The Dragon Queen
Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen
A/N: Inspired by KuroTails's fanfic, Warm Breath, but minus the shipping. Like, almost no ships are in this story. Minus the Arendelle boats. Sorted.
And I'll upload a rough sketch of adult dragon-Elsa as I envision her onto my deviantart page, TheLittleWaterDragon, tomorrow. If you're curious.
16 Years Earlier...
"Do the magic, do the magic!"
Two young princesses stood alone in the middle of an empty ballroom, bright and awake, despite the fact that it was the middle of the night. One of them, the eldest, formed a blindingly-white snowball and threw it up into the air, where it burst into blue sparks.
The younger one laughed. "Wow! That was so pretty, Elsa!"
Elsa smiled shyly and dipped her head. "Thank you."
Anna squirmed impatiently. "Do the dragon now!"
Elsa cocked her head. "What?"
"You know- change into a dragon now!"
Elsa hesitated, then let out an uncertain smile. "A-all right..."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, tucking her head to her chest. Anna watched excitedly as a flurry of snowflakes whirled around Elsa, increasing in numbers and wind speed every second.
Then there was a blinding white-blue flash, and the snowflakes fell to the ground in a rush of white powder. Where Elsa had stood, there was now a small white dragon, almost feline in appearance, with small nubs for horns and a soft white ruff running from the top of her head to the tip of her tasseled tail. Pure white bird wings unfolded from the dragonling's sides, then furled against her back as if she didn't know what to do with them.
Elsa opened bright, ice blue eyes and asked, "Did it work?"
Anna giggled. "Sorry! I don't speak dragon!"
Elsa's eyes widened. She stared at her small white paws, her large, half-opened wings, her lustrous white fur. She nearly tripped over her tail, then let out a feeble, joyous roar, breathing a cloud of snowflakes into the air. At last, after months of half-transformations and dragonly mishaps, she had finally managed a dragon!
Once she had realized that she could transform-about a year ago-she had practiced almost nonstop, never quite getting her magic right. It became commonplace for the servants to come across the crown princess running down a corridor with a dragon's forearms, a forked tongue, and a tail dragging behind her, large, eagle-like wings flapping wildly on her back. Or to be eating at the table at dinner and find your gaze met with catlike blue eyes, a disturbing sensation when unaware of the young girl's powers.
Anna laughed and ran around her older sister. "This is so great!" She shouted. "We can chase each other and play in the snow and oooh, you can fly, right? SothenyoucangoflyingANDLETMERIDEONYOURBACKOHMYGOSHTHISISSOGREAT!"
Elsa huffed and gave her sister an amused look before gently stopping her with her tail. She pawed snow up in front of her, then laboriously wrote in it with one black talon.
GOT TO LEARN HOW TO FLY FIRST. THEN GIVE DRAGONBACK RIDES.
Luckily, Anna had been given reading lessons the past week-the only class she would listen to, so she could understand the spelled-out codes her parents mouthed to each other.
"Gotta-learn-how-to-fly," She spelled out. "Then-give-dragon-rides." Her face fell slightly, but was replaced by a grin. "Okay! But we can still play now, right?"
Dragon-Elsa 'smiled' and nodded.
"Yes!" Anna ran off. "Catch me if you can!"
Elsa smiled again and stamped a hind paw on the ground. There was a loud crackling noise, followed by Anna's yelp of protest as the floor turned to ice.
Her powers still worked. Excellent.
.
.
.
"ROAR!"
"Aargh!" A dismayed Anna found that, despite her head start, she was severely outmatched. She slipped on the ice floor and stumbled through the snowdrifts, while Elsa's long, hooked claws and lynx-like paws allowed her traction over both ice and snow. The princess scrambled franticly through the ballroom, while a delighted snow dragon chased after her.
Elsa suppressed a dragon-y laugh. This was great! She didn't even have to strain herself to catch Anna, who was usually the faster one. In fact, she was holding herself back, and still had no trouble keeping up with her little sister.
Anna tripped over her own feet and landed on the floor with an oomph! She tried to scrabble back up, but Elsa was too fast. In a flash, the dragon princess was towering over her sister, and Anna was trapped.
Anna yelped and threw her hands up in front of her face. "Fearful dragon, don't eat me!"
Elsa fake-roared and pulled a fierce expression. Anna begged and pleaded, (through bursts of laughter) but Elsa was adamant. She breathed a small puff of snowflakes at Anna's face, then thumped her head down onto Anna's chest.
Anna, grinning, played her part. "Aargh!" She groaned. "No! Now the big scary dragon is going to eat me! No...My family...my prince...my kingdom... ahh..." she closed her eyes and flopped dramatically onto the floor.
Elsa shape-shifted back to a reasonably human form. "You've been reading too many stories," she said gleefully. "I didn't even have to tell you your lines!"
Anna bounced up. "I love the fairytales! They're so fun! Especially the ones were the dragon and the princess become finds and defeat the evil prince!"
Elsa smiled, showing a noticeable amount of sharp teeth. "Well, we already completed a part of that story." She giggled, tail swishing behind her. "Now all we need is a prince!"
They both laughed. Elsa turned almost fully dragon again, but before they could start a new game of chase, Anna asked her sister one last thing.
"Elsa?"
"Yes, Anna?"
"Will you protect me from an evil prince, if one did attack us?"
She hugged the snow dragon, her head resting on the dragon's wing shoulder.
Elsa turned her head and rested her chin on top of her little sister's head.
"Always," she whispered, and though she spoke dragon, both princesses knew exactly what she said.
A/N: A little continuation of the playtime, the accident, and a sum-up follow this prologue chapter. Then the real fun begins ;)