"Die, Ice Queen!"

Before anyone knew what was going on, before anyone could even think to react, a man with a crazed look in his eye and ragged clothes leapt towards the strolling queen with a sword in hand. Before he got within striking distance, however, a blade spun through the air and embedded itself in the man's leg.

Elsa jumped as he cried out, and instantly moved in front of Anna protectively while throwing an arm out to keep her back. Her mind went into overdrive as her thought process finally caught up to her. The tips of her fingers went cold and her eyes went dark as she moved to freeze his feet to the very ground he walked on...

But she didn't even get the chance. As he staggered, a large wolf of white and cool gray leapt from the crowds and slammed into him with a vicious snarl. Cries and grunts of pain left his lips as the wolf ripped into him.

It wasn't until the beast started talking did everyone realize it was merely a person wearing a wolf's skin, using the beast's head as a hood.

"The only one at risk of death today is you!" A growl ripped from the person. A loud crack! and as a pain-filled scream left the man, both Anna and Elsa winced.

Another garbled cry left the man as his shoulders got slammed against the cobblestone path and the knife was twisted from his leg before the person, posture and movements more animal than human, backed off with an animalistic growl deep in their throat. After wiping the blood from the knife with his shirt, guards overtook the groaning man, and the person looked up from under the snout of their hood.

A sheepish look crossed her face as she turned to face the queen, eyes barely glinting from under her familiar hood as she took a hesitant step towards Elsa. "Are you all right...?"

Anna squeaked and grabbed her sister's hand as Elsa stared with wide eyes. "You weren't a dream..."

"Oh, so you don't usually do things like that, then," The corners of her lips twitched up. "Good. I would have been seriously concerned if that was a habit."

It took Anna a moment to realize this person wasn't a threat, and once she did... "You saved my sister!" She tackled the other in a hug.

Ylva grunted at the sudden weight and staggered to keep from falling, expression comically bewildered and surprised, making Elsa giggle into her hand as she stuttered and stumbled over her words and feet. "Not-not really. She could have handled it, I just-just went on instinct and-! She was more than capable of - oof!" Her breath audibly hitched as the smaller girl squeezed her middle.

The pelt-covered girl looked to Elsa for help before turning back to try and slip out of Anna's grip, only to freeze. Her head shot up to look at Elsa again. Even with the upper half of her face blanketed in shadow, Elsa could see the surprise.

"Wow... you're really pretty." Ylva quickly realized that she was implying she had thought she wasn't, and flushed. "I-I mean, you were before, but your hair was all," She made an exploding gesture, only to turn darker as she stuttered, and Anna pulled away to watch her amusedly. "Not that it made you look any less pretty, but... yeah. It was dark... I couldn't really see you." She coughed and nodded absentmindedly. "I should stop..."

Anna cocked her head to the side, looking between Elsa and Ylva. "Wait, so... you two know each other? Are you friends...?" Before either could answer, the strawberry blonde brightened and beamed at the hooded girl. "You should have dinner with us!"

Her face dropped and her posture slumped. "Wait... what...?"

"Elsa doesn't have many friends," Anna started brightly, bounding around Ylva and hooking her arms through the slightly taller before all but dragging her to Elsa.

"Wait, hold on a sec'-"

"And you seem like a really interesting person! I love your wolf-! Pelt... cloak... thing. It's so... unique!"

"Thank you, but-" The pelt-covered girl spluttered. "I never even agreed to do this! You don't even know me!"

"But Elsa does," The shortest of the three reminded her, hooking her other arm with Elsa's and skipping back towards the castle, "And that's why I wanna know you! Elsa doesn't have many friends..." She faltered mid-skip. "Actually... I don't think she had any friends..." She brightened again before going back to skipping. "But she does now!"

"What if I'm actually a murderer...?" The hooded girl asked dryly. "What if the reason she knows me is that I killed her boyfriend...? Or her dog."

Both of the sisters snorted and smiled, though Anna's was considerably brighter. "Elsa's never had a boyfriend, silly! Or a dog!"

Her voice got a hint of sheepishness as she drawled slowly, venturing, "What if I'm a thief? What if the only reason she knows me is because she caught me in the act, and, say... I don't know," Her eyes rolling to the sky to avoid Elsa's pointed look. "Ended up giving me a bowl of soup...?"

The queen bit back a smile. Subtle... Elsa knew what she was doing... She was trying to gently introduce Anna to the idea of how they knew each other in the first place, as a more of a joke, than anything.

Anna snorted and grinned. "Then, obviously, there was a reason she did." She tried to pull the girls at her side into a skip and giggled as Ylva gave a loud groan of complaint. "And besides... If you really are a thief, you'd be the nicest one I've ever met."

Finally, with a defeated huff and a slump of her shoulders, Ylva sighed. "Well, I tried. And Elsa, if you've really never had one, you need to get one..."

Elsa leaned past Anna to look at the girl and raise a brow. "A boyfriend...?"

"No," Ylva made a face. "Get a dog... I need someone to talk to, and dogs have way more interesting stories to tell than people... You know, I met one that was searching for his owner; he was such a sweetheart."

Anna giggled. "You say that like he actually talked to you."

The girl opened her mouth like she was going to say something, only to change her mind and shrug a shoulder. "Yeah, well... We're going in the castle?" At the sisters nods, she visibly perked up and tried to bite back a grin. "Well, then... this is going to be fun..."


And fun, it was. Elsa watched, an amused smile on her face as Ylva animatedly told the story behind her cloak. Mere moments ago, she had leapt from her chair and onto the seemingly endless table (Ylva's words, not hers), pacing the length as she made several hand motions with her words.

