15: Erase/Rewind
It had been hours since she and Kris had set off from camp, but their search for the slope down into the chasm had proven fruitless thus far. Though the soil in this quadrant seemed healthy and didn't threaten to crumble beneath their feet, the drop at the edge of the chasm was no less sharp or dangerous here than it had been anywhere else.
Anna's heart sunk as an unsettled feeling filled her, if there was a slope they should have found it by now. With a heavy sigh Anna paused among the trees and pulled out her map. Holding it with one hand, she rubbed her temple with the other and muttered under her breath. She couldn't figure out where it was that she had gone wrong. As many times as she followed their path on the map it just didn't make any sense.
"What's with that face?" Kris asked cheerfully, peering over Anna's shoulder at the map. "We're close right?"
Anna's tongue felt heavy and she was unsure of what to say. She could admit what she knew to be the truth, or she could keep it from him and press onward. Her stomach twisted in knots as she hesitated with her response. Lying to him could put them both in even more danger, but he would want to find Elsa no matter what, wouldn't he?
"Yeah, we're close." Anna sounded more confident than she felt as she flashed a smile at Kris and folded the map back up.
Kris took a moment to look her over, she could almost feel his eyes probing for something and the intensity of his gaze made her sweat.
"Let's get moving then." He said with a resolute nod.
Once Anna was faced away from him she swallowed her qualms about the lie she had told and carried on in the planned direction. It wasn't necessarily a lie, she reasoned with herself, she could have just been off in her calculations! Time proved the truth of it though, for as another hour came and went they ended up standing at yet another ledge, with a drop just as sharp as the one Elsa had been pulled from.
Anna stared over the edge with Kris at her side, clenching her teeth together as she tried not to scream her frustrations down into the chasm itself. Her breaths were coming heavily, but slowly, as she tried to fight back tears. She turned sharply from the ledge, only making it a few steps before Kris snagged her arm and turned her back to face him.
"What?" Anna snapped. "What could you possibly say that I haven't already thought?"
Kris' lips drew back into a thin line, but only briefly. "You don't have to be so hard on yourself, Fields. Neither of us knew what was out this way. Your plan was solid! The terrain just didn't do what we thought it was going to."
The reassurance in his voice only served to drive Anna further into the arms of her own anger. She clenched her fists and yanked her arm out of Kris' grasp.
"My plan. My mistake." She replied bitterly, gesturing broadly at the wide drop before them. "This whole mission was a mistake, and now because of it we've lost Elsa. I lost Elsa."
"West." Kris corrected, so quickly that it had to be on reflex.
"Seriously? I've probably killed her and you're still insisting on that? How can you even-"
"It's her rule." Kris added, cutting Anna's rant off before it could even really begin.
"Well it's a stupid rule." Anna huffed, "And at a time like this it feels impersonal and wrong."
With a clearly exaggerated smile, Kris waggled his eyebrows at Anna. "Are you saying you'd like to get personal with me?"
"Absolutely not, Bjorgman." Anna shot back, not ready to let his attempt at lightening the mood break through how angry she was at herself.
"Well that only leaves one other person you'd want to get personal with."
Anna didn't respond, save to glare hard enough at him that she was certain she saw him shrink an inch or two.
"You know Wes- Elsa is incredibly capable. I've seen her do some crazy things on missions. This one time we were surrounded by some rogue vamps, fresh ones, and I swear she went super sonic! Just running around and knocking them out like-"
"Is telling me all this helping to keep you calm?" Anna asked, her voice going shrill as she shook her head, "Because I've got to say, it's not doing a thing for me."
"How can I be anything but calm right now?" Kris asked, sounding genuinely upset at her for the first time today. "Look at you, you're losing it!"
Anna's mind raced. She tried remembering how she had convinced herself that something was happening here, that the rumblings and rumors that swirled around the internet were even remotely true, but to no avail. There was no solid proof of anything here, and yet Anna had dragged not only herself, but her team out to a desolate, wooded location and now because of that choice Elsa was probably...
