An Arrow for the Sun:
When the sky runs red. When black shapes cloud above. When the ocean shimmers in yellow light. The bell of Arendelle will ring.
The sun will show it's fury and the world will end. Unless the golden arrow pierces its light.
Elsa scurried through the silent forest, jumping tree to tree. She searched high and low for any semblance of remaining food. Looking for fruit or vegetables was proving harder each time she visited the forest. Fruit and vegetables didn't have matings calls or paw prints to reveal their location either, which made foraging all the more frustrating compared to hunting. Though, all the animals were long since gone. Her pack was only half full, she needed it filled to have at least a weeks supply for herself and Anna.
On the branch below she spotted a few bright red apples, they would do nicely to be shared this evening. The thought of eating made her stomach groan loudly, perhaps it was best not to think ahead to meal times when she hadn't eaten for many hours.
She dropped to the branch, it's leaves and apples fell when she landed. Elsa cursed under her breath. It appeared that the forest was beginning to die too. That at least explained why her trips out were yielding less and less each time. She dropped to the hard ground to retrieve her prize when she noticed the light of the sun flicker, an odd thing on a clear blue day like today.
Elsa's heart dropped as she raised her eyes to the sky. Black figures were crossing the skies above, occasionally blocking the sun's light. The figures started only as a few, but their numbers gradually picked up, each second bringing more than the last.
In the distance there was an unmistakeable sound, one that Elsa hoped she wouldn't ever have to hear. The bell of Arendelle was ringing.
Anna!
Elsa began darting through the forest, leaving the apples behind. When her path became blocked she climbed the tree's once again, leaping from branch to branch with flurries of dead leaves flying all around her. At the edge of the forest she dropped to the ground, ignoring the pain that shot through her leg when she forgot to roll.
The bell kept up it's desperate, panicked chiming. Her heart was beating so hard she was sure it would leap from her chest. But her heart was the last of her worries. This can't be happening today, she thought as she ran through the ruined streets of Arendelle. Why must it happen today of all days? Why now? The sky was now entirely black apart from the sun. Of course the sickening ball of light would continue shining brightly, almost smiling with its rays as if to say that all was well with the world.
Elsa burst through the wooden door at the base of the tall bell tower. She climbed the stairs as fast she could, even resorting to using her hands to help her on the steeper steps. Here the bells cries echoed deafeningly. She couldn't begin to imagine what Anna must be thinking right now, she just hoped she was okay.
She finally made it to the top of the tower. Her lungs screamed for air and her muscles ached painfully. But none of that mattered now, she had made it to Anna.
Anna pulled furiously on the chiming ropes. The sound of the bell drowned out Elsa's attempts to gain her attention. Elsa approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Anna jumped, dropping the rope. Only when she turned did Elsa realise that she was crying, her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks tear streaked.
Anna hugged her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder. Elsa embraced her, while running a hand through her hair to try and calm her. It took a moment for the chimes to die down so that they could hear each other.
"I was so afraid, I thought I lost you! It's happening Elsa. It's happening!" Anna began sobbing even harder.
Elsa drew her closer, hushing her gently. She brought her hands to Anna's cheeks while dropping to meet her gaze, "I'm here, look, I'm fine. We're going to figure this out, don't worry. We'll make it out some way." She placed small kisses upon Anna's lips and Anna held her tightly. She didn't know how to stop the sun, but she was going to find a way, for Anna's sake.
They stood atop the tower looking out to Arendelle and the ocean ahead.
"Do you think it's as they said?" said Anna as she gently squeezed Elsa's hand.
"You know the words as well as I do. 'When black shapes cloud above.'"
"But the prophecy mentioned three events. The sea is still blue and no red is running from the sky."
"True, but it never said they all had to happen at the same time. We might still have time to get the arrow."
Anna turned her head sharply towards her, "You don't actually think it's real, do you? That old man was crazy."
"Crazy as he might have been, he predicted the life dying out, the shadows, the signs before the events. What choice do we have?"
"So, what? You want to rely on a golden arrow to stop the sun?" She gestured wildly towards the low hanging ball of light, "You really think that a bit of shaped gold can stop the light that gives us all life? That has power far beyond mortal hands?!"
"I don't know, okay!?" Elsa took a deep breath to calm herself, she lowered her tone "I don't know... I'm sorry, I don't want to fight. That bit of gold is the only chance we have at stopping this. And truth be told, I'm scared Anna. I'm scared to put everything on this, to know we might be dead by the morrow. I'm scared of losing you."
Anna rested her head on Elsa's shoulder. "We might not have a choice," She said as she placed a comforting hand around her waist, "But we can try."
