A/N: So this is the first time I've written anything like this, it's pretty AU. If anyone who reads this is actually knowledgeable about Nordic and/or Celtic mythology, I apologize in advance since I butcher it about as much as Disney did with Greek mythology in Hercules. One thing to note: In Nordic mythology, Gods could die in battle. I've carried on this concept in the story. I hope you enjoy this, and would appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions you might have. No flaming please

Odin rubbed his forehead in frustration. He couldn't say for sure how long current argument had been going on between the Gods of the North and the South, but their constant bickering was beginning to try his nerves. They had been feuding for centuries and at one point there had even been war between the two factions. He was doing what he could to prevent that from happening again, but he feared it was inevitable. He'd brought the entire Pantheon together to the Great Hall in an attempt to come to an agreement, however he was starting to lose patience with both sides.

"Enough," he roared, rising from his throne, abruptly silencing both sides. "I have had about as much of this as I can take!"

"Well, if the Northerners weren't so unreasonable…" Adelric, representing the South, trailed off. The God of Summer wore a condescending smirk.

"I hardly think asking you control your baser urges to be unreasonable," came the heated response. Adelric looked over to the speaker just to be met with a pair of angry ice blue eyes.

"Elsa, so judgmental," he replied with a smug smile. He had never liked the Winter Goddess and relished any opportunity to go after her. "You act as if it is our fault those mortals are so… tempting…"

"Temptation is not the issue here," Odin interrupted, "for no one can escape its whispers. The standard by which we are judged by is how we fight its calling."

"That's just it," Elsa countered angrily, "they don't even try to fight it, they just take! They act as if it is their right to use humans as they see fit, damn the fallout!"

"The strong always conquer the weak," Adelric replied, sounding bored. "They should be grateful we give their meaningless lives purpose."

"Is there nothing you will do to stop this," Elsa asked, turning to face Odin.

He sighed heavily as he sat back into his throne. "You already know the answer," he said wearily. "I do not approve of how they treat mortals, however, I will not condemn what Adelric and his brethren have done. It is not my place to dictate what is done in their domain."

"So be it," Elsa said, disappointed in her old friend. She turned to face the Gods and Goddess who stood with her to make sure they were in agreement. She made eye contact with her brother who stood at her side. He gave her a small smile that helped boost her confidence. Stealing herself, she turned to address Odin and the Southern deities. "Then in protest the Gods of the North remove themselves from the Pantheon." She paused at the collected gasp of everyone present. She turned to Odin, matching the anger in his eyes with her hard expression. "We cannot stand by as these abuses continue. If the Pantheon refuses to do what is right, we will remove ourselves from it."

"You would start a war," Odin thundered.

"No, we leave in peace," Elsa stated calmly. "Any war that may come will not be started by us. I cannot change what is done in another's domain, but I will not allow it in mine."

"Is that a threat, Huntress," Adelric asked with a smirk.

"As you are aware," Elsa answered calmly, "the bow I carry is not just for show." The God of Summer narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Elsa, Goddess of Winter, the Hunter, and Death, always carried a black longbow and a quiver of arrows. She had been known to use it to slay immortals who would threaten the people who worshiped her, and during the great war she had personally slew Adelric's parents with several well placed arrows.

"Are you sure this is the path you wish to take," Odin asked.

"It is."

"Very well," he sighed. He watched Elsa lead her supporters out of the hall that had grown completely silent as Adelric and his brothers sent venomous looks to the Northern deities. He feared despite the Winter Goddess' promise of peace that war was on the horizon, and it would be the mortals she wished to protect who would suffered…

Seven years later

Anna quickly ran and hid behind a tree, trying to outsmart her older brother. She was supposed to be helping Kristoff with chores around the farm. When he wasn't looking she slipped away to explore the woods surrounding her home. She didn't understand why it was such a big deal when she wanted to go play outside; she was too small to help out much anyway. She looked around and tried to control her breathing as she heard her brother get closer. It was only the middle of fall, but already the trees were completely bare and the threat of snow was ever-present. There were rumors that to the south the opposite was true, that they seemed to be in the midst of an unending summer.

The priests at the temple warned of trouble in the Pantheon as the reason. They said the Adelric, God of Summer and patron to the southern kingdoms along with his twelve brothers had declared war against Skadi, the Goddess of Winter and the other deities of the North. The priests had no answer as to what could have started this feud, however, warned of dark days to come. Some of the villagers started to grumble about this. "The Gods feud and us mortals are caught in the crossfire," Anna overheard a passerby rant. Personally, Anna hoped the warnings were true, she much preferred the winter months to the summer. She loved playing in the snow and making snowmen.

