Inspired by an ask prompt from like-redhead-probably on tumblr: Anna and Elsa as mythological creatures. After much thought (and MUCH writing/explaining) I settled on the Hulder for Elsa and a Valkyrie for Anna. For a more detailed description of both (and why I chose these two myths) check out my tumblr under "Valkyrie/Hulder au"
Anna knelt down among the grasses and extended her hand to the woman at her feet, hauling her up with a strong arm. The body gave up it's soul without complaint, leaving it in the capable hands of the Valkyrie, which was a relief. Anna had seen many today that were not ready to move on.
"Thank you, Valkyrie, for choosing me," the woman said, standing in front of Anna in wavering spectral blue.
"You fought well," Anna replied, throwing an arm around her shoulders in camaraderie. "I knew you were the one the moment you donned your armor. Speaking of," Anna's eyes turned sad, "I'm sorry to make you wait. That wound it… was painful, wasn't it?"
They both peered back at the ground, where the woman's body lay. Anna felt a tremble run through her Chosen. "It wasn't that bad," the woman grit her teeth, attempting a smile.
Anna hummed in understanding. There was no need to put on a brave face, especially for those bound for Valhalla, but she had seen enough over the centuries to know that humans often brushed aside their suffering in the face of the unknown.
"Is there anyone you will miss?" Anna asked. She always asked.
The warrior's head drooped, looking away from her body. "My wife," she said solemnly. "I said goodbye to her but, there's always the hope that you'll get to say it one more time." The woman put a hand on the back of her neck, suddenly sheepish. "Is it weird that I'll also really miss my cat?"
The Valkyrie paused, blinked, and then a laugh sprang from deep within her, lighting up the middle of the battlefield like a summer breeze.
"Not at all!" Anna squeezed the woman tightly, walking them towards the edge of the field, where other Valkyries, their Chosen Dead, and their mounts, awaited. "Our pets are family too." Anna acknowledged the other Valkyries as they approached. Many returned her greeting with smiles, but some were occupied with their charges. A few spoke softly to their Chosen, consoling them. One looked like she was regretting her choice as her warrior whooped and hollered, begging them to be off. Anna steered her Chosen to her own mount, brushing the horse's flank. "We'll send a message through Embla to your wife that you made it to Valhalla."
The woman paused, bouncing back down on the leg that would have gotten her into the saddle. She looked over her shoulder, an odd expression on her face. "How did you know my cat's name?"
Anna's eyes twinkled. "Don't you know? Cats are very special to Freyja. If they're staring off into space, they're probably talking to something you can't see." Anna jabbed her thumb against her armor covered chest. "And that something is usually someone, like me."
The woman looked back at the winged horse she was mounting, then skyward. "It's one thing to hear the stories, but… I suppose I'll get used to this one day, won't I?"
Anna grinned again, putting her hands on her hips. "One day, and sooner rather than later. Though hopefully, the world won't lose it's magic for you too quickly."
The woman patted the neck of the steed below her, making it whiney in happiness and ruffle the feathers in its wings. "No," she murmured, "I don't think it will."
"Alright then, scooch over," Anna made shoo-ing motions with her hand." No no, the other way! Trust me, you'll want the view, and with me behind, you won't fall off." The woman paled to a morning sky blue as Anna put her foot in the stirrup, "And while you're already dead, the fall wouldn't be pleasant and we'd have to come rescue y-"
A small, wistful tug at the small of her back pulled her up short. The subtle kind, like the soft plucking of a musician tuning their instrument in the corner of a crowded drinking hall. The kind where they feel for the vibrations more than listen to the note to tell if they're on the right track.
Anna froze. A frown creased her brow, her green eyes unfocussing to the middle distance.
"Is everything alright, Valkyrie?" Anna blinked and looked up at her Chosen.
"Yes, I thought I felt-." The pull came again, against her lower ribs, close to her spine. Anna jumped back to the ground, raising her fingers to her mouth and giving a piercing whistle, bringing a fellow Valkyrie to her side immediately.
"I need you to take my Chosen to Valhalla," Anna said firmly.
The other Valkyrie's eyes widened. "Why?"
"We missed one."
The Valkyrie cocked her head, concentrating. "I don't sense another, sister."
"But I…" Anna's eyes were locked on the treeline at the edge of the battlefield. "I could have sworn-."
"The skirmish is over, and you have your Chosen," the Valkyrie motioned to Anna's charge. "It's your duty to take her."
Anna's eyes drifted back to her sister and her Chosen. She balled her fists. "We missed one," she repeated. "I'm sure of it."
"A deserter perhaps?" Both Valkyries looked up at the Chosen, who balked immediately. "S-Sorry," she stammered, a ghostly blush appearing across the bridge of her nose. "I guess I don't know how it works but, you Choose people right? Who lives and who dies? And maybe this person slipped away before the fight, which is why… you didn't…" She sputtered to a stop, the glow overtaking her features. "Maybe that makes no sense."
Anna and the other Valkyrie shared a look, then took in the field again.
"I suppose…" the Valkyrie began.
"...That's possible." Anna concluded.
The Valkyrie sighed, turning and taking the reins to Anna's horse. "You'd better investigate then. Just to be sure." Anna nodded, turning to take her leave. "And, Anna?" The Valkyries' eyes met, an understanding passing between them. If someone was Chosen, then it was a Valkyrie's task to collect, one way or another. "No one escapes their fate."
Anna put a hand on the hilt of her sword. "They won't," she said evenly. "One way or another."
