Leaves were crushed under armored boots as a few dozen soldiers stepped through the underbrush. Most were silent, but some carried on conversations. Fewer still were the ones talking about the current situation, the ones who were afraid. Whispers of the "Half-Beasts" made its way between soldiers who couldn't keep their eyes off the forest around them. One soldier went so far as to keep his weapon unsheathed and at the ready, constantly fidgeting and gasping at the sound of every twig snapped under the feet of the many soldiers. Most were brave and willing to take on the mission assigned to them though and refused to show even the slightest of fear at the rumored "Half-Beasts" that were little more than myth. Few however were cowardly, few feared the myth and few looked ready for a fight at any moment. Still none were so cowardly as to think of running, they would fight with their friends whom they'd trained with and lived with for so long now.

But there was one... one cowardly soldier who thought to abandon them all if the rumors were true.

Her name was Elsa, and she had only been a soldier for two days before being sent on this mission. She'd had no time for training, no time for learning how the squadron fought together, nothing. She was given a spear, a cheap and oversized suit of armor and a dusty bed before being told that her training would begin once the ice melted on the training ground. It was never meant to be however, as only two days later, the day the ice melted and training would begin, her troop had recieved orders to go into the woods east of Arendelle to check for the southern ilse's forces.

Elsa did her best to hide her shaking and put even more effort into hiding the fact that she was growing increasingly tired after walking for so long with such heavy armor. Truthfully the armor wasn't heavy by most standards, which explained why all the men around her seemed to show no effort in walking in it, but Elsa was not only a girl, but a peasant who had only done the most basic of work on her family's farm. She had never needed to weild the axe for chopping wood, or to plough away at the dirt for a new harvest. She milked cows and picked vegetables, something that could indeed increase stamina, but not give her the strength required of what a soldier needed to carry equipment.

It was in her best interest not to show weakness though. As far as her troop was knew, she was a boy, a young boy who may not be old enough to be a soldier, but one that they sympathized with and gave no trouble for it. Her family's harvest had not gone well this year, the cold coming in sooner than anyone expected and ruining much of it. She needed this job, this rank in the military to earn money. Everywhere else was full, no bookshop needed help, no tailor willing to hire an apprentice, and maids in the castle were trained younger than Elsa was. She needed something with decent pay, something quick, something that earned money often enough to send home to her family.

That something came in the form of a knight.

Sir Kristoff was a well known knight. He was a peasant himself once, but had risen through the ranks thanks to his prowess with a blade and commendable leadership. Thanks to his origins, he was sympathatic to the poor and was often seen down in the dirty parts of the city, helping the elderly and working a peasants work, something no normal knight would dare be caught doing. He won the people's hearts and his kindness seemed to know no bounds. Which is exactly why Elsa came to him and begged for him to help her find work. He'd tried getting her jobs, but they were always full or she didn't meet the requirements. He'd offhandly recommended the military and Elsa, being desperate, pounced on the offhanded comment.

Thankfully Kristoff thought she was a boy as she later learned. Wearing a hat and baggy pants and a shirt apparantly just made him think she was a boy a few years too young to be in the army. He had lied about her age when recommending her, though truthfully she was older than even that, but she dared not say anything. Why tell him the truth and risk losing out on a job that had good pay compared to the jobs in town.

Why? So she'd continue living, that's why.

Elsa was frightened to say the least. She didn't show it as much as the others, due to her not wanting anyone to think of her as anything other than a too young for the army, but brave boy ready to do anything for his family. If she showed fear then others would pay attention to her more, and if anyone paid too much attention they might notice her breasts and slim hips, things that no boy should be sporting in the army.

Still... Half-Beasts.

Elsa had heard the tales, stories of men and women who abandoned their kingdoms to live amongst the wild. She heard how they threw away all humanity in a ritual to join the animals they so loved. They'd managed to turn themselves into horrible beasts. She heard tales of their contorted limbs, jaws forced out into the shape of a canine's though the skin did not reach, leaving nothing but a set of teeth and gums. She'd been told that they walk on three legs while their bent arms grabbed onto trees to help propel themselves. She'd heard they were massive, easily crushing a man underneath their foot if they so pleased. Too many rumors focused on their disgusting appearance, very little said much about "Them" in general. Did they move in groups? Do they kill before eating, or just eat while their prey is alive? Do they have their own society out in the woods? They were human at one point after all. There was one thing that was said, that was most important to Elsa though.

They eat humans just as quick as they eat any other animal.

