Title: Of the Sea
Summary: AU Princess Anna, sole heir to the throne of Arendelle, has been kidnapped during the ball celebrating her eighteenth birthday. Incidentally, it is also the day a certain icy pirate shows up in Arendelle for a little… business…
Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or its associated characters… I'm just borrowing them for a bit of fun.
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: [Elsa/Anna]; Anna, Elsa, Kristoff
Warnings: None that I know of for this chapter. (Like always, message me if something triggers)
Notes: Here's chapter seven. =D
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Chapter Seven
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Ugh…
They'd left the dirty and loud tavern moments after Kristoff had handed her the note. She'd unfolded it only to wonder why she'd even thought that she'd like the outcome of her visit to Corona—they never ended particularly well when she arrived at any other time outside of her scheduled bi-yearly visits. The last time she'd shown up 'unannounced', a group of bandits had revolted against Rapunzel—and as Rapunzel's cousin, she felt obligated to step in. Needless to say, the bandits still aren't walking quite right. In fact, if it hadn't have been for her cousin, she probably would have gone further since they'd threatened the only family she had left in the world. But that wasn't quite as hectic as the invasion of one, Rolf Quenby. He was the captain of a ship called the "Weselton", and he fancied himself a 'Duke' rather than the ship captain that he was.
The man had been a little weasel. He'd thought to start up a full-scale rebellion in the city that Rapunzel ruled. And Kristoff and Elsa had arrived in Corona for an unscheduled supply stop (they'd been mauled by some manner of beast on the seas), and had happened upon the man charging into the castle to kill the Queen and take her 'kingdom' for himself. Elsa didn't like to think of herself as an angry person, or particularly murderous, but the man had crossed the line. And now—
"Apparently our good friend Kai… found something out." Elsa snatched the parchment out of his hand quickly and opened it up. He was quick to move out of her space, giving her a moment to read what was on the parchment.
-looking down at the note in her hands, she read off the name that was written in Kai's sturdy scrawl: Rolf Quenby, 'Duke' of Weselton. "I… hate… pirates…" She growled, crushing the piece of paper in her hand. The blonde first mate of her beloved ship stepped up beside her on the deck of that ship. They were both looking over the starboard side, contemplating their next move. To involve Corona in their spat with the Princess's kidnappers? Or to wait until they are open sea to take the girl back…
"Ya know… some people might find that statement awfully confusing, Els." The former ice harvester said with a smirk evident on his face by the lilt in his voice. However, this did not lift Elsa's spirits. Her hand clenched tighter and Kristoff watched as the crushed parchment frosted over in her fist.
"Like him. I hate pirates… like him." She turned her head to look at her first mate and friend. "We make our move tonight. Put together a small, and I do mean small, group of the men." Moving around the blonde man, she moved towards the helm of the ship, just before stepping up on to the first stair, she turned her head to Kristoff once more: "We meet on the docks in thirty minutes, Kristoff. Be ready."
-x-
"Hmm… well aren't you a pretty little thing…"
Jolting slightly at the voice coming from the darkness, she stayed curled up on the bed. The jingling of keys alerted her to the man's intent to enter her cell. And when the squealing of the hinges reached her ears… she knew that she was in trouble. However, his movements were sluggish, and he couldn't seem to walk in a straight line, suggesting that all of the hollers and yells and general partying noise she heard from the decks above had inebriated this man.
"Please… don't hurt me…" Spoke softly, to produce a picture of weakness upon this man. The man was merely laughing as he swayed closer and closer towards their prisoner. "Please…" Her eyes began to tear up as the man grew closer to her. Anna waited. This man's center of balance was especially distorted as he lost his footing and stumbled to his right, before regaining his balance and stumbling to the left. He, perhaps, had much experience with inebriation as he never actually fell to the floor while he walked. It was just taking him a bit longer to get to where Anna was situated on the cot. The redhead moved further back on the cot, pressing her back into the ship's wall.
