Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen or Rise of The Guardians.
Chapter 1: The River
Elsa took a gasp of air as she woke up. She soon realised that she was sitting in the shallow end of the river that ran from one end of town to the other. She was completely wet as well, from head to toe. The last thing she remember was walking along the bank of the river and then falling in. She figured that she had blacked out for a moment and drifted upstream. She wondered how much time had gone by since she fell in. Half an hour? Maybe a little longer or less? She didn't think it could have been much longer.
Elsa stood up. The water wasn't very deep. She waded to one edge of the bank and climbed out. She pushed her wet hair out of her face and looked up and down the bank. She figured that Jack, Anna or Kristoff were looking for her. They had been walking down the bank together along with Jack and Elsa's two month year old daughter Sigrid (they had left her twin brother Leif with a neighbour because he had a cold and they wanted to take Sigrid out for a walk) before Elsa had thought she heard something. She had taken off and had come to the river. She had seen something shiny in the water and she peered into the water. That was when she slipped and fell into the water.
She ventured down the bank. She figured that they would be looking for her. She had a good look around. She couldn't see them anywhere. She tried calling their names but she didn't hear a response. She checked the woods around the river. The woods covered a large area. The trees weren't that closely packed so sunlight poured through the trees. A number of different animals lived in these woods. Elsa had known these woods for several years and could easily navigate them. She had a good look around the woods but she couldn't find anyone. The good thing is that the hot sun had dried her clothes in the time she had been running around the woods.
She found it strange that she couldn't find any trace of Jack, Anna or Kristoff. Surely they would be wandering as well, looking for her? She then got an idea. Maybe they had thought she had gone back home. Elsa then headed back to her house. She headed through the woods and back onto the main road. She walked along the main highway. A car passed Elsa along the road. She stared at the car. It was nothing like she had ever seen before. Her eyes never left it. She figured it must be some European import but she didn't think that she had seen something like that.
She continued walking along, her eyebrows narrowed. She decided to shake her head. It didn't take her too long to get back into Burgess. Once she was in it, she saw the familiar houses. However the familiarity didn't last very long. She saw things in Burgess she had never seen before. People she didn't recognise for a starter. Burgess was a small town. Everyone knew everyone. If that was the case, then how come she was passing people she had never seen before? Usually she would put it up to tourists but there can't be this many tourists in Burgess.
New places had popped up. How could new shops have popped up in say half an hour? Something wasn't right here. Elsa passed a clothe store that she had never seen before. She looked at the clothes displayed in the window. They were like nothing she had seen. Her friend Rapunzel was always up to date with the latest stuff so why hadn't she been wearing stuff like this when Elsa last saw her which was only last week? This was impossible.
Elsa tore her gaze away from the window and continued down the street with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Nothing was making sense. Everything was different. How could everything be different? The first answer that came to her was that she was simply in a different town but that was quickly answered when she saw things like 'Burgess Video Store' and 'Burgess Town Square'. She couldn't think of another explanation on why the town had suddenly changed since she left it that morning. Could this all be just a hallucination brought on from the bump on her head? That could be a possibility.
She continued down the main street. Her eyes fell on something familiar at last. It was the book store that Merida worked at. It was called A Date With A Book and it was run by a woman in her thirties called Carol. Merida had been working there since she was eighteen to pay her way through school. Now that they were twenty one and had finished university, Merida had been thinking about quitting to get a better job. Elsa mentally checked what day of the week it was. It was Wednesday and Merida worked on Wednesdays, so she should be in there.
Elsa headed over to the store and pushed open the door. The bell above the door made a clangy sound that told the employees that a customer had entered. Elsa looked at the person behind the counter. It wasn't Merida though. It was a woman who looked a little younger than Elsa with long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail. Elsa wondered where Merida was. She could be in the back room sorting out books. Elsa then headed towards the main counter and the woman standing behind it. She was wearing what looked like employee uniform. It was different to Merida though. That was probably due to the fact that Merida was the store manager and this girl was probably a trainee. Elsa approached the front desk. The woman behind it smiled at her when she approached.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah, is Merida available?" Elsa asked.
"Merida?" the woman looked confused.
"Yeah she works here."
"No Merida works here," the woman looked even more confused now.
"Look she does," Elsa said. "Red frizzy hair, Scottish accent."
Elsa had hoped that describing Merida may have helped the woman remember who she worked with but it looked like the woman was drawing up a blank. The woman told Elsa to wait and an elderly woman came out. She looked at Elsa with a puzzled expression, almost as if she recognised her.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm looking for Merida," Elsa explained. "I was told she doesn't work here but I talked to her this morning and she said she had work and this is where she works."
