Prologue
"Anna!"
Elsa's world was tumbling. At first her vision appeared upside down, then it righted itself, then it was upside down again, and on and on it went like this for several seconds. She realized dumbly that she was falling, shortly before she felt the cold impact against the water as the breath was ripped from her lungs.
Immediately, she clawed for the surface, but the turbulent rapids were tossing her body every which way and she couldn't tell up, down, or sideways. Her lungs were burning, and the impact had disoriented her as she desperately struggled against the current until finally breaking the surface and sucking in a deep gasp of air.
"Elsa!"
Elsa whirled her head around, trying to locate the sound of her sister's voice while fighting to remain afloat over the rushing river. Ahead of her, several meters away, she spotted Anna's fiery red hair dip below the surface, the sight of which filled Elsa with the peculiar sensation of cold dread and adrenaline all at once. She surged forward now, utilizing the speedy current and her own momentum to try and catch up to Anna who was still moving downriver.
Not again, Elsa thought. Please, not again.
Anna managed to surface once more and Elsa saw that her face was twisted in panic and terror, gasping while kicking and slapping at the water in an attempt to remain above the surface. Anna couldn't swim and she knew it. Elsa knew it too, and was using every last ounce of her waning strength to make it to her before she lost consciousness.
"Elsa, help m-!" Anna's voice was cut off once again as she sank beneath the surface.
Redoubling her efforts, Elsa paddled with her legs and alternated her arms in and out of the water in a front crawl as she began to close the distance between her and Anna. She did not feel the pain from the bullet wound in her shoulder, numbed as it was from the shock and cold.
"I'm coming, Anna!" Elsa shouted, more to herself since she was certain Anna could not hear her, but she called out all the same. "Just hold on!"
Fear was constricting her heart, tightening its grip with every passing second. Elsa knew that Anna wouldn't last much longer if she didn't catch up to her soon.
Not again. Let me save her. Please let me save her.
