"Alright, spread it out over this table."
The only company picnic Anna had ever seen, and it was being held in, of all places, Whiteshell Provincial Park. Of course, "the boss had a soft spot for the area," or some such drivel was the answer Kristoff had given her.
Truth be told, the surrounding woods looked more interesting than the prospect of listening to uninterested old men prattle on about 'company values', even if wandering around could get you into an altercation with animals that would easily tear your face off. The redheaded girl sighed, and glanced over at the only reason she'd agreed to come to this function. She lived with her boss.
Okay, said boss was beautiful beyond reason, and Anna Shackle had enough reason to worry for her mental state, even in a freeing environment like the one they found themselves in. Idly, she wondered if Elsa wasn't just here for the same reason; she lived with her employee. Constricting a small yawn in her throat, the human girl tore her eyes back in the direction of the higher-ups, focusing on the shimmering lake behind a thin veil of trees.
xXxXx
After the required minimal interaction with other staff, the two girls found themselves walking along a small unmarked trail. Concern for not getting lost would have been at the top of Elsa's mind, had she not thought to bring her satellite phone. As it was, they were just "exploring," as the freckled one said, though it couldn't be said that there was any particular destination to their meanderings, and the blonde was sure that the entire area was mapped already, anyway.
"Like that'd ever stop the Freckled Ranger," she muttered darkly, tossing a playful glare to the sprightly redhead beside her.
"Hm, me?"
"Just talking to myself," the older woman replied, smirking at how easily distracted her lover was. Had always been, she thought to herself morosely.
Before long, Anna had heard rushing water, and wandered onto an overhanging boulder, ignoring Elsa's concerned stare, and watching the shallow river beneath them. While the soil was sandy, the grey and glittering rocks covered much. Not seeing any wildlife, the elder sniffed the air curiously, and mouthed that she didn't observe anything but squirrels and birds watching them.
Finding a path leading beside the boulder, the younger palmed the mossy monster of a rock beside her, biting her lip as she considered what might be a safe passage down the sandy and rocky slope. With a sudden interest in the rock, she turned her eyes onto it, and peered at its various crannies.
"Granite," she mumbled, as if it were somehow out of place here, perhaps a new entity in her life. "I haven't seen a chunk this big, since I left home."
Elsa coughed and hacked, filled with shame and remorse, at the memory of Anna's home. She wouldn't take it back for the world, she realised, raking her vision over her love's concerned expression, and the realisation hit her. Anna wouldn't take it back for the world, either.
Embracing her predator, the sometimes-bumbling younger girl rubbed circles in her back, breathing on Elsa's earlobe in a contented sigh. Sometimes, the best things in the world were unasked for.
xXxXx
Balancing herself on the rocky soil, Anna let her feet slip down the incline's face, coming to a rest on a rock midway down. She glanced up at Elsa, smiling and waving her down with a, "You can do it, Els," of encouragement.
Stepping awkwardly, the pale blonde retraced the girl's path, sliding down the soil, to come to a stop beside her red-haired charge. She let out a ragged breath of relief as she took in the solemnity of her surroundings, twisting her neck to observe the younger's form, just as said redhead grasped her tightly.
Locking her lips to the full ones before her, Anna's entire being screamed for more, irrespective of the fact that she literally tasted the blonde every day of her life. Rolling her hips along Elsa's thigh, she let out a breathy moan, and sucked at the side of the regal neck exposed to her.
"Elsa," she muttered, "bite me. Make me yours."
As her lover's face took on a curious grimace, shock made its way to the mind of both women, as their bodies swayed, out of their control. By the time Anna's perception caught up to her, sandy ground was zipping by her, and she was helpless to control it!
As she bounced down the slope, the redhead stuck out her arm, and grasped a spindly root jutting out of the ground. But before she could pull herself to relative safety, a familiar form slid by her, gaining in speed. Elsa.
Tumbling down the steep incline, the paler woman looked unharmed, until she let out a loud gasp, and changed direction and speed at once. In her wake was a small rock, and before she knew it, Anna let go of her safe handhold, and threw herself after Elsa, watching helplessly, as the woman she loved was jerked back and forth, finally coming to a halt on the sharp but flat rocks beside the river.
xXxXx
"Have you ever fallen?"
The boy on the curb beside her snorted, and closed his eyes.
"Lots," he rattled out with a dark snort.
"It's a strange feeling, you know?"
Twisting his body in Anna's direction, her friend Sven looked at her curiously.
"I feel almost peaceful," she continued, gazing up at the sparse clouds, as she thought on her next words.
"It feels like, I don't have anything to worry about."
He rolled his eyes, and spat.
"Until you reach the ground. Then it just hurts."
Biting into his gummy candy, the boy thought to himself, and slowly drawled an answer.
"Is this about that woman in your dreams again?"
Anna looked at him sadly, and glanced back to the clouds, floating calmly in the breeze. She wondered if they ever felt disrupted. Maybe that's what a lightning storm really was; an argument between clouds.
"Not really," she finally ground out, "but that feels the same, now that I think of it."
"So," he mumbled, raking his eyes across the shirt that displayed her distaste at others, "when do you think you'll hit the bottom, with her?"
