Content warning: blood, not much.


Seek

"No peeking, Anna."

"I'm not!" the queen laughs. "Now you made me lose my place. I gotta start over."

"More time for me to hide," Elsa laughs in a sing-song voice.

With an exaggerated sigh, Anna starts over, counting down from twenty once more. She can hear her sister's shuffling through the thick blanket of autumn leaves, getting quieter as she moves further away.

"Three, two, one. Okay, ready or not, here I come!"

When Anna opens her eyes, her sister is nowhere in sight. That much is to be expected, but the forest is expansive; she could be literally anywhere. It's hard to hear anything over the constant lull of bird calls and the wind rustling the tree canopies.

The queen's boots snap several twigs, startling a flock of birds to fly off in any direction besides hers. She offers a sheepish 'sorry' even if it's obvious they can't hear her now. Anna dramatically twirls herself around every tree in her direct vicinity.

"Alright, where are you, you stinker?" Anna pretends to growl, her head swiveling to capture any small detail that might give Elsa away. She'd see her dress from a mile away, for sure. If Elsa was as bad at hide and seek as she was at charades, this would be a cinch.

The tell-tale whistle of a capricious Wind spirit startles Anna stiff.

"Shh! No spirit intervention!" the queen puts a finger to her lips. "I can find Elsa with both my eyes closed."

Immediately, Anna regrets this admission when Gale flips her cloak over her head.

"I didn't mean literally!"

The sound of a barely contained snort reaches Anna's ears. Soon after, the rustling of leaves and branches follows it. Anna flips her cloak back to its original position and grins.

"I've got you now, sis!"

Following the direction of the sound, Anna braces herself against a tree and looks up; Elsa was never as acrobatic as Anna, but the queen doesn't doubt that it's possible Elsa picked up a few new skills out here.

"You're really gonna make me climb a tree in a dress? 'Cause you know I will."

Even more poorly suppressed chuckles ring through the trees. Anna has to be close, she thinks.

"Where the heck are you, Elsa? I can hear you, you know."

Deadly silence follows the queen's latest statement.

"I'll find you, Elsa," Anna's promise carries a hint of a playful threat.

Gale whistles again, twirling around Anna with a smattering of orange leaves.

"Hey, who's side are you on?!" the redhead barks. "I'm just as much the bridge as my sister!"

More rustling from the canopies overhead.

"Elsa, you're supposed to stay in one place!" Anna shouts with more than a hint of frustration. "That's the whole point of hide and seek!"

A quiet snort sounds out from behind a bush. The queen whirls around, then separates the foliage in an attempt to startle the hider.

"Either she's really good, or she's cheating," Anna growls as she circles the bush. "And nobody likes a cheater!"

There's more muffled sounds coming from a different bush. Anna's eye narrow as she stalks closer. She watches the ground as she walks, both for objects underfoot that would give her away, and any indication that Elsa may have actually been here. She peels apart each bush slowly, but her older sister is nowhere to be found.

"Elsa, you're starting to scare me," Anna trills, her back to a tree. "No, I'm not trying to cheat, you're actually scaring me. Where are you?"

As Anna walks to investigate another rustling bush, she feels a cold hand on her shoulder. Instinct wrenches a scream from the queen's mouth, and the unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh echoes through the forest. She hears a pitiful 'oww' from behind.

"Who the hell do you think you-"

Before Anna can finish, the blood drains from her face as it literally drains from her attacker's nose.

"Geez, Anna, strung tight, much?" the voice is wet and nasal as their owner clings to their nose.

"Elsa!" the queen drops to her knees. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! You shouldn't have snuck up on me but oh God that looks like it hurts!"

The blood splatters of impact from Anna's elbow on Elsa's face match the steady flow from her nose. A few droplets stain the front of her dress. Reflex tears well up in Elsa's eyes despite her genial laughter.

"Remind me never to sneak up on you again," the blonde wipes her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Anna fusses with her sister's face in her hands. "It's not broken, is it?"

"No, no, it's not broken," Elsa shakes her head. "If it were, I'd be a lot less calm."

An indignant growl puffs Anna's chest.

"W–well, what were you thinking, scaring me like that?!" she tears off a piece of her own dress and presses it to Elsa's nose. "And where were you? I looked everywhere!"

"That bush," Elsa points. "Gale carried the sounds I made away, so it looked like I was moving."

"You cheater!"

"I'm sorry. It's just—you looked so cute, I couldn't resist."

"Remind me, who's the one with the bloody nose?"

Elsa sniffles with a flinch.

"Yeah, yeah, you got me good."

The queen shakes her head with a reluctant smile.

"I would say serves you right, but I'm not that mean," Anna helps her sister to her feet. "Let's call it a draw. Really, though, are you okay?"

"Still got plenty of blood in me," Elsa's confident smile is marred by sanguine fluid oozing from her nostrils.

"Ew, put that back," Anna shoves the fabric back up Elsa's nose. "And head down! You're just gonna swallow it."

"Bossy pants," Elsa murmurs with an exaggerated pout.

"If you didn't sneak up on Bossy Pants, you wouldn't be Drippy Nose right now."

Ever the mature one, Elsa sticks out her tongue.

"Put that away," Anna rolls her eyes with a laugh. "You're as bad as I am."

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"Cheeky!"

"Guilty as charged," Elsa shrugs.


Closing notes: I don't know if wind can actually literally carry sound away, but this is magical wind, so whatever. Also, I think the more time passes, the more these two turn into total smartasses with each other.