"Hehe heh. We're gonna have a lot of fun, girly." The man said with a sickly grin on his bearded face. Just as he reached the cot, the ship seemed to move just right and the man stumbled. His face fell into the thin mattress and its blanket, quickly Anna jabbed her foot out into the man's head as hard as she could. The man flopped backwards onto the cold floor. As he lay there, Anna heard a long growl-like noise, before the man's mouth opened suddenly and he let out a loud snore. Anna could not help but let out a snicker.
He fell asleep! And the door to her cell was still open as well. Moving to the door, she moved outside of it before realizing something. The noise… it's gone. Well, not gone. Just different. There were thumping noises, they seemed mostly consecutive and the thumping stopped after quite a few moments. "What is going on…" She whispered to herself as she moved outside of the bars and down the long hallway. There was an open room full of downed drunken men that led to a staircase that led upwards. The redhead was quick to move over the rest of the wood floor to the steps. Running up the steps, her feet stumbled slightly in her haste to be free of her kidnappers ship, before she picked herself back up and tried to get her shaking legs to work the rest of the way up the steps to the next deck.
When she reached the next deck, it looked much the same way. Except for the few men that were still moving about. "The captive! She's free!" One of them shouted. This roused the small handful of men that were barely awake, and they all moved to their feet. "Get her! The Duke won't like if she gets away." The same man called. Then they all moved towards her.
However, the thumps were interrupted by a violent shaking of the ship, causing the men to stumble and Anna to fall to her knees. Her month or so on the ship was nothing compared to their lifetime at sea, so while they were quiet okay with being able to stay on their feet (for the most part, a few dropped), she was quick to fall to her knees. "Get her!" Another yelled. And the group charged.
"Get AWAY FROM HER!" Came a yell from somewhere behind them. Anna looked back the men to see a shadowed individual in blue-tinted clothing. The person had white-blonde hair atop their head, and a blue half-mask upon their face.
"Elliot?" Was the only thing that came to Anna's mind. There had been a similarly dressed man at her name-day celebration. He'd asked her to dance. He'd been lovely. The men didn't seem to be deterred from their charge towards Anna, only one had turned to face the new arrival to their deck.
"Cap'n! Everyone's been subdued!" Came a call from a deck above them. The new arrival turned towards the staircase that led to the next deck and called back:
"Alright. Be prepared to leave. I've found the princess." The man above deck seemed to find this information good and moved away from the stairway. "Now… I said: Leave. Her. Alone." Anna felt something peculiar happen then. See, during the entirety of her trek from the brig to her present position, she'd been sweating because it was most definitely hot aboard the ship. While Arendelle was situated in a place where the weather was naturally cool (not cold, but not hot), Corona was in a place where it would slightly warmer than usual. Add to the fact that she was full of nervous energy at escaping her captor's clutches—Anna was hot. But, the temperature changed suddenly.
Cold.
The floorboards of grime turned to sheet of ice, and the men that were moving towards her slipped to the floor and hit various objects located around them. Some were sufficiently knocked out, while others continued to attempt to stand. The man that stood in front of the new comer, however, seemed to not have partaken in the drinks for the evening and was standing just fine on the ice. "Ah… the ice witch has seen fit to grace us with her presence." The man laughed out.
"And the ice witch has seen fit to take you out of the equation." Anna's 'savior' spoke, and the redhead realized that the voice was distinctly female. So… this isn't Elliot… She was somewhat disheartened at realizing this, but it did not deter her from her goal of freedom. So, although the floor was covered in ice, Anna still moved. She ran across the slipping wood-ice of the deck's floor and knocked herself into the man that stood between her and the person that was before the stairway that would lead to her freedom. The man obviously didn't expect it as he stumbled forward and lost his footing before hitting his head on a perfectly place barrel and falling to the ground—unconscious. "Well… that wasn't quite how I planned to do it…" The woman smiled, Anna could see it in her blue eyes as well as an outline of the woman's lips through the blue silk around her lips. "But that works." The redhead smiled back, and the ship lurched suddenly; Anna moved to grasp onto the woman's bare hand. But at the last moment, the woman's hand moved suddenly and Anna found herself nearly falling to the floor. Before the wood-ice of the floor could meet her face, she stopped falling.