"Can you blame me?" Anna was nearly shouting now, tears burning at the corners of her eyes. "If it wasn't for me and this idiotic mission then Elsa would be here with us-"
"Fields-"
"No! It's true and you know it! I've dragged us out here in the middle of nowhere-"
"Fields, you should-"
"-to some forest to look for something that might not even be here, and now Elsa's gone and it's my fault! I can't let things end like this, I never even-"
"Anna."
Whatever words that should have followed withered soundlessly in her throat. Warmth spilled into Anna's chest at the sound of her name, the sound of what she thought had been Elsa's voice. A glance at Kris showed the change in his expression. He was beaming now, seemingly at someone just behind Anna.
Slowly, still unsure whether or not she was hallucinating, Anna turned. The vision before her was bloody, drenched in blood, actually, but it was Elsa all the same. Alive and smiling and standing right there in arms reach. Relief flooded through her, and without another thought Anna launched herself at Elsa, wrapping her arms tightly around Elsa's neck.
"You're okay." Anna's breath hitched in her throat, then she sobbed. "I thought-"
She felt Elsa go rigid at the sudden contact, but just as quickly Elsa melted into the hug and wrapped an arm around Anna's waist. As Anna sobbed, she could feel Elsa's other hand rubbing gentle circles up and down her back, but the action only served to draw more tears.
"Hey, it's alright." Elsa soothed, though Anna could hear the hint of confusion in her voice.
"West!" Kris choked out from behind Anna.
The sound of his voice brought her back to reality, and with an awkward sound she removed herself from Elsa and allowed Kris his turn.
"I can't believe you guys touched me at all." Elsa laughed after a brief, but tight hug from Kris. "I'm disgusting."
"There's a river sort of near camp, we can get you cleaned up and checked for any lingering injuries." Kris asserted with a smile, though it was clear that he, too, was concerned by Elsa's haggard appearance.
"Trying to sneak a peek, Bjorgman?" Elsa cocked a brow, then poked out her tongue at him.
"Please, I wouldn't go with you." Kris crossed his arms over his chest, "I have my virtue to consider, you know!"
There was a beat of silence, during which Anna realized Kris' meaning. She felt the heat beginning to build in her face, so to counter it she glared openly at him. "Wait, why me?"
"Well I'm not going, so who else is there?" Kris responded, his hands now on his hips.
"I'll have you both know I've been bathing myself for a good number of years now. I think I can manage." Elsa retorted, a hint of sass in her voice.
In spite of Kris' declaration that Anna would be accompanying Elsa, it had seemed like only a vague threat until she found herself standing alongside Elsa at the banks of a crystal clear river. Unbothered as ever, Elsa wasted no time in peeling both her pants and underwear off. Yet as she started to remove her shirt, she turned away from Anna and began to struggle.
"Here." Anna offered hesitantly, growing more thankful by the second that Elsa had turned away.
"You don't want to do that." Elsa laughed bitterly, jerking her shoulder away from the anticipated touch before Anna could make contact. "Blood and sweat...it's just not going to be pretty."
Anna wanted to say something to the contrary, but she didn't want to lie. It wouldn't be pretty, of that she had no doubt. She also knew that Elsa would do the same for her if the tables were reversed. Anna reached out again, more firmly this time, and slipped her fingers beneath the collar of Elsa's shirt and gently worked the fabric away from Elsa's skin.
Another time or place and this might have been a situation rife with tension, but the smell of blood was thick as Anna began working and only increased in intensity the more she moved the fabric. The blood was sticky, almost tacky in some places, but with careful movements Anna was able to free little segments and eventually let Elsa maneuver the shirt nearly off of her body. Elsa freed the clasp on her bra and let it fall to the ground, but clutched her shirt loosely against her chest.
Oh, now she's modest Anna thought bitterly to herself, wondering where that modesty had been the other night. If Elsa had exhibited even a fraction of that modesty the other night, Anna wouldn't be plagued by the memory of her.
"Thanks." Elsa exhaled quietly, flashing Anna a quick smile over her shoulder.
Blood coated Elsa's back and shoulders, the outer portions of her thighs, even her buttocks were covered in the sheen of sickly red. Anna couldn't imagine how extensive the wounds would have had to be to leave behind this much blood, or how bruised and broken Elsa must have felt when she finally got to the bottom of the chasm and found herself alone.
