Escape || Anna

"We see in order to move; we move in order to see."

― William Gibson

Summary: Gwen retrieves Anna who is now fully awake from her drowsiness. They and Kristoff escape to find Arthur, not knowing about the tracking potion Gwen had been given.

Sitting still and pretending to be completely oblivious for 24 hours was not Anna's idea of a good time. Not now, not ever. Only an hour after she had talked to Gwen, she felt the jitters she used to get back at home, the ones that made her want to run and sing and dance and dream of infinite possibilities.

Usually, to get rid of the jitters, she just did the thing she wanted to do, but here under the watch of Hans, Morgana, and Morgause, she was unable to do anything but twiddle her fingers under the folds of her dress.

She wanted to try running so badly. She was thinner than she had been usually, although clearly better fed than the days she had refused to eat. What if her legs gave out from exhaustion while they were making their escape? More likely, what if she tripped?

For a while, it didn't even occur to her to doubt any other part of the plan, but when she remembered the risks Gwen was taking, it was all she could do not to start drumming her fingers on the table with her anxiety. There were so many what-ifs; what if Gwen couldn't get Kristoff out, what if Gwen was requested into Morgana's presence for the evening, what if Gwen got caught, what if Gwen left her behind -

No, she wouldn't do that. Would she?

At one point, Morgana entered Anna's room for a few minutes. "To be in power, but to have none," she whispered, looking into Anna's face solemnly. "That's something I understand." She sat back and continued to gaze at Anna. "I wish they'd restrain you in some other way than this, I think you'd be entertaining to talk to. More entertaining than your husband, anyway." Morgana scowled and glanced out the door.

Anna wanted to laugh and cheer her on for having more resistance to Hans' charms than she had been, but she couldn't. All the same, she thought Morgana might have caught the twitch of a smile on her face before dismissing it as an impossibility.

And then, at last, the sun had almost completely set, and Gwen was there.

"We have to move quickly. The guards near the gates won't spot us, I've memorized their timing, and those out in the hallway will assume I'm acting on Morgana's orders."

Anna looked around. "Where's Kristoff?"

"He's meeting us at the gates. I managed to get him a key."

Anna let Gwen guide her through the castle hallways at a miserably slow pace, Gwen had one hand around Anna's waist and one on her arm, walking her along like she was either extremely ill, fragile, elderly, or all of the above. Every time Anna saw someone else walking nearby she had to remind herself repeatedly that the drugged version of her would not have noticed or acknowledged them. It was hard to keep her head down, but Gwen was right. No one questioned their walk.

At the gates, there were three men in weathered armour standing guard. When Gwen approached, one stepped forward.

"King Hans ordered you be given an escort," Kristoff's voice said from under the helmet. Anna took a deep breath and ordered herself not to throw herself at him for an embrace. Later. There would be time later.

Gwen dipped her head slightly. "Of course."

Kristoff walked along with them out of the citadel, his arm brushing against Annas when there was no one but Gwen to see. Anna had to give Gwen some credit - whatever she had done to get Kristoff a spot in the guard, it was effective. The warning bells didn't start to sound until they were well into the trees.

Kristoff pulled the helmet and chainmail off in a rush. "Anna," he started.

"Talk while we walk, or not at all," Gwen insisted, tugging at Anna's arm. "We have to find the others." She hesitated. "I don't know for sure if we can find them, actually, I only have a few guesses as to where they might be. Places that Leon mentioned once or twice. Abandoned castles, caves, we could be wandering for a while." She looked at the small bag she had with her and the pouch Kristoff had slung over his shoulder, clearly wondering how they would survive as fugitives without help.

"From here, I think we take the path leading North. There's a cave in the Darkling Woods, a few minutes east of the fallen oak. According to Leon, it has a concealed entrance and clean water, so that's my first guess as to where they went. And we need to get there before it gets dark."

