Chapter VII

"You did what with my money?!"

Anna squeezed her eyes shut in wait of the blow that was sure to come, but when it never did after the passing of a few seconds, she chanced opening them. She was on her knees before the "King"—she was supposed to be groveling, she realized with an internal roll of her eyes—said leader not looking too happy while towering above her. Bryce stood off in the distance, smirking deviously, and Anna knew she had him to thank for her current predicament. Daniel stood behind her, so silent she was sure he could have snuck out without being noticed, but she was secretly grateful he hadn't left her to endure this all on her own.

"Don't make me ask again, bitch!"

When the King made a move to strike Anna, Daniel finally lashed out.

"Hans!" he shouted. "Don't!"

The King, Hans, glared over Anna's shoulder as he barked, "Don't you dare stand up for her, Daniel! Just because you're crushing over her doesn't mean she gets off free!"

If Anna hadn't been so busy concealing her fear, she may have been taken by surprise that Daniel supposedly had a crush on her. At this moment in time, however, it seemed like the least of all things she should be thinking about.

"I returned the money!" Anna finally bit out to Hans. "It wasn't yours to take; and I'm not going to be used as some pawn anymore! You want to steal money, do it yourself!"

"What did I tell you, King?" Bryce snorted from the corner.

"Shut it!" Hans bellowed, not taking his eyes off Anna.

Kneeling before her, he took her chin in his hands and smiled as if he were addressing a young child. It took all of Anna's willpower not to spit in his face.

"My dear, have you forgotten where your loyalties lie?" he asked, his voice suddenly quieting to an eerily calm tone. "Last time I checked, you were a member of the Royals."

"I am," Anna replied. "But I wasn't aware being a member would automatically make me a servant!"

Hans simply chuckled. "And what did you think your membership entitled you to?"

Anna didn't have an answer for him. She knew her hopes of family and friends had been dashed by this point, and telling Hans that would surely just bring her more embarrassment and suffering.

"You wanted family?" he spat at her, throwing her face from his grasp like she had burned him. "Friends? You really came to the roughest gang in town for those?"

Anna just looked away, fiercely biting back her tears.

"Where did you hear that, a book you found in one of your many homes?"

She jerked her head up at that. How did he know?

"How did I know?" he read her thought. "Why, from your boyfriend, of course! He just can't shut up about you!"

Anna looked over her shoulder at Daniel, tears evident at his betrayal. The brown-haired boy just turned his gaze to the floor, looking anywhere but Anna.

"Guess when you all were spilling your secrets to each other, you failed to mention you're gay!" Hans added with a laugh. "But don't leave Daniel out next time you fawn over that blonde dyke of yours! I'm sure he'd love to watch! Wouldn't you love some woman-on-woman fucking, Daniel?"

Her anger boiled over the edge and she leapt up from her spot on the floor.

"Shut the fuck up, Hans!" she shouted.

She hadn't even made one move towards him when Bryce came up behind her and kicked her in the back of the knee, bringing her to the floor once again. Hans just leered down at her.

"This is why we never allow girls in," Hans growled. "You all are too weak. I knew from the start you wouldn't last long and I was right. But hey, I needed some entertainment."

"Bastard," Anna growled out.

Hans bent before her once more. "What was that, sweetheart?" His sickly kind tone had returned.

This time Anna did spit in his face. "You're a bastard!" she yelled.

CRACK!

Anna hadn't even seen the hit coming. She literally hadn't even known what hit her until she found her head turned to the left, her right cheek stinging like a bitch.

"I don't believe that's the proper way to address your King, my dearest Anna."

"You're no king, Hans," she said, her voice holding strong despite the tears leaking from her eyes from the pain of his hit. "In fact, you're no better than I am. How was your childhood, hm? Let me guess: daddy was a drunk and beat your mom all the time? You tried to intervene sometimes and then he'd hit you too? Maybe you didn't even have a mom, and daddy took out his grief of having to raise a devil like yourself on his own on you?" Anna managed to grin. "Am I close?

CRACK!