The thief, as Elsa continued to refer to her as in her head, still blushed often, and at first, had been horridly hesitant... But it hadn't taken long for Anna's bright chattering to loosen her up.

Being in the castle as a guest, as opposed to being a thief, did wonders for the odd girl's nerves. She was much more at ease and almost charming, in a blunt, rude way (though, perhaps living on her own in the wilds was the cause of the former). She seemed to have an endless array of stories, ranging from fights with bandits to trekking up the mountains to watch 'spirits dance among the Auroras' and even an amusing tale about getting a black eye from a fish.

She both pitied and envied her. The rough girl had only ever had freedom, but had never had a family. Never had an Anna. And if her claims of being able to speak with canines were anything to go by, the loneliness had taken its toll on her, long ago...

But regardless, despite her rough and somewhat manic exterior, Ylva was a master with words. Elsa could just see the great white wolf circling the girl, jaws snapping and red eyes glowing as he licked his chops, snow whipping about as the two did their deadly dance around the table.

"And then, as he snarled and jumped at me, he clawed at my right eye!" She ran a finger against the still-hooded eye and grinned as Anna gasped. "But I got him back. I thrusted my knife into his side, and as blood poured down my arm and face, he rasped with his dying breath, 'I curse you, to be seen as a monster among men. No longer may you walk among your kind without being cast out!'"

Anna was on the edge of her seat, eyes as wide as the mostly-empty dinner plate in front of her. "And then what?"

Ylva smirked. "I found a loophole."

"But-but what did he do to you?!" She inhaled sharply as a thought struck her. "Did he turn you into a werewolf?!"

She laughed as she stepped over her own empty plate, and leaned down closer to the strawberry blonde's level. "Nothing quite that bad, I can assure you."

"Then what?!" Anna demanded with a desperation.

Elsa could imagine a wink under the hood. "It's a secret." She straightened up and hopped off the table, dropping to the ground with a barely-audible thud. "Anyways, continuing with the story... bloody, but not broken, I dragged the great wolf's sorry hide back to my current hole to skin while I waited out the storm. He's made the best cloak I've had, yet. And the rest of the tale is still in progress, so... ask me to continue in a month or two."

"That's it?!" The excitable girl groaned loudly and plopped back into her seat. "How can you leave it at that?!"

"Very carefully," She chuckled and ruffled the girl's hair, laughing as she grumbled under her breath sourly.

Ylva's attention drew back to the silent, but smiling queen, and she cocked her head to the side. "You've been awfully quiet during the tale; do you have any questions that don't involve what the curse involved?"

Elsa hummed and leaned forward a bit in her seat. "Just one. It has not to do with the story, though, I'm afraid..."

"Well, I don't see a problem with that," The hooded girl stole a bit of roll from Anna's plate and sniggered as the smaller playfully punched her shoulder. "Shoot."

"Do you ever put your hood down?" The queen quirked a brow. "I don't believe I've ever seen you without it... What are you hiding?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Ylva smiled almost condescendingly, and Elsa felt a spark of mild irritation as she did. "And no, ma'am, I'm not taking it off unless you give me something to cover my eye. I have a horrid scar..." She cocked her head to the side. "And since we're asking questions, why do they call you the Ice Queen? I mean, I'm pretty sure that it was something to do with that strange winter storm a few months back, right...? But I never gathered what it was that made people start calling you that"

Anna's head snapped to look concernedly at her sister as Elsa eyed the thief. "You... truly do not know...?"

She flushed and moved to run her hand through her hair, instead just mussing the fur and ears without realizing. "Erm... no, I don't. I'd been on the East Mountain at the time, hunting bears. I could see that there was one hell of a storm, but I was hauling four bear pelts and a small deer at the time. By the time I'd returned, all was well, and the people were calling you the Ice Queen of Arendelle..."

The air went still, and the girl stumbled to correct herself or change the subject as her neck went red. "You know what? I do-don't care to know; just 'Elsa' is grand. You're as kind as anyone I've yet had the pleasure of knowing, and remain to be so, despite our... odd meeting." She awkwardly gave a short bow. "Thank you. Perhaps I should go... Gunnar will be expecting me some day, since he's holding most of my supplies, and I have arrows to make, and then I have to help him with our little project..."

Anna jumped up. "Wait!" The hooded girl did as she asked without a moment's hesitation, surprising and sending the girl into an almost meek silence. "I... sleep-over...? I-I'm sure I can find you an eye patch if you really want, I just really like having another person around, and-"

"Pardon," Ylva gave a puzzled look. "But... sleep-over...? I'm not quite sure what that is, exactly..."

The strawberry blonde's face went through a wide variety of emotions, ranging from shocked to outraged to shocked again, before finally settling into a determined look with a sly smile."You'll see..."

"Do I not have a choice in this?" She asked, half exasperated, half playful.

Anna laughed. "Nope."

"Elsa," The pelt-covered girl shot her a pleading look. "What's going on...? I'm scared for my life..."

A smile tugged at her lips, and she lifted a hand to stifle a giggle at her helpless expression. When it came to Anna and her sleep-overs... she should be.


Author's note~

I NEED TO STOP WRITING THIS AND WORK ON MY OTHER STUFF. Really, I do, but... ngh. This won't leave me alone...

So, a couple people asked me to continue this, despite its overall cruddiness, so... I'm gonna. Yeah. I tried my best :c Still don't know where I'm going with this. Still sorry about its existence. But Imma still try to make it as decent as I possibly can, which isn't much, but it could be worse. This section is just full of so many amazing freaking stories, and then mine is just... meh.

Try to bear with me, please ʕ´ᴥ`ʔ

, Blue