Kristoff stopped and pulled Anna away from Guinevere anyway. He smelled like iron and dust and the musty smell that came along with being in a prison cell instead of trees, old leather, and reindeer, but Anna didn't care. It was strange, so strange, that she could feel so attached to someone who she had only known for a few days. It really had only been a few days, if even that. Since then, she had only been sure of Kristoff's survival by the fact that Hans hadn't executed him. Even so, his embrace, the feel of close human contact from someone who cared about her and not Hans' obligatory arm wrapped around her shoulder felt like a dream.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He pulled away to hold Anna at arm's length.

Anna blinked. "I'm fine," she said. She was fine, considering her recent past.

Kristoff looked her over once. "Okay. Let's keep moving."

O0o0~0o0o

"It should be somewhere around here," Gwen said, breaking the steady rhythm of tromping feet through bushes.

"Gwen?" The man that appeared from behind a patch of trees didn't look at all familiar to Anna. Not Prince Arthur, then.

"Merlin!" Gwen exclaimed, embracing him with the enthusiasm that went with good news.

Standing next to Anna, Kristoff sighed in relief. "Is everyone alright? Is Elsa out here with you?"

Merlin nodded. "We're in a cave a short distance from here, but how did you find us?"

"Leon told me about this place once. I guessed it's where you would go."

"And were you followed?"

Kristoff, Anna, and Gwen looked at each other.

"We saw no signs that we were followed," Kristoff reported.

Merlin nodded. "Elsa will be glad to see you're alright, Anna. You are… better?"

Anna guessed he knew that Hans had done something to her to keep her from revolting, whatever it was, but Merlin was from Camelot. Did they talk about magic in Camelot, even if it was bad? From what she had heard, it was a taboo topic.

"Yes. Gwen prevented Hans from controlling me any longer."

Merlin gestured for the three to follow him through the trees, and it turned out that Gwen had gotten them pretty close to their hiding spot. A few minutes later, they were at the cave where the beginnings of a fire sat at the centre of a group of people.

"Anna!" Elsa looked up from her seat on a long, scrambling as fast as she could to get over to them.

She looked… well, she looked the same as she had at her trial, but this time, Anna could completely understand what she was seeing. Elsa's hair hung loosely around her shoulders and she wore a pair of trousers and a blouse that were clearly not her own. When she saw Anna and Kristoff the tension held in her face disappeared, and she looked so much freer than Anna could remember seeing her since they were children.

Elsa swooped in for a careful hug as Gwen's brother embraced her as well.

"Everyone's accounted for, then," Prince Arthur said from his spot beside the fire. He didn't try to hug or greet anyone with anything other than a nod, for which Anna was glad, because it would have been rather odd.

"Not everyone." The man with the dark hair, bright blue eyes, and the only one besides Gwen's brother not dressed like a knight, said. "I may have sent a letter to Lancelot. Thought he'd want to help out."

"Good," said Arthur. "We'll need all the help we can get. Although, you might have just asked Lancelot to join us in suicide. I don't know how we'll stand a chance against all of this, even with Elsa's help."

Anna looked at her sister curiously, but Elsa didn't glance back. She was already sharing her gaze with this Merlin person who shook his head slightly.

Anna felt a pang of jealousy - she knew that's what it was, and that it wouldn't go away with a simple push. There were already secrets again, already things that Elsa knew and shared with someone else. It didn't matter to Anna's feelings that it wasn't Elsa's fault. Reasoning and emotions didn't always tie together. Elsa would fill her in as soon as she got a chance. Anna was sure of it.

Moments after Arthur's words, the sound of someone crashing through the forest behind them reached their ears.

"Bad news!" a knight yelled before he'd reached them. "They've found us! The immortal soldiers, they're here, I don't know how -"

"You were followed," Elsa sighed. "Of course you were followed."

"But there was no one there, we saw and heard no one!" Gwen hissed.

"Magic makes tracking easier," Merlin pointed out. "And as we know, the other side has no shortage of knowledge of magic."

Frozen II was great!

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