She bid farewell to her Chosen and all the others. As Anna made her way across the battlefield she heard the beating of wings, neighing of horses, and stomping of hooves digging into the dirt for lift off. It was always a thrill to watch the face of her Chosen as they began their journey, but as the tug came again -now a snag on her sternum, light but insistent as she trudged forward- Anna resigned herself to next time. She focused on the feeling in her chest, thrumming with warm tension, like a rope holding a sail in place against the wind. A familiar sensation, but this one was different, and she hadn't known how to say as much to her fellow Valkyrie. Normally, when someone was Chosen, all a Valkyrie had to do was see them, and the decision of life or death was known in an instant. If Life, a mark was placed on the person, protecting them from harm; if Death, the collection and honoring of the soul after battle and a ride to Valhalla. But this one was outside of battle - it was after, or aside. If the Choice was Life, then Anna could let it be, make the mark and return home. But if it was Death… what then? A Valkyrie was not meant to kill mankind, but to ferry and guide. What would she do if there was no one to do the deed for her?
Anna reached the treeline and paused, shaking the thoughts from her head. She would cross that bridge when she came to it, no sense in worrying before the answer was revealed. And it would be, soon, as if she had always known it.
The phantom pull beckoned her forward, as surely as being led by the hand, but now it was joined by another sensation, ringing against the shell of Anna's ears.
Singing.
A melody without words. Unfamiliar. Lofting, glazed and sweet, through the air like droplets of honey.
Anna strode forward, swallowed immediately by the large conifers, her footsteps muffled by a dense carpet of dead pine needles. A low fog clung to her boots, eddying about in whirls at her passing. The colors of the forest were rich, swathed like dark paint strokes: greens and chips of brown, flashes of ruddy red, all saturated in hue from moisture that clung to the air itself. Compared to the carnage at her back, the serenity of the woods made Anna feel like she'd stepped into another world. Another, other world. Not one of gods or men. One of tranquility, dominated by only one thing: the voice.
It was beautiful, hitting each new note effortlessly, enchanting in it's grace. It enticed Anna along as easily as her Valkyrie pull, in harmony with it, even. Anna felt like she was being pushed along and reeled in at the same time, a fish on a line, her pace quickening, nearly stumbling in her efforts to reach her destination. While she realized distantly that her haste should probably alarm her, fear was the furthest thing from her mind. There was only the song, only the tune, only the knowledge of her upcoming Choice.
The calming shush of water rode under the belly of the song, and in the next moment Anna realized she had arrived. The babbling curve of a river cut her off from the other side of the forest. Hardly an insurmountable gap, but a solid stop nonetheless as Anna found her footsteps echoing beneath her, now on a flat stretch of stone instead of grass and loam.
The notes ground to an abrupt halt, the silence left behind stark and empty.
...Until Anna found eyes of startling ice blue and the screaming started.
Well, Anna thought, clapping her hands over her ears, more like shrieking.
There was a flurry of movement and water sloshed up near Anna's boots. A mouth moved but Anna couldn't hear, still fighting the ringing in her head at the unexpectedly shrill noise. Slowly she eased her clawed fingers from around her ears, but regretted it almost instantly.
"I said-!" A graceless, high, and not at all calm voice broke through, making Anna grit her teeth, "What in the name of Odin is wrong with you?!"
Anna went to retort and give the person a good earful of her own, but to her shock, her jaw simply refused to work. In fact it was stuck, awestruck and lame. Conversely, her heart was working overtime because…
The woman in front of her was breathtakingly beautiful. Long pale hair cascaded down her shoulders, over her heaving, arm crossed chest, fanning out where it dipped into the water. Those blue eyes like the glaciers in the realm of the Frost Giants shone dazzling and fierce, framed by dark eyebrows. The mouth that had accosted her was now a firm and set line, waiting for the Valkyrie's reply.
But more than all of that, understanding was crashing through Anna with all the power and might of Thor's lightning. The voice, the song, and those words, the Pull: they had led her here. This woman was her Chosen. The tether in her chest practically crackled in the short distance between herself and this stranger, tingling down her limbs and filling her with the energy to act just as much as it rooted her to the spot. It became so intense that Anna felt a flush creep up her neck, the pressure of everything she felt akin to a summer bonfire trapped beneath her armor.
The woman took this change -and Anna's continued silence- poorly, and sank further under, leaving just her head above the water.
And maybe that was the most unbelievable thing about the whole situation. Anna was half convinced Loki had set this up - it would explain all the confusion, the unknowns, and the general strangeness. Never in all her centuries of life had a Choice made her feel like this.
Anna had found her Chosen, and the question of whether she was a warrior, which side she fought for, if she was a deserter, or just late to the fight, was suddenly irrelevant. She wasn't lying dead waiting for Anna to pick her up, she wasn't a tortured soul, tired of combat and waiting for release. She was a young, very alive woman trying to hide as much of herself as possible, while also attempting to not get water up her nose.
Anna had found her Chosen. It was obvious and it was insistent and it made the flush creep up higher into her face, now with genuine embarrassment adding itself the list of irrational, unhelpful emotions.
Anna had found her Chosen. And to both party's all consuming discomfort, she'd found her:
Completely, one hundred percent, naked.
"-can't believe this…" Anna heard the woman grumble over her clamoring thoughts, "...maybe she doesn't-." The woman dissolved into muttering near the waterline. She seemed to reach a conclusion, clutching all of her limbs closer together as she spoke, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
Anna felt the Choice rise on her tongue alongside her response. Who was she? Why was she here? Life or Death?
She answered all three questions at once.
"I don't know."