. Just as she pushed against him he let her go and she stumbled back in surprise.
"Watch your step, Miss." Dark eyes and a sinful voice, nearly purring at her. There was someone in her head screaming - to run, to stay far far away, to escape and never come back. This man was dangerous, she sensed, somewhere deep down in her bones and she had to get away. Shivers wracked down her spine and she knew this was a sign, because she was Elsa, The Snow Queen and she didn't get cold.
She needed to leave right now.
"Better be careful. Dark creatures lurk in the night" He nodded at her, all sharp edges and wicked grin. Goosebumps ran across her arms and she turned to flee into the darkness. Cinderella's tale passed through her mind for a moment and she shook off the thought, for Elsa had no ball gowns or glass slippers or handsome non-traitorous princes.
Only a razor-edged smile lurking behind her.
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