"Anna! Come on! I don't have time for your games," Kristoff shouted, forcing Anna back to the task at hand. He was only two years older than her, but liked to act like he was already a man and was so much better than her. It was for this reason she enjoyed getting the better of him. Speaking of which…

She managed to control her breathing and remain still as her brother walked right past where she was hiding. She brought her mittened hands to her mouth to help stifle a snicker. The ten year old didn't want to give herself away when she was this close to freedom.

Once she was sure he was out of earshot she took off in the opposite direction, her long auburn braids flowing behind her as she ran. She took care to make sure the cloak she wore to block the chill didn't catch on anything, but that distracted her from watching for obstacles in her path. She didn't see the tree root sticking up from the ground, and next thing she knew she tripped and slid forward on the dead leaves.

"Oww," Anna whined as she sat up on her knees and rubbed the elbow that had taken the brunt of her fall. It was then she heard a whimper nearby. She looked around and saw a young wolf shaking in fear hiding under a fallen log. "Hey little guy," Anna said moving towards the pup, pain in her elbow quickly forgotten. The wolf was covered in black fur, almost completely blending to the darkness of the log. In fact, if it hadn't been for the bright blue eyes, she would never have seen the wolf at all. In her excitement she rushed the pup with her usual grace, or rather lack thereof, causing her to trip once more. Scared, the wolf backed up further to get away from the strange human. Anna got up and forced herself to calm down. She took a deep breath, extended her left hand, and said softly, "It's ok lil' guy, I'm not gonna hurt you."

The wolf still looked frightened as Anna moved closer. "You can sniff me, it's ok. Promise I won't move too fast, which is really hard for me as you just saw. I always try to be careful, but I just get too excited. But I promise I'll try real hard to go slow cause I think you're adorable and I don't want to scare you. Are you hungry," she asked as she inched closer. "I don't got a lot, but I don't mind sharing. It's just a piece of venison jerky I swiped from my brother when he wasn't paying attention. Honestly, I think it's kinda gross, but it's funny to see him get mad when he sees I've taken it." Anna giggled at the thought of Kristoff's face when he realized not only she slipped by him, but got his jerky as well. With her free hand she slowly opened the satchel that was hidden by her grey cloak and pulled out the jerky. The wolf immediately started sniffing the air and zeroed in on her hand. "Here ya go," Anna said extending the food.

The pup cautiously left the safety of the shadows, eyes darting between Anna and the jerky. He was bigger than she had initially thought, looking closer to the size of a herding dog. She could tell he was still young, despite his size. When the wolf was just out of arms reach, he refused to get any closer, just looking at the food and whining. Taking pity on the hungry animal, Anna gently tossed the jerky towards him. She watched the wolf quickly lunge for the piece before taking it and running off. Anna smiled to herself as she watched the black fur blend in with the shadows cast by the trees in the waning light.

"ANNA!"

Uh-oh, this time it was her mother voice, best to be off before Papa came looking for her. She turned to run towards her home, but not before casting one last look back in the direction the wolf had run off. "Don't worry lil' guy," she said softly, "I promise I'll bring more tomorrow."

The next day she returned to the log with more jerky. The wolf was nowhere to be found, although Anna could have sworn she felt someone watching her the entire time. She looked around for a bit before giving up and leaving the jerky by the log she had found the wolf the day before.

When she came back the day after, with more food in hand (just in case) she saw the food she left previously was gone. Smiling, she crouched down to put more in its place. As she rose, she saw blue eyes watching her from under a rock ten feet away. Anna backed away slowly to show she wasn't a threat as the pup came out of his hiding spot to sniff what she had left. Never taking his eyes off her he grabbed it and ran off again.

This trend continued for over a week until one day she came by with her normal delivery in a small cloth sack just to see a trout sitting where she normally left food. Confused, she put down her bundle to pick up the fish and examine it. Feeling eyes on her, she turned to see the wolf in the shadow of a large tree watching her intently. As soon as their eyes meet, he got an almost hopeful expression and his tail started wagging. Anna smiled and taking a piece of jerky out of the bag held it out to the wolf. This time, he came right up to her, took the food from her hand before sitting next to her.