Elsa pulled the oars of the little boat to gently stroke the calm waters. The castle of Arendelle loomed in the distance, slowly coming to tower above them as they approached. It had once been a place of safety for them and their friends when the fall began. Those large white walls were ones that Elsa always appreciated, they kept the madness of the descending world out, a haven in bleak times. Now those very same walls housed the creatures that it used to defend against, the shadows that now stalked its grounds.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go in there myself? It would be much faster if just one of us went," Anna asked in a whisper. It was unlikely that their voices would carry that far across the water, but neither of them wanted to risk anything. After all, the night was eerily silent.
"Are you kidding? There's no way I'm leaving you alone with those monsters. We do this together, in and out, quiet as mice."
Their plan was a simple one. They would climb the walls nearest to the main courtyard, from there they would climb the surrounding rooftops until they were directly below the King's balcony, there they would climb into the Kings main room where the arrow was held. But getting to the arrow was a whole other issue. Elsa didn't want to think that far ahead, not when the shadows could ruin everything in a matter of seconds.
The boat pulled onto the small shore before the large white walls with a thud. Elsa anxiously checked left and right to make sure nothing had heard them. They disembarked, readying their grappling hooks. On the count of three, they landed the hooks simultaneously and began to scale the wall. It took them a bit of time to climb, Elsa was sure that if anyone were to look they would instantly spot the stain of their figures against the pearl white walls. Luckily the shadows were not ones for admiring the views. They managed to climb without a disturbance.
Atop the walls, things got trickier. Elsa quickly spotted two shadows facing the main gate. Anna tapped her on the shoulder pointing to directly below them. Four shadows glided around the courtyard in a small patrol without making a sound. Where Arendelle castle might have once guards, now stood the darkness shaped as men.
Elsa and Anna chose their moments to move across the rooftops, constantly looking for any patrols on their level. There were none, which made it all the more confusing for Elsa, she wondered where the main bulk of shadows would be. They reached below the balcony, Anna counted down this time using her fingers. When her first clench zero, Elsa threw the hook. It landed first time but it scraped loudly against the stone of the balcony, it made every muscle in her body tense. But still, no shadows came.
They climbed up to the balcony as fast as they could, there was no time to linger in this place. The King's room was in darkness. Elsa took a pebble from her bag of items and threw it against some unseen wall inside, it echoed as it bounced. They waited to hear the screech of a shadow, but there was none. Anna lit a torch for each of them while Elsa went over the journal of the old man one last time.
The arrow was locked high above them in a safe built into the celling. The journal gave clear instructions as to how to open it, but getting there was something they had to figure out themselves. Elsa eyed one of the moving staircases that was used to reach the books at the top of the tall bookshelves.
She gave Anna a signal telling her to wait here. She pointed to the staircase.
"Are you sure?" Anna's eyes were uncertain, her voice with a worried hint.
Elsa placed her lips upon Anna's and gave her a reassuring smile, "I'll be in and out before you know it. Ready the bow with an arrow just in case."
The staircase was one of metal, it clanged slightly with each step she took. The top provided the path that she had hoped for. Elsa climbed onto one of the shelves, the dust suggested the books fell from it long ago. The shelves proved clumsy to manoeuvre up, but after she had climbed three of them, she was able to pull herself on top of the bookshelf. The bookshelves lined the perimeter of the room, Elsa walked around them until she got to a thin wooden beam. The beam lead to a small platform hanging close to the celling, that was her target.
Elsa felt her body shake as she put her right foot on the beam. She breathed deeply to control her nerves. At the start she wobbled, raising her arms to give balance, but once she was halfway across, her steps came naturally. The celling was very low as she crouched on the platform. Elsa looked for the keyhole above. It was only a small thing that blended in well, something you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it. She flipped open the back of the journal. The paranoid old man had carved out the last small chunk of the journal to hide the key to the safe. The journal had never left his side until he gave it to Elsa on his final day. She didn't even notice the key until a few days after he passed.
She placed the tiny black key into the hole and turned it in the way the journal had said: left once, right three times, left once. The lock clicked loudly and a set of doors built into the celling swung down, narrowly missing her face. She peered to see a piece of small rope hanging from the now large hole in the celling. As she pulled, she heard cogs turning above her. From the darkness of the hole lowered a small golden platform. The arrow was placed straight up on top, held in place by a thick glass dome. She attempted to lift the dome but it would not budge, it appeared to be fixed to the platform. The platform itself was firmly connected to the contraption that had lowered it. There was only one thing for it, she would have to break the dome.