"Might have been better to just jump right in." Anna forced an uncomfortable laugh, trying not to pry Elsa for information. "Looks like it's...everywhere."
"It is." Elsa confirmed with a dramatic sigh.
Anna bit her lip, reflecting back on all the things she had been saying just before Elsa had arrived. All the hate she felt at herself and her own plan. All the things she had thought she wanted to say. She had been right in the middle of something that at the moment seemed important, but now she couldn't recall what that had been.
"Listen, Elsa, I..." Anna began, guilt heavy in her voice. "I should have found you sooner. I've studied the map more than any of us, and I still...I just should have found you sooner. I'm sorry."
At that, Elsa turned. There was a strange expression on her face, one Anna couldn't quite get a read on. Anna tried to step back and out of Elsa's personal space, and for her own well being, but Elsa moved with her and maintained that closeness between them. The look Elsa was giving her was intense, almost enough so that Anna wanted to look away, but the options for places to look were few and far between so Anna maintained eye contact.
"Were you really that worried about me?" Elsa asked blatantly. Though her voice was even, Anna saw the tiniest bit of movement around Elsa's eyes as she said the word 'really.'
Anna scoffed, then shook her head. How could Elsa think that they had been anything but desperate to get her back? "You...literally were dragged off a cliff by a creepy vine monster? Was there an option to not be concerned?"
To Anna's surprise, Elsa's next question came faster. There was almost an urgency to it. "Would you have kept looking for me?"
"Of course." Anna had answered so quickly that she hadn't realized how silly she might look being so sure of her answer. "I had to get you back for the Valravn, right? So, now we're even. Ish."
Elsa's expression steeled and her brows knit together, as if she was thinking hard or remembering something that wasn't quite in her grasp. Anna could feel Elsa's even breaths on her bangs in the uncomfortable closeness, then all at once Elsa's expression changed. Now she gazed down on Anna with softer eyes, and her head tilted slightly to the side.
"You could check me over, you know." Elsa suggested, running a finger along Anna's jawline, drawing her chin up. "For any, what was it Kris said? Lingering injuries?"
Inadvertently Anna's head moved into the touch as her mind went pleasantly fuzzy. Her mouth quite suddenly felt dry, and she exhaled a quiet breath through parted lips. What is this?
"Check-" Anna breathed, eyes half-lidded, "Check you...over?"
There were a few seconds where Elsa continued to smile at her, but then her hand dropped from Anna's face to her shoulder. There was a gentle pressure there, not painful but enough to ground Anna again.
"I think you should head back." Elsa said firmly, turning away from Anna and looking to the ground as she adjusted the shirt she still held to her body.
Elsa hadn't been rude, but something about the way she said it felt off. Anna opened her mouth to argue, but even before the words were out she knew that the point she was going to make was flimsy.
"Kris said someone should be with you. Just in case."
Elsa laughed and shook her head. "I'm fine, really. Besides, he's probably going to need a hand wrangling dinner since I lost some of our supplies."
Anna sputtered quiet protests, but when Elsa began to walk toward the river there wasn't much for Anna to do but leave. Once out of earshot of Elsa, Anna ran a hand down her face and groaned in frustration. How was she supposed to argue with Elsa about being safe when Elsa had just survived something that normally wasn't survivable? And just what the hell had that moment been for? How much longer did she intent to haze Anna with this teasing?
"Why are you alone?" Kris grunted as he swung his ax down on a log, sending the now two halves flying in opposite directions. "Where's our fearless leader?"
"Fearlessly bathing herself. She told me she would be fine." Anna paused, remembering the conversation. "Well, she said she was fine. What do I say to that? 'Hey, you just lived after falling off a cliff but we thought you might still need a babysitter for your bath'?"
Kris cleared his throat, then in a mocking tone that was clearly meant to be Anna's voice he said, "I might not be safe walking back to camp alone, can't I stay and help you get cleaned up?"
"Please." Anna scoffed at him. "You obviously didn't want to help her scrub that blood off, so why would I?"