Okay, Anna had seen that one coming. But the rage and barely suppressed hurt—she had apparently been right about something—on Hans' face made it totally worth it.

"That's it, bitch, you're definitely getting it now!"

Anna barely heard Daniel yell at Hans to stop before all she could comprehend was pain. She tried to hold out, refusing to give in immediately to give Hans the gratification he was seeking, but it inevitably became too much and she surrendered to the darkness beckoning.

XxXxX

Each day that passed with no sight of Anna made Elsa's heart ache. She knew it was good Anna was keeping her distance, but that didn't mean Elsa had to like it. She didn't have any way to find out where Anna was; she didn't have a way to find out if she was okay; she didn't know how to find out if she herself was okay. Elsa tried to suppress her fears, but despite her best attempts, she went through the week with a dull ache in the pit of her stomach at all times.

"I'm worried, Kristoff," she expressed one day before their class started. "Do you think she's okay?"

Kristoff looked up from copying her notes into his notebook and gave her a sympathetic look.

"I don't know, Elsa, honestly. I don't know her as well as you do." He pushed her notes back to her, before adding, "But from what I was able to gather in our short meeting, she seems to have some fire in her. She can hold her own."

Elsa smiled her appreciation at her friend. It didn't last long, however, as it soon faltered.

"It's just…she returned the money, Kristoff. That's leagues different than simply ditching the gang for me. That's… That's like…looking at notes on your palm during a quiz to cheating off the Internet on your GRE!"

Kristoff couldn't help but chuckle at Elsa's analogy.

"They could really hurt her…"

His smile instantly vanished at the hurt and fear in his friend's voice. Reaching over, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You really care about her, don't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. They had never really talked about the two girls' "relationship" until now. "I can't really explain it, Kristoff; I don't even know her that well, but…I feel like I've known her my whole life at the same time. I feel this sort of obligation to her; to protect her. Hell, I think I'm attracted to her, Kristoff…"

A few moments' silence passed between them as each tried to think of what to say.

"At least we know why we didn't work out, now," Kristoff eventually quipped.

Elsa let out a small chuckle, but she couldn't hide the fact that it changed to a slight sob in the end.

"Elsa, I'm sorry; that wasn't the best time to joke," the male apologized.

"No, it's fine," she told him. "I know you're just trying to cheer me up."

"As your self-employed body guard, it's one of my many duties!"

That time Elsa laughed without it turning into a meek cry. She sighed heavily as she tried to get her emotions under control, knowing class was to start in just a few minutes. Worrying wasn't going to do anything, and with the situation out of Elsa's hands at the moment, there was nothing else she could do.

"In all seriousness, Elsa," Kristoff spoke up, "as bad as it sounds, you have to try to put it out of your mind. Worrying's not going to help Anna or you; it's just going to make things worse. If Anna gets into trouble, I know, and you should as well, that you'll be the first person she'll seek out. But until then…"

Sighing once more, she agreed with her friend. Giving his hand a gentle squeeze as silent thanks, the two friends turned their attention to the front of the room as the professor walked into the room.

Still, Elsa found it incredibly difficult to pay attention to lecture.

After her criminology class she had music performance. Bidding Kristoff farewell, she took off to the music building, hoping today her professor would just let them play. She needed to get all this pent up emotion out of her and music was easily her favorite form of release. Sleep and Netflix worked fine, but there was nothing like the feeling of expressing herself through song; whether it was printed on a sheet in front of her or springing from her imagination on a dime.

Thankfully, her professor instructed her class to practice on their own upon her arrival. They had been working on a project for the past few weeks in which they were supposed to write their own sheet music and then perform it to the class for a grade. While most of the songs Elsa played of which she wrote herself came straight from memory and were never translated to paper, she had learned just writing music had a soothing effect as well.

Taking her spot in a lone corner of the room, Elsa sidled up to a table which held an electric keyboard and sheets upon sheets of empty music—waiting to be filled in by her genius. Before she attempted to work, Elsa took out her phone and plugged in her earphones. She began to play one of her own works she had recorded onto her phone as she found it easier to transfer onto paper that way.

