Chapter One
After bombing another job interview, missing her bus, and almost getting spat on by a homeless person, the only thing that Anna Muenster could take solace in was this: "At least it's a nice day for a walk."
Post-college life hadn't been kind to the decreasingly hopeful redhead. In the past year alone, her parents got divorced, her girlfriend broke up with her, and she realized that no one in her field was hiring. So now she was searching for something- anything- to keep herself afloat so she could stop relying on her parents for rent money.
Three months of job searching later and...no dice. All she'd gotten were rejection emails and empty promises that they'd call her back, and it didn't help that she tripped over her words and always said at least one stupid thing per interview.
This time around, during an interview for a low-level data entry position, she made the mistake of saying that she wouldn't be like everyone else who spent half their time at work browsing Reddit and Discord. When the interviewer started talking about looking for a "certain kind of person", she knew it was over.
With a sigh, she tucked her folder under her armpit, moved her sack lunch to the same hand, and pulled out her phone. She promised her older brother she'd call him after the interview.
After the second ring, Kristoff picked up, "Heeeeeey, how'd it go?"
"Uuuuuuugh!"
"That bad, huh?"
"I told her that numbers were my passion."
He laughed, "What does that even mean?"
"I don't knoooow!" Anna whined, "I always get too scared that I'll say something dumb, and then I jinx myself by- of course- saying something dumb! I swear the universe is conspiring against me or something. Or maybe I pissed off an ancient spirit or something."
"Or maybe these places are too intimidated by how much you bring to the table, and don't think they're worthy enough to hire you," Kristoff reasoned. "Look, I know you haven't had the best few months, but I'm sure your luck's gonna turn around soon."
Anna scoffed, "Easy for you to say. You're already married and have a job. I'm living in an apartment our parents paid for and can't even get a text back."
"It's gonna happen for you too, Anna. I promise." Her brother speaks with a confidence that's always reassured her since they were kids. It's one of the reasons she always calls him when things go bad or just needed a pick-me-up.
Her spirits are lifted for the moment, but she needed a win soon. These phone calls wouldn't help her forever, and she didn't want to keep him away from his own life so much. "Thanks, Kristoff," she says with a smile that she hopes he can sense, "I needed that."
"Anytime." In the background, she can hear a baby crying and her older brother sighs, "Looks like duty calls. I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you."
"I love you too."
He hangs up, and Anna's all alone on her walk again. Thankfully, the place she was interviewing at wasn't too far from her apartment, maybe a half an hour walk at best. And, as mentioned before, it was a nice day. Out here in West Arendelle, the weather was always a coin-flip between bright, cool, and sunny, or damp and rainy. Today was the former.
With the local restaurants on both sides of the street, minimal traffic, birds chirping, and a park off in the distance, it all made her feel like a Disney princess.
A depressed, Disney princess with an untucked dress shirt and a lukewarm ham sandwich, but a Disney princess nonetheless.
When she got back to her apartment, she'd change back into shorts and a t-shirt, mope for a little bit while watching reruns of Friends, and then get back on the job hunt. It was a routine that she'd gotten all-too-familiar with, and it didn't show any signs of changing just yet.
She needed a win.
Bad.
Or at least a sign that things would finally get better, that things would start going her way. But the more she tried to find it, the more out of reach it felt. Maybe this was just her life now…
But as that sobering thought began to overtake her, she was startled by a rustling in the alleyway to her left. And then a loud bang.
She jumped twenty feet in the air and yelped, "What the...frick was that?!"
A wood pallet looked to have fallen and hit the rusty trash bins. Anna stood frozen in place waiting for more noises, even though she probably should have kept moving. West Arendelle may have been a relatively safe place, but it wasn't immune to thugs and more aggressive homeless people. But something told her to wait, a feeling, or maybe it was the evil spirit she thought was making her life miserable.
She got an answer when one of the trash bags began to rustle, and then two, and then one. As if something was moving in between them. "Is something there?" She asked curiously.
Maybe it was a rat, so hyped up on diseases that you'd die immediately after getting bit. So then why was she stepping into the alleway? Even more rustling piqued her curiosity, as well as the sounds of plastic tearing.
This was a bad idea, it felt like a bad idea. What if it was a crab monster that would attach to her face the second she pulled it out of its trashy hiding place? Or what if it was a snake? Nonetheless, her feet moved her right in front of the trash bags. "Hello?" she said softly.
No answer, but then if they started speaking back to her, she'd probably have a heart attack. The alleyway was silent save for the odd passing car at the end of it, she moved her hand slowly to one of the bags.
"This is stupid," she whispered to herself, "What are you doing, Anna? This is so stupid."
And yet she continued, even as her heartbeat quickened with each passing second. When her fingers grasped a drawstring and tugged back one of the bags, she was afraid her heart would explode from the anxiety.
What awaited her was not a ghost, or a face-eating crab, or a snake. Instead it was a fluffy, dirty ball of white whimpering from the loss of protection. Or, you know, a puppy. A scared, shivering puppy.
