When Elsa woke up, it was about one AM. Anna's hair was everywhere, hitting her eyes and creeping into her mouth and nose. Elsa laughed silently when she peeled herself out of Anna's tight grip that just latched onto her waist even tighter once she sat up. Elsa was determined to get up anyhow, and lightly jabbed one of Anna's sides to tickle her. It worked, and Anna rolled away, her face covered in her own hair like loads of reddish spiderwebs. Elsa snapped her fingers and she was in a dark blue dress with leggings and slightly heeled black boots.
She looked toward the window, knowing that was the only way out where no one would see her. She was sure Anna told the staff to have a watch on her. She swipes the locks open on the windowsill and pauses before walking over to her sister and wiping her hair away from her eyes. Elsa leans down to kiss her sister's mouth, wiggling her tongue in the air when she gets drool on her lips and shakes her head. Why am I surprised? Elsa rubs her sister's arm and hops out the window onto a part of the roof. The sandy texture under her feet crunches and she jumps off the castle roof like a teenager on the loose, her hands swinging wildly in the air. Some ice starts flurrying until it makes a steep slide toward the ground. She skids down it expertly, taking two extra steps once she lands in the short grass with a DUMP doof.
It was humid out, and right away she noticed the wind picked up once she touched the ground. So it knows when I'm conscious of it. She looks around, most things on her path are not very lit since she's taking all the alleys to get through Arendelle instead of the roads. She slips past Kristoff and Sven's barn extra cautiously, looking behind her numerous times before she sprints toward the forest entrance over the short rattling bridge. Once her feet dig into the softer grass and dirt of the forest, the wind blows one really hard gust at her and she takes an involuntary step back, her braid whacking her shoulders hard like a horse's tail.
She steels her brow and walks deeper in, very little light coming from anywhere. It gets almost purely black about three minutes in, and Elsa starts making little ice markers which have the slightest bit of yellow-illumination. It helps. But then there's a snapping of twigs and a weird sighing sound coming up behind her. Her body tenses.
Shff shfff shfff. It starts getting louder. SHFF SHFF SHFFF! CRACK! Elsa uses her ice powers to raise up a huge clear wall and then BOOF! Both Sven and Kristoff slam into the ice wall face first.
"What?!" Elsa barks and lowers the wall, immediately bending down to pet Sven with his tongue hanging out, and ask if Kristoff is ok while he rolls his eyes in circles to see straight again.
"No! I almost died! And YOU could die! What the heck are you doing in the forest alone?! There could be creepers." Kristoff pats off his red striped pajamas that have stains all over them.
"Well I am looking for a wind spirit."
"You're crazy!" Kristoff pushes himself off the ground with a stubby hand and Sven nudges him up further. "And where's Anna—wow you left her behind," he finishes slowly. Elsa shrugs limply and sways from side to side. "Man. She's gonna be SO mad at you!"
"I know," Elsa grumbles, head dropped backward while she stares up at the ceiling of black sky and dark green leaves. "But I had to. And you should go back to Arendelle as well." Kristoff and Sven share a bored look and give Elsa a firm shake of their head. "Kristoff just make this easier and go." Kristoff opens his mouth—
SHF SHF SHF SHF SHF! Elsa raises up a wall of glass again and Sven and Kristoff get low to the ground behind Elsa. DOOF! Anna slams her fist against the glass and a muffled "ARGHHH! STUPID! JERK! OW!" Elsa drops the wall into a pile of snowy ash and slaps her hand against her forehead.
"So you followed me as well…."
"Yeah you freakin'-UGH! I am SO MAD!" Anna throws her hands around in the air, still wearing her nightgown with her short wool jacket covering up her torso.
"Told you she'd be mad," Kristoff whispers with his hand "covering" his mouth. Elsa sends him a sharp look and he slinks away. Anna starts ranting at Elsa about everything possible speaking a million miles a minute while Elsa rubs the bridge of her nose and nods tiredly. Sven and Kristoff hear a crack in the woods again. A heavy one. Sven's ears perk up then drop back down.
…..
FWSSSSSH! A sharp chill blows Sven and Kristoff almost a foot over and they shiver uncontrollably against each other.