Soon enough, worries of Anna and the Royals vanished as they were replaced with the soothing notes of piano and occasionally Elsa's singing.

Elsa knew the peace was not to last, but for this moment, it was good enough.

XxXxX

Pain. That was all she was aware of.

Every step, every breath was just pain.

Anna didn't even know how she had made it onto the streets. She recalled coming to in an empty room and barely remembered the pool of crimson she had been laying in. Before she knew it, she was stumbling out of the building, bumping into everything she came across and falling to the ground more than she cared to count.

She was honestly surprised a cop hadn't stopped her yet. She could easily pass as a drunk from a distance.

Tripping over her feet once more sent Anna plummeting to the ground. Resting on her hands and knees, she gave herself the chance to try and account for her injuries. Her left eye was definitely swollen, the knuckles on her right hand could clearly be labeled as broken and she figured several of her ribs were broken by the way it hurt every time she attempted to breathe.

Getting back up on unsteady feet, she continued on her way. Where, she didn't know yet. Knowing how her feet seemed to have been working the past few weeks though, she had a good idea.

Elsa.

Please don't turn me away. I need you now more than ever.

Soon enough, she found herself in a familiar parking lot and never before had she been so happy to see a car. She could vaguely remember the black Ford Focus that was Elsa's, and seeing it sitting in that lot was her beacon of hope. It was her haven. Elsa would find her. She was safe here. Stumbling to the car, Anna collapsed beside it, breathing in heavy, painful gulps of air.

Elsa would find her here.

It was only a matter of time.

Anna passed out with a smile on her face.

XxXxX

That night found Elsa at work yet again. Having had only a few nights pass since the robbery, their Starbucks was dead, but Elsa didn't mind. She was glad there wasn't anyone there to ask about what had happened. She didn't want anyone to know she was the girl that had been held at gunpoint. She didn't want that kind of attention.

She didn't want anything to possibly come back to Anna.

When she had returned the money to Kai the night of, he had been speechless to say the least. Thankfully, he hadn't questioned how she had managed to get it back; he had simply thanked her repeatedly before wrapping her in a big hug, glad his longest-standing employee was safe. Elsa had hugged him back and that had been that. He didn't say anything to her on her shift the following morning, nor had he said anything tonight.

Olaf, on the other hand, had been full of conversation. While he wasn't questioning anything, he was incessantly talking to Elsa about the whole affair, marveling at the fact that they had actually been robbed by the Royals as if they had survived the Holocaust. Elsa wanted to find it annoying, but she couldn't help but be amused by the boy's excitement. The fact that he was able to turn such an event into a delightful affair was beyond Elsa, but it was definitely more welcomed than her brooding had been.

The purple R had been removed from the store's floor, and with that it was like the event never happened—if only Olaf would shut up. The money was returned, the damaged was fixed, no one had been hurt, everything was as good as new.

Almost, Elsa thought grimly, allowing thoughts of Anna to consume her once again.

Her music performance class had done wonders to clear Elsa's mind. Not once had the redhead crossed her mind and if the robbery hadn't been such a fresh wound of her work establishment, Elsa was certain it would have stayed that way. However, work to her would now always be a place filled with Anna. Anna across the street waving at her, Anna introducing herself outside, Anna seeking out Elsa when she hadn't been working, Anna trying coffee for the first time before being hit by sugar packets, Anna being forced to rob her; Anna was everywhere.

"Elsa? Olaf?" she heard Kai call from the back.

Elsa turned as her manager stepped to the front. Olaf came up beside her.

"I don't think it's going to get any busier tonight so one of you can go home if you'd like," he said. "I'll let you all decide who that will be."

When he left, Olaf immediately turned to Elsa.

"You go on, Elsa."

"Really?"

Olaf nodded. "I know I make light of the robbery, but you experienced it right there. I'm sure you're still not completely over it. You need to take time to recover. Recuperate! Plus you have school and all. I bet college is tough, huh? You don't need a robbery on top of that!"