Elsa gulped, doing her best not to jump at the sound of another twig snapping. It was hard to tell the distance with so many people around. She wondered if it came from up close and just echoed around the woods, or if the echo came from further away. She hated this, this fear, this feeling of utter terror and feeling like her life was in danger. Never before had she felt this way. Sure, she'd been scared of fights as a kid or milking the cow for the first time, but this was entirely different. This was mankind's oldest fears put together.

Fear of the unknown and fear for your life.

"It's nice to see you're not participating in this nonsense."

Elsa blinked, eyes moving to the left of her to another soldier. His name escaped her, as did most of their names.

"What?" She questioned, deepening her voice for effect.

The soldier rolled his eyes, assuming she deepened her voice because she didn't want to feel embarrassed about being so young. "This "Half-Beast" nonsense." He said, tilted his head up and looking to her right.

Elsa turned her head to see two of the soldiers practically shaking in their armor, jumping at every little sound and whispering to one another about how they were going to be eaten.

"Oh... it's just a fake tale told by bards to amuse the people." Elsa tried, knowing full well that she herself feared the bards' stories.

"Thank the gods that you understand that. Those two will be like that until we're back home." He chuckled, showing off a yellowing smile.

"Yeah." Elsa added noncomittally, focusing far too much on the sounds of the forest as she forced one foot in front of the other.

"So," The soldier began, deciding that Elsa was good enough to talk to during the journey in the woods. "Henrick said you had a family you needed to take care of. Must be a big family if you joined the army as your first choice."

Elsa didn't bother saying that it wasn't her first choice. "I suppose so. I have my parents and two little brothers to look after. We're farmers." She told him the truth, seeing no reason to lie about that.

"Really? I used to help out on a farm once. Think they were the "Galtea's farm"?" He questioned himself. "That's not your last name is it? I don't remember seeing you, but there were several men there."

Elsa shook her head, causing the the cold armor to touch her cheek and the helment to move roughly across her shoulders, the sound causing the two from before to jump the slightest bit. "No, they're against us when it comes to selling goods though." Of course she knew of the Galtea's, they were one of the bigger farms in Arendelle.

"Oh." He said, adding it in just because. "So what's your farm?"

"Wi-" She stopped, teeth snapping shut. Elsa realized just in the nick of time that the man could possibly recognize her last name. If he worked with farms, its possible he had heard of hers. Most people who did know of her farm, knew that she was the eldest, a girl, and that her brothers were too young to do any of the heavy work. The only conclusion to draw would be that there is no son old enough to be working the farm and therefore...

"Why don't you mind your business?" Elsa said cruelly, not really meaning to, but not knowing what else to do to get him to drop that particular subject.

"What?" He was shocked to say the least. "What's your deal, Larsa?" He asked, somewhat angry, but quite used to conversations going sour.

Larsa. It was the name she'd gone under when joining the military. "Elsa" wasn't exactly very manly.

"Nothing, just keep your business to yourself, and i'll do the same." Elsa told him.

His face twisted into a grimace and his mouth opened to say something.

The only thing to come out however was a final gasp.

Elsa watched as what looked like a branch had lodged itself into his throat. No blood splashed from the wound, but the cough he gave sent several droplets of life essence onto Elsa's shocked face. Elsa, not thinking, let out a cry that was certainly not manly.

"What's going on?!" She heard her captain yell out. Soldiers around her were instantly readying their weapons, while three of them attempted to help the man whose throat was beginning to swell around the branch.

Only it wasn't a branch.

Elsa realized that what looked like a piece of a tree, was actually much too needle shaped to be a twig of any kind. It looked like a giant barb, like an oversized dandelion's seed head.

"It's Jacqouel! He's hurt!" A soldier tending to the man yelled.

Elsa watched as another oversized barb stabbed with deadly accuracy into the man's neck who just spoke. She backed up, turning every which way, trying to figure out where they were coming from. Elsa gripped her spear so hard she was certain she was going to snap the wood that the spearhead was mounted on.

"Oh gods!"

Elsa heard a scream and soon after a roar. She turned, heart slamming into her chest. A massive beast was hurdling towards them, two paws on the ground at a time as the wolf shaped monstrosity slammed its feet into the ground to gain momentum. It was twice their size, hell the thing was as large as a peasants house. Elsa watched in horror as the men tried to ready themselves, but soon it barreled into them, teeth gnashing as it grabbed onto one soldier and crushed him and his armor as though it were nothing. Elsa heard his inhumane wail, that sound of death, a garbled exclamation filled with blood and what little strength was left to give out one last desperate cry for help.

She pulled her spear up, scared, frozen, her body unable to decide between fight and flight. She heard battle cries from the men as they raced over to attack, several of them swearing vengeance upon the beast and damning it to hell. Whatever the creature was, it did not care, it threw the body at the remaining troops, knocking three over and rushing for more. Elsa could see now that it had three rows of sharp teeth and three eyes. Two of its eyes were in the commonplace for a wolf, while the third sat right between the two on its head.