"H-hey!" Kristoff whispers loudly at Elsa beckoning her over with a fiercely waving hand. Elsa turns away from Anna without a word and starts moving toward the reindeer and Kristoff low to the ground like cats on the hunt.
"I'm not done with you!" Anna hisses. Elsa rolls her eyes and pulls Anna down by her wrist, huffing when Anna trips over a stick and falls on top of her back, grabbing Elsa's breast by accident. "Well that's one way to do it," Anna jokes.
"Quiet."
"You, quiet! Jerk-face." Elsa sighs and Kristoff throws a finger up to his mouth; both him and Anna make pouty faces at each other.
FESSSSHHHH! KF! Queen? FWWWWSH!
"Did that…?" Kristoff and Sven look at each other with a shiver rolling down their spines, their knees (or hooves) deep in grassy dirt. Elsa perks up, listening more intently.
FWWWWSH! The wind gets hard and the trees around them quiver, groan and rattle. Ellllllssssa. There'sssssss moreeeee than youUUUFWSH! Elsa stands up with her back straighter than ever. Her heart is pounding fast, and it felt like her stomach is climbing up her throat, catching on each sphincter. Anna stood, and one hand holding Elsa's bicep creeped down with the drag of her nails and interlaced their fingers. She was holding tight, and it was so clear to Elsa she was saying all she needed to right then. She's never gonna let me go, Elsa thought. It weighed heavy on her shoulders. There's an uncertainty in me whether that's good or not. ...I feel guilty for even pondering it.
FFFWSH! You're held backkk. There'ssssss more to youuuuu FWWWWWSH! A hard gust of wind knocks Kristoff and Sven a foot away.
"Shit!" Anna yelps, her eyes wide as possible. "Els! Put something up! It could separate us!" Just as she says that, the lights Elsa littered throughout the forest start to burst one by one. And then Kristoff and Sven get blown about eight feet back, ungracefully hitting their backs against trees and cutting themselves on sticks. "KRISTOFF!" Anna tries lunging forward and Elsa grabs her by the waist, both of them toppling onto the ground. Elsa uses her body to cover Anna and a vicious gust of wind carrying a wide sharp stick tears through her top and puts a gash into her skin.
"GYYT!" Elsa holds her back and a tear swells in her eye as she digs her fingers into the mud. And then another object flies and cuts into her trapezious.
"Oh God!" Elsa can't see her sister well besides with the small bits of moonlight that makes its way through the trees but she can tell Anna's almost going to cry for her. "Els! Make a case arou—"
"KTTT!" The wind grabs a hold of Elsa and wraps itself around her in a huge hamster ball of leaves and wood. It's completely opaque with no way to see where she is or where her family is. Her body is spinning in 720's and 360's in every which way. YOU ARE TRAPPED HERE! YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE. WE ARE FREE. FIND US. THERE ARE MORE. Her breath is being stolen, and it's so loud in her ears it feels like the drums could pop—FIND US—because there's this pressure that just won't stop pressing down on her chest and jaw—LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND—and everything's so much she might as well just—
"ENOUGH!" Elsa screams over the wind and her ice explodes out of her hands. It collides with every side of the wind ball she's captured in and the wind bursts apart. She then realizes she's falling about twelve feet above the forest's trees and she howls. DDFFF! Her ice thankfully creates a slide she glides down a bit recklessly, stumbling over her feet. She cuts her face on a hard branch and jabs her side before landing roughly into the forest dirt.
"Holy CRAP Elsa!" Kristoff rushes toward her looking petrified, and grabs her back.
"AHH!" Elsa hunches over and holds her back. Kristoff sucks in a sharp breath and looks at his hand where a streak of the moonlight lights up a large splotch of blood where he touched her.
"We gotta get you outta here." Sven nudges Elsa with his head and she somehow gets on his back with Kristoff's help. He understands Elsa's bleeding. And a lot. Kristoff runs his dirty fingers through his greasy hair and screams, "ANNA?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
The wind picks up again, and they all start swaying side to side. Elsa holds her back and almost falls off of Sven's hard saddle. Kristoff jumps behind her and holds her up, wrapping one arm around her waist.