"Hi there," she said, goofy smile plastered on her face. "I'm Anna, it's nice to finally see you up close." His intelligent eyes seemed to be studying her at the same time she was looking him over. "You need a name," Anna said decisively. "I would have done it sooner, but every time I see you you're always hiding in the shadows… Hey! That's it! I'll call you Shadow! How's that sound?" He seemed to huff in approval before rolling on his back, exposing his neck. Anna was speechless, her father trained the village war dogs; she knew this move was extremely significant. She fought back tears as she looked over the wolf's belly, where she discovered with some amusement that she'd been making a mistake. "Oops," she said with a small giggle, "guess I should've been calling you lil' girl, not lil' guy."

Behind her a twig snapped, causing Shadow to immediately bolt up and getting between Anna and the noise. The wolf crouched and started growling low, hackles raised. Just then Kristoff came through the tree line. "Anna! Is this where you've been running off every…" His sentence trailed off as he noticed the wolf snarling at him.

"Shadow, no! It's ok, that's just my stupid brother," Anna said quickly before the situation got worse. The wolf, reading Anna's reaction to know he wasn't a threat, relaxed somewhat, but still kept an eye on Kristoff.

"Anna, what the name of all the gods are you doing," her brother demanded, keeping a nervous eye on the animal. "Do you have any idea what that is?"

"Her name is Shadow," Anna answered definitely.

"She's a dire wolf," Kristoff explained. "You can tell by her size and coloring. If the village council finds out about her they'll send out a hunting party to kill her."

"No," Anna cried, wrapping her arms around the wolf. In response to her distress, Shadow started grumbling low in her throat.

"Listen to me," Kristoff pleaded earnestly, "she's going to get bigger, much bigger. She's already the size of a war hound, by the time she's fully grown she'll be the size of a colt. The last time a dire wolf was near the village, it attacked the sheep herds and even killed a few children."

"Shadow would never do that," Anna insisted, tears spilling.

"But the village elders won't take any chances. Do you love Shadow," Kristoff asked, kneeling in front of his sister while still keeping a safe distance from the wolf.

"Yes…"

"Then you have to let her go. It's the only way to keep her safe."

"Ok," hiccupped through tears. She could feel her heart breaking as she looked at wolf that had become such a large part of her life after such a short time. Shadow sensed her sadness and let out a small cry before nuzzling Anna's face. "Bye Shadow," she whispered around her tears. "I'll never forget you."

"Go on," Kristoff said quietly. "I'll make sure she moves on."

"Promise you won't hurt her," Anna demanded, her arms still around the wolf's neck.

"I promise," he replied, placing a hand over his heart. "Besides, you can see I'm unarmed. There's no way I could take on a dire wolf with my bare hands."

Satisfied her brother wouldn't harm her friend, she squeezed Shadow on last time before running off without looking back.

Both wolf and boy watched her leave before Kristoff turned to the animal. "They say dire wolves are the most intelligent animals in the forest; that you are clever enough to speak and wise enough to know not to. That's what my Nan used to say, anyway." He watched as the wolf seemed to huff in approval. "You understand that I don't want to hurt you, right? This isn't personal, but the village elders won't let you be. You have to run, do you understand?" She whined and started to paw the ground in the direction Anna ran, clearly wanting to go after.

Kristoff watched, saddened he couldn't take Shadow with him, the connection to his sister was obvious. If things could have been different, she would have been loyal companion and protector for his little sister. "They'll punish her, you know," he said softly. Shadow's eyes immediately snapped to his and she let out a small growl. "The law is clear, we cannot allow a dire wolf to live near the village. After they kill you, they'd punish her for taking care of you. And me, if it matters to you, for not telling anyone I saw you. Do you understand now? For Anna's sake, you have to run."

The wolf gave a small cry before getting up and slowly starting off in a direction opposite from the path Anna took. Kristoff watched her trudge away with sad eyes, before looking down and seeing the small sack Anna had initially brought up. He opened it and let out a small laugh when he saw his jerky. 'So that's where it's all been going,' he ruefully thought to himself. He looked at the wolf's retreating form before making a split decision.

"Wait," he called out as he stood and reached into the satchel he always had on him. He pulled out a few more pieces and added it to the ones Anna had stolen from him. He slowly approached the wolf who was watching him closely and held out the sack. "May the Gods guide your path."

The wolf seemed to judge him for a long minute before reaching out and gently taking the sack between her teeth. She turned and headed out deep into the woods, quickly vanishing into the shadows. Kristoff stood there for a long moment before heaving a sigh and heading home to comfort his sister.