"This is for Riksan you bastard!" A man screamed just before an oversized paw with talons ripped through his armor and split his jaw and chest open, leaving him gargling.

A new sound was heard, a sound akin to the howling of a dog, yet with enough ferocity and venom to it to sound more like a calling of death. It reminded Elsa of stories about werewolves and the like, but she doubted a werewolf would sound so damn large.

That was enough for her.

Elsa bolted, like the coward she was. She was no soldier, no idol to look up to. She was just a farm girl, a peasant who needed money. Distantly she recognized the voice of her captain yelling for "Larsa", but Elsa paid it no heed. She ran, spear in hand, armor clanking and banging together. A vile thought entered her mind, one that almost made her stop and turn back. It was something so unlike her, so horrible. Never would she think herself capable of it, yet it rang throughout her ears and sounded reasonable.

Please let them slow it down, let them be eaten, not me!

That's when she began to cry, when she realized that she could think something so terrible about those who were kind to her, those who sympathized with her situation, even though they did not know she was a girl. Still, she wouldn't stop, she couldn't die here. She didn't want to die like this. She didn't want to be torn apart by otherworldly beasts, she wanted to grow old, to have a family of her own, to die surrounded by those she loved, not in some forest where they will eventually find her bloody remains to ship back to her family for burying.

So she ran.

Elsa didn't know how long she ran, but she knew it wasn't long at all. It didn't take long for one of those beasts to find her. Perhaps it was the clanking armor or her hurried breaths. Maybe it was her crying. Perhaps they smelled the piss she'd messed herself with. Who knows? The end result was Elsa stopping in place as another large beast broke into her path, after running from behind her.

Elsa cried, cried harder then she ever had in her life. She backed away slowly, spear dropping to the floor as she knew it was useless against such a foe. She felt that sickening lump in her throat, felt the tears burn and slide down her face. She didn't want to die, she really didn't.

But before her was a another creature, this one seeming wolflike, but in reality, walking on four legs and the body's general shape was all that was in common. The beast had horns, two of them that ran along the side of its head towards the back. Its maw was opened, showing two rows of jagged teeth. While this beast had two eyes, the eyes were slit like a snake or cats, blue-green in color, but no less menacing. It moved forward, mouth opening in a roar, a roar that sent the foul breath of blood to flood Elsa's senses. That's when she realized its fur, while red in nature, was colored a deeper crimson around its mouth.

This one had already had its share of blood, and would likely want more.

Elsa fell to the ground after the roar, looking up in terror as it advanced on her.

"Please..." Elsa begged, not knowing who she was begging to. She didn't know if she was asking the gods for help or if she was actually hoping the beast would listen.

Either way, it seemed her begging had some effect.

The beast, for the first time, made real eye contact with Elsa. She watched as it stopped cold, mouth slowly closing. Elsa was shaking though, feeling like her life was still in danger despite the beasts sudden change in mood. The red furred creature stepped forward slowly, sniffing at the air around Elsa before moving directly to sniffing her. Elsa nearly died right there, or rather passed out. She didn't know what was happening, but she wanted to leave, to live. She sat up off the ground, one hand feeling something cool between its fingers. She looked only with her eyes, not daring to move her head, and saw the spear she'd dropped beneath her left hand. She looked back towards the beast who was still looking at her and sniffing at her like some dog.

Maybe it was stupid, but Elsa's next move was a significant one.

Thinking that the beast, while unnatural, was like other animals, She hoped its brain was in its head and that like everything else on the planet, would die if its brain was damaged heavily. She gripped her spear, watching in horror as the beast noticed her action and let its eyes fall to her hand. She screamed, swinging her left arm up with the spear and aiming for the beast's right eye. Though her aim was true and she hit the head and certainly where the brain would be, she missed the eye. Her strength not enough to pierce through the beasts hard skull and instead only giving it a flesh wound.

The creature roared, one arm instinctively flew out and swiped at her. Its massive paw sent Elsa flying, her cry being cut short when she slammed into a tree, banging her head on the thick oak. She fell to the ground, eyes barely open and head ringing. She tried to move her body with no success. The last things she saw were the red hued paws making their way towards her and a low, menacing growl accompanying them.

"Please..." Elsa begged one last time before passing out.

A/N: Story was taken down before because of irl drama. I won't bother going into details, its all my fault that the story was taken down and that's that. Story is back though and i couldn't be happier to be writing it again.

Anyway, thanks for viewing =).