"Anna?!" Elsa yells weakly? She hears someone calling her name? Was it the wind or was it Anna? Is that Kristoff yelling? Where'd Sven go? Elsa hits the floor hard.
….
….
Elsa's eyes open to a white shimmey bed canopy. She blinks once. Twice. Three times. She sits u—
"OW!" Elsa collapses back onto the bed and hisses, her hand automatically reaching to her upper back.
TFF—WHACK! She lifts her head at a painful angle to look at the door that just slammed against the wall. Olaf was standing there with huge eyes.
"Anna! Mom?! Elsa's—Mom's up!" Dp dp dp DP DP DPDPDPDPDP!
"Elsa?!" Anna skids across the carpet and smacks her hand against the wall to stop from trampling over Olaf and falling face first onto the wood floor.
"Wh—" Elsa clears her throat, feeling a strain choking her up. "What happened?" Anna and Olaf's brows turn upward in relief and they quickly crawl their way to the side of Elsa's bed.
Elsa sits up slowly, groaning, and Anna holds her hand the whole time. Olaf jumps onto the bed and sits up against Elsa's leg that was covered by a warm blanket.
"First of all," Anna digs her fingers into the hair at the base of Elsa's scalp and kisses her hard, pulling away quickly. "I love you so much and I'm so glad you're ok." Anna's eyes tear up and so do Olaf's, his little hand reaching for Elsa's. She gives her palm to him and he drops his head against her thigh.
"Love you too," Elsa says, voice tight.
"You fainted. Kristoff found me, and-and Timothy! Timothy was caught under a huge tree trunk that the wind knocked down. He heard you and saw you go up into the air. He wanted to help you and the wind stopped him. His leg is broken. Oh God Els that was horrifying, I had no idea what coulda happened to you and that was EXACTLY why I didn't want you leaving without me, Els, you could have died!" Anna takes a huge breath and Elsa looks down at Olaf's sad eyes looking up at her.
"I'm the reason that boy is hurt," Elsa mutters, eyes shut. "You could have gotten hurt too and it'd be my fault. I have to… do something about that wind. It hurts us. It hurt me. It could hurt anyone in Arendelle."
"What the hell are you saying?" Anna's head shakes fervently. "You are NOT going out to face it again. You're just stirring it up."
"I have to go Anna, it—"
"—YOU have been here for EIGHT days." Elsa stops talking and Olaf looks between her and Anna worriedly. "I've been the one taking care of everything while you were out, including all of your royal duties. A roof got thrown into a shoe salesman's shop from the wind battle you had. There was a robbery from someone on the outside breaking into Mr. Cartman's shop. And to top it off, I had to argue with three total bastards who tried prying the throne out from under you just in EIGHT days. Imagine you going and doing whatever you need to do to stop that thing. It could take you anywhere. You need to be here Elsa. The people need you. Olaf needs you here." Anna leans closer to Elsa's face and sucks on her own bottom lip. "I… I really need you here." Anna's eyes stare holes right through a guilty Elsa whose head is pounding and back is screaming. Elsa's conscious is what's hurting the most.
I can either stay here and let this thing move on not knowing how long it will fight us, or I can track down whatever these 'others' are. Anna's eyes are so desperate, pleading with Elsa all they can. Anna's hand holding hers is tight just like the other day. It's saying she'll never let go all over again. ...But Elsa releases right then.
"I have to go find the other spirits or… whatever they are." Anna's face drops and Olaf lets go of Elsa's hand too. "I can't let this take over Arendelle. I have to defend our kingdom. You understand that don't you?" Anna steps back and crosses her arms. Her face morphs into something Elsa's never seen on her sister and her body tenses, a sharp pain's jabbing her through her cut, but she can't move.
"I understand completely," Anna huffs a bitter laugh and pulls out the chain and engagement ring hanging underneath her dress collar and takes it off. She tosses it onto the bed and Elsa holds it in her hand, staring down at it with her mouth gaping foolishly. "You're leaving me already. Just like I knew you would." Anna shrugs and starts walking backward toward the door.
"Wait wait wait," Elsa holds the ring up to Anna and Anna waves her off.
"Leave me alone. Thanks." SLAM.