Elsa merely chuckled as she pulled the boy into a hug.

"You're so thoughtful, Olaf," she praised, kissing his head and causing the boy to blush. "I appreciate your concern."

"You're my friend, Elsa! You deserve my concern!"

Thanking him again, Elsa went to the back to inform Kai she was the one leaving before clocking out. She left the coffee shop and immediately shivered. So much for spring. The weather had been erratic the past few days; warm one day and cold the next. Today had been nice, but now that the sun was down, there was a bit of a chill in the air. Elsa looked forward to curling underneath a blanket and watching Netflix when she got home.

Needless to say, upon seeing the battered figured curled against her car, those thoughts quickly fled Elsa's mind.

"Anna!"

Crossing the lot in a run, she immediately knelt before her red-haired friend. Anna seemed to be unconscious, although she was shivering from the chill.

"Anna, can you hear me?"

Elsa gently shook the girl's shoulder, but received no response. Biting her lip, Elsa shook her again.

Still nothing.

"Oh, Anna," she breathed, taking in the sight before her.

Anna's left eye was black and swollen shut, her nose had dried blood underneath it and her lip was cut; and those were just the injuries on her face. Elsa's eyes tentatively trailed down her body. Her shirt collar was ripped, and the hand that was wrapped around her chest was red with blood. Elsa grimaced as she noticed several fingers seemed out of place. Her eyes traveled further down. Her jeans had holes in both knees as blood leaked through and she was missing a shoe.

Elsa gulped and surprised herself when she had to fight back tears. She knew this was coming, she just wasn't expecting it to be this bad; to hurt this much. Seeing this girl who had been filled with such light reduced to an almost lifeless state terrified Elsa. She knew Anna needed the hospital, but uncertainty washed over her at the same time. Would they recognize her?

Or worse, she thought with a gulp, would the Royals come looking for her there?

"It's okay, Anna; I've got you," she whispered to the unconscious girl. "You're coming home with me. You'll be okay, alright? I promise."

Struggling only slightly, Elsa picked the small girl up before walking to the opposite side of her car to place Anna in the passenger's seat. Buckling her in, Elsa quickly rounded to the driver's side before her Focus peeled out of the parking lot and made a beeline to her apartment.

XxXxX

Anna came to again slowly. The first thing she noticed was that she was moving. Well, she wasn't, but somehow she was. She knew it didn't make sense, but what did at this point? She struggled to move her head, but that only ended up in a bolt of pain.

"Nngh…"

"Hey," a soothing voice said. "You coming to?"

When she didn't answer, the voice spoke again.

"Anna?"

Wait, she knew that voice.

"E-Elsa…?"

She managed to open her eyes—eye, she cringed—and realized then that she was in a car. Elsa'scar. Elsa had found her. She was safe.

A hand came to wrap around her one that wasn't out of commission and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah, it's me," Elsa responded. "You're okay, Anna. I'm taking you to my place, alright?"

"I can't promise I'll be…the best of company," she ground out through her pain.

Elsa rewarded her with a melodic laugh. "That's quite alright; I won't hold it against you."

Elsa took her hand away as she needed it to make a turn. Anna quietly let out a whimper at the loss of contact.

"Go back to sleep, alright?" Elsa then said. "We still have ten minutes to go."

Anna wanted to stay awake, she really did. She tried real hard to keep her eye open, but the pain was too much and the lull of the car's engine was too soothing.

Soon, she blacked out again, but not before feeling the soft hand caress her cheek.

Hey, all! Wow, I just have to thank everyone who has given this story the time of day. Over 100 followers? That's a new record for me! It means a lot, really. Also, as some of you may have noticed, I've upped the rating to M this chapter due to Hans' language and because the language will no doubt return in future installments. It also allows me the freedom to write some frick-frack if I feel I can do so without it being incredibly awkward. There will, however, be plenty of fluff next chapter. Is there such a thing as M-rated fluff?

Reviews are love! How else do us fan fiction writers get paid? ;)

See you all later!