"I'm sorry but the last Merida we had working for us quit many, many years ago," the elderly woman said.
"That's not possible," Elsa bit her lip. She was extremely confused. Surely Merida would have brought up the fact that she had quit. Maybe the woman was old and confused.
"Maybe you're thinking of another bookstore?" the old woman suggested.
"Maybe," Elsa said even though she knew it was this one.
She thanked the woman and left the store with her head buzzing. Merida worked at that bookstore she was sure of it. Now that she thought about it, the old woman had a name tag that had the name 'Carol' on it. The owner of the bookstore was called Carol. Elsa shook her head. The Carol that Elsa knew was a woman in her mid-thirties not some elderly old lady. Elsa decided to go ask Anna what was going on. Surely she would know.
Elsa headed off to the house that she and Jack lived in along with Anna. Elsa had moved out her parents' home when she was just nineteen and moved in with Jack when her parents had died. They were thinking about living together anyway. Anna had joined them as well and they sold their parents' house. Anna was going to move out soon. Her plan was to find her own place when she finished university. Elsa didn't mind having Anna in the house though. It reminded her of when they were children. She knew that Jack didn't mind either. He loved making waffles and pancakes for them in the mornings.
Elsa walked down the familiar high street to her house and when she got there, she got a rather shocking surprise. Her house looked different. It was bigger and a garage had been added to the house. She had to double check the street address and the number to make sure she had gotten the right house. Something strange was happening and Elsa didn't like it one bit. She walked up to the front door. She didn't have her keys. They must have been washed away in the river. She knocked on the door. She figured that Anna would come bursting out of the house and give her sister a big hug and ask what had happened to her. But when the door opened it wasn't Anna who was there.
A woman with short hair in her mid-fifties answered the door. Elsa stared at her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"What are you doing in my house?" Elsa asked.
"This is my house," the woman looked confused, just as confused as Elsa in fact.
"No, I live here," Elsa said.
"I've lived here for twenty five years," the woman said.
"Look can you just get my sister Anna for me?" Elsa was getting agitated. She was having one of those days.
"Anna?"
"Anna Winters."
"Oh you mean Anna Bjorgman," a look of realisation came over her face. "She was the one who sold me the house."
"What?"
Elsa took a few steps backwards. What was going on? Suddenly she felt the world spinning around and she blacked out.
Anna was in her kitchen. She was currently talking to her niece Sigrid about her upcoming wedding. She was getting married to Jamie's and Emma's son Nathan. They were talking about the different venues which they thinking about having the wedding.
"Sounds good," Anna grinned into the phone. The door opened and Kristoff came in. "Oh your uncle just got home. I better go."
"Okay, thanks Aunt Anna."
Sigrid then hanged up the phone. Anna grinned as Kristoff brought some groceries to the kitchen counter.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"Our niece," Anna smiled.
The phone rang again. Anna picked it up. She recognised the voice coming through it.
"Deidre, hi," Anna said.
Deidre proceed to speak and Anna's eyes got narrower and narrower. Anna then hung up the phone looking bemused.
"What was that about?" Kristoff asked.
"I'm wanted at the hospital," Anna explained. A thought then occurred to her. "The kids-" she said.
Anna quickly called each of them. All three of them answered the phone. Anna then decided that maybe she should head to the hospital to see what this was all about. Anna put her coat on and headed out to the hospital. She ran into Deidre who looked like she was waiting for her.
"What's the matter?" Anna asked her.
"A woman came to my house today saying that it was her house," Deidre explained.
"What?" Anna was intrigued. Maybe the woman just got confused.
"And then she said she was your sister so I decided that it was best to call you to let you know she's in town," Deidre continued.
"Hold on," Anna said.
Anna's head was spinning. Did Deidre really say what Anna thought she had said?
"Did you say my sister?" Anna said.
"Yeah," Deidre nodded. "She's in that room," she pointed to a room, "and she's been waiting for you."
"Deidre that's not my sister," Anna said bluntly.
"How can you tell?"
"My sister died thirty years ago," Anna folded her arms. "That's how."
Deidre put her hand to her mouth. "Then who is that?"
"I don't know, some imposter maybe."
Anna then noticed someone walking towards her. She had long platinum blonde hair tied up in a French braid with little snowflakes decorating it. She was wearing a black jacket with a hood overtop a blue sweater and a pair of faded genes that ended in blue and white sneaker. She also had bright blue eyes. Anna stared at this woman as if she couldn't believe who it was.
It was Elsa.
A/N: So this was a little idea I had for a Jelsa story. Love it? Hate it? Please let me know your thoughts! Please review =)