The look he shot her was dubious, at best, but he didn't argue further save to roll his eyes at her. True to her word Elsa returned shortly after, toweling her hair with one hand and carrying her drenched morph clothing in the other. She seemed unmotivated to get to the fire with Anna and Kris in spite of the chill in the air, and though Anna had been curious about the reason at first it became clear the moment Elsa sat down.
"Okay, I'm ready." Kris said, nearly the instant Elsa sat. He gestured to one of the now unidentifiable, charred animals that had been roasting over the fire, as if to exchange it for information. "Tell me everything."
"Everything, huh?" Elsa asked, her smile somehow sad and amused all at once. "If you say so."
XXX
The story came easily to Elsa, at first anyway. She didn't tell them about the fall, about how scared she had been. They wouldn't want to hear that. No, instead she told them about making it to the bottom of the chasm, about how the earth there seemed to make that same crackling sound. A sound like something was burrowing through it, reaching out for her from beneath it. She told them about running to the tree line, and the voices she heard.
Kris' face lit up as she began to describe the creature she encountered, demanding Elsa pause her tale so that he could grab his notebook to let her draw the Crocotta for him. From there, though, there was a shaky pause. When she tried to think of the words to describe Maleficent, something stopped her.
Was it really wise to admit to seeing something that, as far as she knew, didn't seem to exist? Kris might believe her, but Anna would certainly think her mad. A gnawing, uncomfortable feeling slipped into fear, and in that moment she knew that she had to omit the experience with Maleficent in those strange woods at the bottom of the chasm. So, against her better judgment, she did.
Elsa shook her head, as if shaking away the memory of the experience the Crocotta, and smiled weakly at her eager listeners. Then, she weaved a tale for them of wandering through the forest below until she found a safe place to sleep. She told them about how she had fallen asleep the moment her head hit ground, and about waking the next morning to forage for berries before she began tracking her way back to them.
The stream of questions from Kris was surprisingly short, and Anna seemed content enough to simply listen as Elsa answered each one. It had seemed a blessing at first but in the darkness of the tent the silence felt far more overbearing than questions would have.
Elsa could tell by Anna's breathing pattern that she was wide awake, yet she lay there in the dark and said nothing. Asked nothing of Elsa. It was unnerving. But as Elsa opened her mouth to break the silence she was interrupted by the sound of Anna's voice.
"I'm glad you're alright." Anna mumbled tentatively, then she breathed a laugh. "Can you imagine the paperwork we would have had to do if you hadn't been?"
"Paperwork?" Elsa's own voice was quiet, she hardly registered Anna's joke. "I'm sure you would have been fine."
There was a rustling, the sound of Anna adjusting herself in her sleeping bag no doubt. Anna's silhouette against the natural light seeping through the tent told Elsa that Anna was sitting up now, and that she appeared to be staring at Elsa.
"You don't really believe that, do you?"
Elsa wasn't sure how to respond. Of course she thought they would be fine without her. Kris and Anna were strong, and even if Elsa didn't want to admit it just yet Anna would probably end up being a better agent than Elsa was if she kept at it.
"Of course I do." Elsa finally managed to say.
"You said that before you know. That I would have been fine." Anna paused, then wriggled herself closer to Elsa. "But you came for me, even when that Valravn made me say some pretty awful things."
Elsa clutched the corner of her pillow tightly at the memory, still not entirely sure what had stirred her to break protocol and go after Anna that day. Maybe it had been the way Kris reacted, his fury at the insults that had been slung. Or it might have been the look on Anna's face after the words left her mouth. That confusion and pain. Whatever it had been though, it was done and over with.
"It's not that big of a deal." Elsa breathed.
More rustling, more wiggling, then Anna was out of her sleeping bag and kneeling next to Elsa.
"It kind of is, though." Anna admitted, toying with the zippered edge of Elsa's sleeping bag. "You've been saving me since before we even met. And I couldn't even-"
"You did exactly what you should have." Elsa begrudgingly grabbed the zipper on her bag from the inside, sliding it open enough to sit up. By Anna's tone, it seemed like this talk might take longer than she would like.