"Oh…" she said softly, sympathetically.
Anna knelt down, taking in the sight of the frightened animal. Aside from the dirty, white fur, it also had these sad yet striking blue eyes, small legs curled in, and perky ears with a chunk missing from its left one. She remembers seeing this kind of dog in a movie about sledding once.
It's a husky. Alone, abandoned, and visibly afraid.
Despite its yipping and howling, Anna has this feeling that it won't attack her. "Hey there, little guy." she said while slowly stretching out an open palm to them.
The husky's yipping turns to solely whimpering, until Anna's hand gets close enough to smell. It's whimpering grows softer as well after one sniff, and she's glad that she decided to put on her strawberry-scented lotion today. When the puppy licks her, she's almost taken aback at how coarse its tongue is. But she doesn't pull away, it's not showing any teeth so she feels like she's safe. She feels like it can trust her.
That feeling is amplified when the puppy stands up and takes a few cautious steps toward Anna, again with the soft whimpers. But one more sniff, and it changes its course, darting towards her right. Crap, she's about to get bit and get super-rabies.
She jerks her right hand away just in case, and the puppy whimpers and takes a few steps back. Damn, she's only known this thing for a few minutes and is already feeling guilty for spooking it. "What…" she looks at her right hand and that's when it clicks: the sandwich. "You smelled it, didn't you?"
The puppy's head is tipped down, as if it's sorry for scaring her.
Anna puts her folder down and takes the ham sandwich out of the bag. She rips off a piece and stretches her hand out. "Here. Why don't we share?"
No dice, in fact the puppy moves back toward its garbage home. Anna thinks that maybe she's scared it for good, and that she should just leave. Left with the knowledge that she isn't even wanted by a stray puppy.
But it doesn't move away fully, just far enough so that it can nestle back onto one of the trash bags. Anna's still got the food outstretched, but it's not getting closer. She tries a different approach and puts the piece of food on the ground, moving her hand back towards herself and wiping the crumbs off on her pants.
And it works.
After a few seconds, the puppy sniffs around for a little bit and then takes one step. And then two. And then a few more. It's right in front of the food before it looks up at Anna as if to ask for permission. She nods, and it downs the bite immediately. Man, who knows how long it's been since its last meal.
"You like ham, good to know." Anna chuckles and rips off another piece of her sandwich. And then another. And then another until she doesn't have anymore sandwich left to give.
When the puppy notices that she's all out, it turns around to walk back to the trash bags. And Anna stands back up, hoping that this one good deed was what she needed to turn her luck around.
But when she stands, the puppy's ears perk up and scatters towards her.
"Oh! Uh hey...again." She says when it sits right in front of her. "I don't have any more food, buddy."
And then the cutest thing ever happens. The puppy circles around her feet a couple of times, stops at her right side, and rests its head on her shoe.
She gasped, "That's not even fair."
It's clear what this puppy wants, it knows that it can trust Anna and it's a trust that it probably hasn't felt for any human. At least not for a while. Or maybe it's just using her for food. Whatever the reason, Anna knows one thing: she can't just leave it here.
So, once again, she kneels back down and the puppy sits back up to smell and lick her hand. "You wanna come with me?" she asks, thinking that the whimper she gets in response is a yes. "I've only got one bedroom though, so you might have to take the couch."
Oblivious to her pitiful attempts at humor, the puppy keeps licking away at her hands and shoes. When it bends down to lick her shoes again, she notices something in the matted fur around its neck. A faded, blue collar.
With steady hands, Anna moved the fur around the collar as the puppy lapped at her shoes. Just as she expected, there's a small, metallic circle at the center of it near its chest. The paint is chipped and the engraving is scuffed up, but it's still clear enough that she can make out the word on it.
"Elsa…"
At the sound of that word, the puppy looks up at her with curious, attentive eyes.
She smiles, "That must be your name, huh? It's very pretty."
Elsa tilts her head as if she's waiting for a command, and when it doesn't come, she goes back to licking Anna's shoes.
There's no number or address on the tag, just a name. But someone had to have given it to her, there's no way she was just born with the tag on. She had to find their owner, they must be worried sick. Who wouldn't miss such a beautiful, adorable husky?
But first things first, she had to get her out of this alleyway.
Anna stood up again, and Elsa followed her immediately. "Come on Elsa, my place isn't that far. And I think you'll like it."
She doesn't even need to be asked twice, Elsa follows her step by step as they walk out of the alleyway together. As they turn the corner together and continue the twenty-minute walk home, Anna can't help but shake this feeling that her entire life had just changed.
Which is silly, she thinks, because she won't have Elsa for long.
A/N: I've had this idea rattling around in my head, and I wanted to get it out before I forgot about it. Updates for this fic will be sporadic, though, because Five Feet Apart will be my top priority. But I hope this'll be a good thing to read in case you want some fluff. Heheh, get it? Fluff? Because Elsa's a puppy.
Whatever, you're not here for my jokes.