Glancing at him curiously, the Shackle girl pondered, and said nothing.
xXxXx
The moment Anna stopped dreaming, the rushing water invaded her mind again, and she would've howled in pain. Everything hurt, and her voice would not come. Her vision was still black, and her mind raced, stopping at the roaring in her ear. Or is that my heartbeat? A heartbeat means I'm alive. I am alive. I am Anna.
Opening her eyes slowly, she looked around herself, and wondered why she was walking in the wilderness alone. Elsa! Painfully moving her head, she rested on the curiously warm rock beneath her, and looked around for the girl of her dreams. A wisp of quivering hair appeared at the corner of her vision, and she twisted herself slowly, achingly, onto her side. The rocks ground against her as she propped herself up, and gazed at Elsa's form lying before her.
Excepting an arm twisted at an angle she was pretty sure looked painful, the blonde looked like she was sleeping. Or would have, if there wasn't a trickle of blood coming from her nose, and the corner of her delicious lips. Suppressing a strained laugh, Anna considered that she actually looked like she'd be okay.
Her thoughts quickly caught up to her perception, and a pit formed in her stomach. That's what they say about dead people. Elsa couldn't be dead; she couldn't die. While the redhaired human deliberated, her eyes picked up movement, and she watched the older woman's mouth move.
Surely I must be seeing things, she admonished herself, but Elsa's mouth kept flapping in tempo, as if it were the metronome of something. Something. Icy blue eyes opened, and immediately her undamaged arm flew to cover her face. She groaned, and swept her hand down her visage, eyes flitting to each detail in their field. With a piercing scream, she cried out, and she settled into rapid, ragged, breathing.
"A-nna," she grumbled.
With a start, the human realised she was actually seeing something she thought she only dreamt. Elsa is alive! With rickety movements she didn't notice, Anna flew to her lover's side, careful to avoid the extended wings laying on the ground. Elsa was conscious, talking, and observing her surroundings.
"Anna," she rumbled again, causing the ginger's gaze to fall into her eyes again, "look at the sky."
The partial cloud cover from earlier was fast turning into angry grey wisps of moisture, and the wind had picked up, bringing a slight chill. Anna ratcheted her head around, trying to ignore the pain of the tumble she'd taken, searching for shelter from the coming storm. A small overhanging log of deadfall made for a small cover, and she wrenched Elsa to her feet, the elder's wings flapping slowly, experimentally, to help. Once the two girls had turned their gazes to the log, the blonde's eyes jerked up, and she squinted at the cold sky.
"There's a fire tower, up ahead," the seductress rasped, motioning her good arm in the direction they'd want to go.
After a good half mile of walking, the women came to the broad base of the tower, looking dumbly at the ladder leading up. Taller than most of the small buildings in Winnipeg, the edifice was still smaller than Anna had imagined, but she still didn't want to climb it. She looked over, meaningfully, at Elsa's pocket. Bits of plastic and tiny springs poked through the place where the satellite phone had been, and she almost fainted in defeat. She would have, if her life's love wasn't hunched over beside her, cradling an arm, obviously in pain. Anna's protectiveness showed its rare form, and she resolved to climb the tower. But how would Elsa get up there?
xXxXx
Moving her arms in tandem with Elsa's surprisingly light wings, Anna had climbed the ladder, yet for how tired she was, the hatch representing her goal seemed no closer. She huffed, and jostled the blonde on her back, thanking her past self for caring about her core body strength.
Finally she was at the landing just below the hatch, and she braced her feet against the circular rungs surrounding the ladder, and pushed on the old entryway. It gave easily, creaking its age, but it let her head poke through. No unexpected animals were in evidence, so she pushed her complaining body through the hole, and bent down to help Elsa up. Once they'd both settled on the wall of the small room, the hatch was closed, and Anna took stock of the room.
Surrounded by windows, the circular space held a small bed, a desk, a miniature cooking station, and a single toilet. With Elsa securely on the bed, Anna found a small blanket to cover her, and glanced around for a satellite phone. Resting on a map sealed to the desk, she found what she was looking for.
Making sure the blonde was properly situated, the circumstances finally caught up to her. She almost forgot to be gentle with the phone, as she put it down and rifled through a box of medical supplies. Finding the splint she was looking for, Anna turned to the blonde, only to see her smirking, pointing to the arm she'd already dressed in a splint.
"I've done it before," she murmured, petting her handiwork.
"Oh."
Anna's throat clenched, its dryness forgotten in a rush to dial a number, any number, that she could remember. When a disembodied voice informed her, through static, that there "was no service at the present time", she growled at the device, setting it back down on the working surface. Looking outside, the rain was coming down hard, and she couldn't see anything, let alone other buildings. With a quiet whine, she sat on the chair beside the bed, and idly stroked Elsa's hair.
"You know," the older woman grunted, "you wouldn't keep getting into these situations, if you just left me alone and went after someone else."
Smirking, Anna shook her head sadly in response.
"No, I can't. No one else is you; I don't want anyone but you."
Gulping, the inhuman woman turned into her hand, settling into Anna's caress.
"Then we're going to be happy together," she husked, "forever."
Tired teal eyes met icy ones, and Anna smiled fondly at her.
"In this life, as well as the next."
xXxXx
When the storm cleared, night had already fallen, and a rescue party greeted the girls in the morning. On the way back home, Anna clung to her lover, and said nothing, preferring to kiss her cheeks is silence.