"That's what Kris said, but I just..." Anna either lost her train of thought or had decided not to finish it, because she fell silent mid sentence.
In the dark Elsa started to reach out to Anna, but caught herself and set her hand on her lap instead. "Don't worry about it. I can handle myself. W-"
"Don't you dare say 'werewolf' like it's a pass for me not to worry." Anna growled in the darkness, the hurt clear in her voice. Guilt sealed Elsa's lips as Anna continued. "You were covered in blood when you found your way back to us, Elsa. Covered! I shouldn't have been looking at the river but..."
"But?" Elsa asked tentatively, not sure where Anna was headed with this.
Anna exhaled quickly, then with a shaky voice she spoke again. "Look, I haven't known you that long but...that time without you was, well, awful. Kris needs you. I...well, I need you. Too. Me and Kris. Both."
At a loss for words, Elsa could only stare in Anna's direction and curse the darkness for casting Anna in shadow. It was difficult to read her like this, only dim shadows and vague outlines to offer clues as to what she was really thinking. A few times Elsa began to assemble a response, but it fell apart in her mind before her mouth ever began to verbalize it.
"I never checked you, you know." Anna muttered quietly.
It took a moment for the words to register, but when they did it Elsa could feel pinpricks of heat beginning in her cheeks. Anna had mentioned Elsa's relentless teasing previously, but had never specifically referenced anything Elsa had said. Truthfully her face had probably flushed more from shame than actual embarrassment, but the burn felt the same.
"I'm sorry, Anna. I shouldn't have teased you like that, I-" Elsa paused at the sound of a zipper, and the feel of her sleeping bag being pried open. "Anna, what are you-?"
"Quiet." Anna chided, climbing into Elsa's open sleeping bag. "Just let me do this, okay?"
Instinctively Elsa backed away from Anna, trying to put some distance between them, but the size of their tent prevented her from getting too far. "Do what?"
Anna made a sound of protest as Elsa moved this way and that to avoid her, until finally Anna's hand landed on Elsa's shoulder. The touch didn't burn, but it may as well have by the sound Elsa made. It was somewhere between a whimper of pain and a yelp, but it didn't stop Anna from poking and prodding at the area.
"Stop, that hurts." Elsa whispered angrily.
"Big badass werewolf can't handle it?" Anna taunted, then her voice fell to a more serious tone. "I knew something was up when you didn't drop your shirt earlier. It is still open?"
"Just a deep bruise I think." Elsa sucked in a quick breath as Anna's fingers dug into a particularly painful spot. "Fuck!"
"Better be quiet or Kris'll think you finally seduced me."
"I seduced you?" Elsa huffed, trying to keep still under Anna's touch. "Please. I would never."
"Could have fooled me." Anna sounded nonchalant, but Elsa could feel the agitated energy rolling off of her in waves.
"Hey, I was just apologizing for that." Elsa shot back, quickly adding. "I got carried away, that's all. It's not like it meant anything by it. I know you wouldn't want-"
Elsa wasn't sure what she had meant to say. That Anna wouldn't want a woman. That she wouldn't want a werewolf, or someone as hopelessly broken as Elsa felt. Whatever she had been ready to say was bitten back at the feeling of Anna shifting again, brazenly positioning herself on Elsa's lap. Elsa swallowed, then exhaled a quick breath.
"What, um." Elsa suddenly felt a surge of gratitude for the darkness, though she thought her face might be glowing from embarrassment now. Brimming with confusion and uncertainty, she asked shakily. "What are you doing?"
Anna was silent for a moment. She ghosted her fingertips down Elsa's arms and back up Elsa's sides until she reached Elsa's ribs, then she leaned forward. Elsa's breath caught in her throat, she wasn't sure what was to come but she couldn't will herself to move in spite of her brain screaming that she should.
"What's the matter?" Anna breathed against Elsa's neck. Then, in a more triumphant tone she added. "Don't like it when the tables are turned?"
Elsa was a mess of heat and confusion, but as Anna's words sunk in all that seemed to drain away in an instant. Guilt filled her chest as she sat there, trying to ignore the feeling of a body on her lap, the heated breaths dancing on her neck. She wasn't sure why, but something about this felt entirely wrong.