She took a small climbing pick axe from her bag along with a pen and a scrap of paper. She wrote a note to Anna explaining the situation, telling her to prepare to run if the shadows came while she was still on the platform.
Anna caught the note, but Elsa was too far away to see what her reaction had been to it. She guessed that Anna would understand but would be defiant in leaving her. She saw Anna's head give a nod to indicate she was ready.
Elsa lifted the axe above her and struck the dome with all her force. It gave a tremendous racket, but the glass only cracked a bit. She checked below, but Anna gave no indication of anything being wrong. She struck it again, the crack grew down the side of the glass but still didn't break. She didn't wait before the next strike, the glass shattered and the arrow fell onto the platform. She picked it up, attaching it to her belt. She checked below, Anna was gesturing her hands in a circling motion, telling her to hurry up. There were no screeches, but clearly the shadows knew something was up.
Elsa hurried across the beam, dropping onto the staircase straight from the top of the bookshelf. The castle began to shake, it threw her off balance and she tumbled down a few steps, clinging onto the bannister. A loud screech came from within the castle.
"Elsa! Quickly!" Red light shone from the balcony onto Anna. The sky was bleeding.
The doors to the chambers burst open. Four shadows screeched again before leaping towards Anna. Anna grabbed the bow, knocking one away with it but another shadow dived and seized her legs from under her, holding them in place. The other two stood above her, their screeches deafening.
Elsa bound down the stairs, and jumped toward them, knocking them over with her body. She struck the shadow holding Anna's legs, dazing it, its dark skin was ice cold. Elsa grabbed the dropped bow and pulled Anna towards the balcony, "Come on!"
They slid over the edge, lowering themselves down the rope so fast that it felt as if it were aflame. The shadows from the room jumped over the edge after them but fell, hitting the rooftop below without a sound. Their bodies disappeared in black smoke.
The whole castle screeched now as they landed on the rooftops. They ran back towards where they had first scaled the outer wall, but dozens of shadows were climbing towards them from the courtyard. The shadows knocked Elsa away while the rest piled upon Anna. Anna began screaming.
Without thinking, Elsa pulled the arrow and drew it into the drawstring of the bow. The arrow was emitting a blinding light.
"Leave her the FUCK alone!" She loosed the arrow towards the mountain of darkness. Each shadow shrieked in pain, dissolving as the light of the arrow flew past. When it struck the roof, every shadow in the courtyard was wiped away.
Elsa ran to Anna's side, "Anna! Anna please tell me you're okay!"
Anna gripped her arm tightly, she had a look of horror upon her face. Elsa pulled her to her feet and picked the arrow from where it landed. More shadows were beginning to pour through the main gates. Elsa and Anna jumped back over the outer wall before they were spotted again. They pushed the little boat back out into the water, back into safety.
"The light to stop another's. The arrow of hope. Put your faith in the light." Elsa had read the inscription on the the arrow many times. She was still finding it hard to accept that the arrow actually existed.
Anna lay between her legs, puzzling over the arrow in her hands. "What do you think?" She asked after a moment.
"It certainly has some power. It took out about twenty shadows in a second, we have barley ever scratched one before."
"Sure, it can kill the shadows, but to stop the sun? Who could possibly create a single arrow with that much power?"
Elsa flipped through the journal again, but it yielded no information. The only notes on the arrow was on a single page, detailing it's location, what it looked like and how to open the safe. "Well one thing we can be sure of is that old man knew more than he was letting on."
"How so?"
"The journal, the arrow, none of them mention anything about stopping the sun." Elsa brought her fingers to lace with Anna's around the arrow, "He knew something about the arrow, at least why it was created."
"So what do we do now?"
It was a question that Elsa knew they had both being thinking. They had their supposed answer to the problem, but when would they fire it? "I guess we just wait for the sea to shimmer yellow and go from there."
"Are you sure?"
"I mean, there's probably another step afterwards, but I'm pretty sure it will be clear if the world tries to end."
"No, I mean are you sure you want to fire it?"
Elsa brought her head around to look at Anna, her face was as serious as anything. "What do you mean, 'Do I want to fire it?'"
"Think about it, we've been living like this for so many years now. So long have we been slowly losing all that we have, our friends, our families, our homes, hell, we've nearly lost each other more than once. After all this time, wouldn't it be nice to just... stop?"
She couldn't believe what Anna was saying, "Anna, I know it's been tough, but this our chance at salvation. This is what we've being fighting for all these years," She gestured towards the arrow, "A way to stop the shadow, a way to save everything, to save us."