There was a hand grasping onto the fabric at the back of her dress. "I'm sorry Princess… but I have to insist that you not touch my hands… I apologize." The woman spoke quietly. "Now come along. It seems my men were a little too hasty for my liking… they've already begun to sink the ship." She informed before guiding the princess to the wooden steps of the ship and letting the redhead head up to the top deck ahead of her. "To the port side. There's a row boat." She called out.
"… you're not kidnapping me for ransom are you?" Anna called to the woman as they came to the railing of the ship where a rope ladder hung.
"What? Kidnap you from your kidnappers? Don't be absurd!" the woman called back.
"ELSA!"
"Hurry onto the boat. Kristoff and my men will get you to safety." The woman spoke, before she rushed the girl over the railing and onto the rope ladder. "Hurry!" She called over as she heard someone running across the wood of the deck floor.
"Elsa! You bitch!" Anna heard the cry. It was a familiar voice, the man that had visited her in her cell. Although the amount of time that had passed since them was unknown to her, she knew that it had happened quite a bit ago. But before she could hurry back up the ladder to help the woman who'd saved her, the rope ladder was cut and she was falling down.
"I'll kill you! You bitch!" Was heard as she fell, and Anna wondered if the woman was going to survive a bout with this man. And if she was going to survive a fall from the side of his ship; she hadn't seen the boat that the woman had spoken of in her haste to get away from her captors. And she wasn't entirely sure if she could swim in the dress she was wearing. Oh…
She expected the water to engulf her. Yet instead, warm arms seemed to hug her close as she fell into them. "Well hello there. Nice of you to drop in." Came a boyishly charming voice, probably from the person that caught her. Looking up, she noticed a large masculine jaw and nose, dark eyes that held a hint of laughter, and blonde hair. Not like the woman's, his was darker—more yellow.
"That was a horrible joke there Kristoff, and you should be ashamed of yourself." Came the call of another man on the boat.
"Oh shut up and row. We need to get the ship ready to set sail by the time Elsa gets back." The blonde ordered to the men that sat around him. There were three sets of oars, and there were six men on the boat, not including Kristoff. Each man held an oar. "Let's go."
"But what about her?" Anna asked, noticing that they weren't waiting for the woman that had saved her.
"Elsa? She can take care of herself." The man, Kristoff, said with a smile; but Anna could see the look of concern in his eyes as he looked up at the ship as they rowed away.
-Meanwhile back on the Weselton-
"Elsa! You've ruined yet another job for me!" The man called from his place just outside the door to his quarters. He'd no doubt been sleeping off the night of drinking when the commotion started. And had awoken just in time to notice that his crew had been incapacitated and his captive was being pushed over the side of his ship. "I won't stand for this! This time—you die!" He drew a pistol and in that same instant, he shot it straight for the captain of the Snow Queen.
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Author's Note: Wow… it's been awhile…
Alright, so chapter seven… (holy shit I'm on seven O.o ) I like the way that I wrote the 'Anna-saving' scene. xD It wasn't how I was originally going to do it, I was originally going to have Elsa come out of nowhere and rip the would-be attacker off of Anna. But I felt that Anna somewhat saving herself would authenticate her as a character in this AU a little more, since I haven't really focused on her too much. (I didn't want her to appear as fragile as I think I made her out to be in the first few chapters, because Anna isn't some damsel in distress. But there's only so much you can do from a cell made of iron.)
Yes. The 'big baddy' is the Duke of Weselton. I enjoy villain-izing him. =D So hopefully you enjoyed a little bit of that.
Um… I'm probably going to write a bit of back story for Elsa and Kristoff since it's mentioned in the last few chapters that they've had to help Rapunzel reclaim Corona from Gothel, and that there were a few attempts on Rapunzel's life that Elsa has been involved in. Kind of a character development thing. Tell what you guys would think of that? Kay? If you'd enjoy it here, or I can write a companion fic. I haven't exactly decided yet, so maybe some of you can help me choose.
Thanks for reading. =D
Chezi Out
PS. My computer has been acting weird... so if this seems to be missing chunks of story for no reason, let me know and I'll fix it. =D