"Quit fooling around." Elsa kept her tone as even as she could, trying not to betray the array of emotions she was feeling. "We're finding that cult tomorrow, we need to be rested and ready."
Anna seemed to feel the shift in Elsa's emotion and removed herself clumsily from Elsa's lap. "Hey, if I crossed a line I-"
"You were just paying me back." As soon as Anna was removed from her lap, Elsa shifted to put a little space between them. Flatly she added, "Lesson learned. I'll dial back the teasing."
It seemed like Anna might have wanted to say something to her, but in the darkness it was difficult to tell. Anna never said anything more though, save a quiet 'night' as she slipped back into her sleeping bag. Elsa struggled to process whatever it was that she was feeling, finally falling asleep what felt like hours later.
In spite of protests, mostly from Kris, it didn't take long to get her team geared up and back on track to explore for the cult. Surprisingly, Anna made no mention of their interaction the night before, and Kris seemed to have slept through their talking as well. In fact, both were behaving so normally that Elsa wondered if she had dreamed the whole thing. Why she would have dreamed it though, was beyond her.
"Don't look so glum." Kris said to Anna, "Just because we're not finding anything right here doesn't mean they aren't out here."
"I'm such an idiot." Anna whined, her voice low. As if she thought whispering quietly enough would keep Elsa from hearing her. "What if I've wasted our time here?"
It took everything Elsa had not to whip around and confirm for Anna that, yes, there was definitely a cult here. If she admitted it now, then she would have to explain how she knew. She would have to tell them about Maleficent, about the night she spent in the company of a truly otherworldly being. I can't.
Whatever help had been promised was not as easy to find as it had been in guiding her home. The vines had made it clear which paths she should take, and helped her climb back up the ledge to her friends, but save the trees this portion of the woods almost seemed barren. In fact, as Elsa listened carefully, it almost seemed as if...
Elsa stopped in her tracks, nearly causing a collision behind her.
"Hey, West-"
"Shh." Elsa hissed, raising a hand behind her to cut Kris off.
Elsa glanced back at them, without their footfalls the silence felt eerie and oppressive. The hairs on Elsa's neck stood on end as she shared a look with her team. Something was near. Anna reached for the gun at her side, and even Kris had his hand over an ax attached to his belt. Elsa turned back around, trying to figure out where she could feel eyes on her from, but nothing seemed to be there at all.
This is it.
"Show yourself." Elsa said the words calmly, not even a hint of the usual authority in her voice.
For a moment the silence was the only answer she received, but what appeared could have only been her sign. Just in front of Elsa a baseball sized orb of fluorescent blue appeared, wreathed in spectral flame. Elsa knew it at once as a wisp, something that Merida had often spoken of when on missions. Though this wisp had no hint of the sickly green of Maleficent's magic, Elsa had no doubt that only Maleficent could have pulled on such a memory and utilized it to serve as a guide for Elsa's team.
"In the middle of the day?" Kris asked, almost incredulous as he sheathed his weapon and whipped out his notebook instead. "How odd."
"Wisps." Elsa couldn't take her eyes off of the glowing ball of light in her palm.
"Wisp?" Anna asked, Elsa could see as Anna approached that she was eyeing it nervously. "Like a will-o-wisp?"
Elsa murmured with a nod. "That's one name, they have many."
"But, then" Anna stammered, stepping forward and gently touching Elsa's extended arm. "you shouldn't be touching it. We shouldn't pay it any attention, or we might wind up lost, or dead!"
Elsa prickled instantly at the touch, her expression hardening as she snapped back at Anna. "I have it on good authority that they lead you to your fate."
"Oh, they definitely do." Anna was full of snark, rolling her eyes at Elsa. "If your fate is to starve to death in the middle of the Black Forest then you should be absolutely fine."
Elsa opened her mouth, an insult loaded and ready to hurl back at Anna, but as the ball of light fizzled out in her hand so, too, did the argument. She was normally more careful about keeping her emotions under control but she couldn't help but frown as she flexed her fingers where the wisp had been. As she readied to tell team to keep moving, though, another wisp appeared in the distance. It seemed to bob almost happily in the air, waiting for them to go after it.