"Sure, we stop the sun, but then what? What will we be left with? A dying land? Slowly being pushed further and further to the point of extinction, until we join our friends and family, until we curl up and starve?!" Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
Elsa drew her close, wiping her tears away, kissing her forehead gently, "I don't know if everything is going to be okay. The sun might offer a cleaner way out, perhaps even the one that is supposed to pass. But I'm not going to throw away a chance at a another day with you. I won't let us starve, I won't let the corruption take us, we will find a way to survive, we always do." She rested her head atop Anna's, nestling her nose in sweet smelling auburn hair, "There is much that lies in this arrow, if not salvation for us, then maybe for someone else. We don't know if there are any others alive, but think how scared they must be. Do they know that the sun is about to take away all they have left? Let us fire it for them at least, for those who might have their friends and families with them still."
Anna nuzzled herself in the curve of Elsa's neck, "I guess it comes down to us then."
Sleep was something that didn't come easily. They slept in a darkened room of the bell tower. Any window would only reveal the bleeding red behind the black clouds, it was not a sight anyone could sleep before. Only a few hours of sleep came to them before they stood once again at the top of the tower overlooking the ocean. They stood with their single bow, a flimsy piece of wood with a string to send their hopes on. It unnerved Elsa to think how much relied on that bow.
"So who fires it?" Elsa asked.
"I think you should, I'd only muck it up. I'd up saving us from the ground below instead of the sun."
"Hey, you're a pretty good shot! Remember that time you took out that moron with the side burns? Right between the eyes I believe?"
"Yeah but that was different, he was after you. There was no where else I was putting that arrow."
Elsa smiled and took a deep breath while she looked toward the rising sun in the darkness, "The fury of the sun, the end of the world. All of it coming down to me landing a piece of gold in some direction."
"I mean, it's not like it needs a manual."
"A manual wouldn't exactly harm. 'Your guide to saving the world' perhaps? At least something more than 'Put your faith in the light.'"
The tower began to shake. The ocean at the horizon started to glow yellow, with it creeping forwards by the moment.
Shrieks came from across the town's bridge. Elsa looked out to see their make-shift wall start to crumble, the hands of the shadows desperately trying to break through. When a path was smashed open, hundreds of shadows poured through.
Another shake came, knocking Elsa and Anna to the floor. The screeches became louder, the shadows were in a frenzy, tearing through doors, destroying the ruins of the houses, throwing themselves through stone walls.
Elsa picked up the bow and arrow in a panic, "Come on, come on! Where is it?! Do I fire it now?"
Anna's face was the picture of pure terror.
Elsa pulled them both to stand, placing Anna's hands around her waist. She placed the arrow in the drawstring, "Don't worry, I've got you. If necessary, I'll fire it at the shadows instead."
The sun grew from it's small ball to fill the sky, its light blinding, the heat unbearable. Red, black and yellow were swirling in it's light until it turned to the darkest black. A deafening howl filled the air and the entire world seemed to shake, it didn't stop.
Anna gripped her tightly.
The courage was beginning to fade from Elsa, she didn't expect to have to deal with this. Her thoughts betrayed her, she began questioning the arrow, whether it actually possessed any power at all. It could have just been a stupid tale by an old man to make them feel better. Elsa looked down to Anna, she wasn't looking at her, only clutching her entire body to Elsa's side. Elsa knew then, she knew this wasn't the life they were supposed to have together. They were supposed to be able to sit in a cottage somewhere on a lazy Sunday afternoon and curl up together, living out the rest of their days in peace. It wasn't the life they were supposed to have, but it was the one she was damn well going to make the most of.
Elsa pulled the arrow back with all her force, but it didn't shine. She didn't care, all she could think of was saving Anna, about giving her the life she deserved, about seeing her smile one more time. She will Anna.
"Put your faith it the light!" Elsa yelled at the top of her lungs and the arrow shined brightly. She fired it with a shout, a shout that had every last bit of will in her body.
She couldn't see anything. The howling and the shaking carried on. She threw down the bow and embraced Anna tightly.
Then it came, the silence. There was no sound any more, no shaking. She could still feel Anna in her arms. She looked up, everything was still, no shadows, the sun it's small ball of light again, the sky a clear blue. Anna was smiling at her.
Put your faith in the light.
An Arrow for the Sun: This goofy little oneshot was something I whipped up for Elsanna week. I know some of you don't have Tumblr, so I thought I'd stick it on here. This is probably my worst piece of fanfiction yet, but I still wanted to put this up as something to say, "I will do better than this from now on." Anyway, thank you for reading, have a great day.
Umbra Mortis