"We're following it." Elsa declared resolutely, taking a step forward.
"Wait, this isn't safe!" Anna urged, tugging on Elsa's arm. "What if we get lost?"
"She won't lead us astray." Elsa responded so quickly that by the time she realized she had made a mistake there wasn't much she could do to correct it. Instead, she simply tugged her arm out of Anna's grip and began walking. "Let's go, you two."
"Why are we indulging her?" Anna whispered almost frantically to Kris, clearly still under the impression that Elsa couldn't hear her. "She's already almost died once, we could end up-"
"We won't." Kris' voice was soft, almost wistful, but certain. "Besides, if she dies this time it's her own fault, right?"
Elsa couldn't spare the energy to banter with Kris, so she let his comment go. Walking along behind the wisp was easy, but finding it after it disappeared and reappeared elsewhere wasn't. Sometimes it would appear farther off, other times in a tree branch pointing the way onward, but Elsa could be nothing but thankful that it did keep appearing.
The wisp had disappeared and reappeared thirty or forty times now, Elsa had lost count after fifteen, but even with Anna's incessant whispering behind her about landmarks Elsa's mood couldn't be dampened. The path was becoming easier to traverse with each step, after all.
Eventually it became clear that the area they were in was well traveled. Some of the wilder roots had been cleared away, forming gnarled little fists where they had healed upon themselves, and there were no stray twigs or stones to watch for. Elsa glanced over her shoulder at Kris, who was smiling cheekily at a less than pleased looking Anna. Elsa slowed her pace, then planted her palm flat on a nearby tree before whispering a small thanks to Maleficent.
"Don't worry, Fields. I'll let you grovel at my feet later to make up for doubting me." Elsa smirked, but then remembered her commitment to trying not to tease Anna. She reached out and gently shoved Anna's shoulder, to emphasize that she had only been joking. "Whoever is in this forest is a little further down this path."
If Anna had been bothered by the light jab, she hadn't shown it. Her expression was more resolute than Elsa had seen it thus far. "Then we should proceed with caution. We don't know what they want, or if they're even really a cult."
"Astute observation." Kris said casually, a hint of teasing in his tone. "And if they are a cult?"
"We gather information and report back to S.N.O." Anna stated firmly.
"And if they're not?" Elsa asked, carefully masking her concern.
Anna faltered at Elsa's question, but eventually shrugged and replied. "I guess we report back either way. That's protocol, right?"
Elsa's jaw tensed at the answer, and by the look on Kris' face he hadn't been pleased with Anna's reply either. They had never reported more to S.N.O. than absolutely necessary about peaceful people just trying to live their lives, but there was no tactful way to insist that Anna do the same. Anna seemed to sense the unrest, and rather than stick around for whatever was to come she took off down the path without them.
"Fields." Elsa whispered urgently, jogging lightly to close the distance between them. "Stay with us, slow down."
Anna didn't slow down, though. In fact Elsa's insistence that she slow down only seemed to spur her on. Kris called out from behind them, but Elsa rushed forward to grab Anna's wrist.
"Fields." Elsa was firm as she held on to Anna, her brows knit in concern. "You plan on rushing them all alone? You don't even know how many there are."
"I..." Anna hesitated, her eyes darting to one side. It was clear to Elsa that Anna hadn't really considered a plan, but to her credit she answered anyway. "...was going to scout the area."
"You're a terrible liar." Elsa breathed, letting go of Anna's wrist. "You go, we go. You know that."
Anna's face contorted, almost angrily, as she tried to pull her arm free of Elsa's grasp, but as Anna stepped back, the whole world shifted. Instinctively Elsa closed her eyes as the sickeningly familiar weightlessness washed over her again, sending a jolt of fear through her. She and Anna painfully collided, then the world lurched downward once more and everything began to sway.
a/n: As always, I hope you're still enjoying the story! Things will be a little wild next chapter, so prepare yourself now! Happy holidays to you and yours, see you again soon!