Elsa awoke after a nightmare filled with teeth and blood. The specifics weren't clear, and the dream was fading even quicker when she awoke, but she knew a nightmare when she had one. She turned over in her surprisngly comfortable bed and groaned, her head and leg hurt for some reason. She was sure she must have slept in a bad position. These military beds were not exactly top notch, she'd had better back in her own peasant home. She dared not get up though, it was the first time she'd awoken before someone else woke her up since joining the military, best to enjoy her time off.

Yes, best to get some sleep.

...

"Ahhh!"

Elsa shot up at the sound of someone screaming. Her heart raced as she looked around the dark room. She realized she was not back at the military bunks for soldiers, but rather in what looked to be someone else's room. A room with things she'd never seen before. She saw sets of teeth hanging from the cieling by string, most of which looked to belong to some animal that couldn't possibly exist. The teeth were too large, one of them looking so thick and long that Elsa imagined she couldn't even wrap her hand around it. The floors were covered in animal furs and just general forestry. The walls she could not see very well due to how dark it was, but she was sure she could see decorations aligning them. The one thing that stood out on the wall, was the large mounted head of some creature she'd never seen before. Elsa had very nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of it, scuttling backwards and tossing the animal fur covering her onto the bedding made leaves and grass.

Luckily she realized it was dead already before screaming.

She didn't even know where to begin on trying to categorize a being like that. It was too large to be a bug, but was had several similiar features. The eyes in general looked like that of fly's, and it did have antennae like a bee. Still, it was covered in fur and the mouth was shaped like a canines.

She shivered at the sight of it.

Elsa slowly got up, eyes still watching the head as if it were going to move. As she got up, she felt the dampness between her legs and winced, the smell hitting her soon after, letting her know that she had disgraced herself. It also let her know that her armor was gone, all of it. All she was left with were her slacks and thick shirt for the winter. She reached up and realized that with no helmet, her hair was free to fall down in a long braid, a braid she normally kept within hats or a helmet. It was easier to convince people you were a guy if you hid such long hair. She panicked briefly at the thought of someone finding her like this, but it was shortlived. There was something going on, something worse than someone finding out her gender.

The scream that woke her up told her that.

As if on que, another scream was heard, this one filled with absolute terror. Scared, but needing to know what was happening around her, Elsa crawled across the fur covered floors and towards the only source of light in the room, a slit in what looked like a opening covered by more animal fur. Because of unexplainable fear, Elsa kept looking toward the strange creature head mounted on the wall. Eventually she reached the opening in this hut or whatever she found herself in. She peaked out, noticing torches lit all around what looked to be a small village in the forest at night. Village would be a nice way of putting it. The size was far too small, there being a few huts on the ground and even some built into trees, whether it be through the very oak itself at a base level or some sort of treehouse built higher up. Elsa just so happened to be in what she assumed was one of the treehouse huts. There was a wooden level outside the hut, obviously installed so someone could walk out and sit outside the hut without staring through the doorway.

Elsa didn't dare venture out for a better look, after noticing what she did.

There were several people gathered in the middle of the small village. "People" wasn't the word Elsa would like to use, but what else could she say. They sported animal like features, most possessing claws or tails, bug like eyes or long rabbit like ears. One man she noticed was absolutely massive, looking to be at least eight feet tall and corded in muscle. The problem was that he was not the only one of inhuman size, there were others that were tall, though not as tall as he was. There were some that were small, like a child, yet their features said they were adults. It was a mix, a mix of freaks of nature all gathered together. While size varied, all of them sported something strange that forced you to think of them as something other than human.

And what they did seemed to solidfy this idea.

She watched as a man and woman dragged a naked person, a person she instantly recognized. It was her captain, a beat up and mangled version of the strong man she once knew, a man who welcomed her into his troop once Kristoff came to him and explained her story. He was a rough man, but fair, a kind man, but strong, seeing him like this was almost too much of a reality warp for Elsa.

And to hear him beg for mercy the way he was...

Elsa watched them drag him to a rock that was already covered in blood. Only now did she see several bodies around the rock, all of them split open. The sight was strange for some reason, not the fact of what she was seeing, but rather there was something strange about the bodies. Elsa felt herself back away from the curtain of furs, scared to see what was going to happen. She covered her mouth as her breathing got heavier, scared that these people would hear her breathing and come for her next. She heard the captain beg several more times before giving up and beginning to curse them, asking his gods to deliver upon them justice in the form of a brutal death.

Elsa peaked back out, perhaps gaining some courage from her captains words.

"Damn you all, monstrous creatures! You will all burn in hell! There is no other way for you to go after this! Damned fiends!" He cursed all the way until they dragged him to the rock, each one taking an arm and holding him against it, making sure he stood upright.

A man appeared then, this one only a foot shorter than the massive man from before. Elsa saw he had wound in the middle of his forehead, a long gash, but it was nothing special considering he had many wounds over his body. His attire left little to the imagination, a simple fur kilt of some kind and nothing else besides a necklace of teeth for decoration. He stalked towards the captain, long and hairy ears flopping against his shoulder as he made progress towards his destination. Elsa noticed his tail as well, long and black, furred like a wolf, but too thick to be one. His right hand was bloody as he reached up to press a clawed finger against the captain's throat. Elsa watched his final moments, watched as her captain spit in his face and damned him. She watched as the beast of a man not care and instead dig his claw into the chest of her captain before slashing downward, leaving a long slit from his chest to his belly. Her captain garbled, choked on his own blood and died what Elsa was sure an agonizing and cruel death surrounded by his enemies and next to the bodies of his dead soldiers.

Before her captain was even dead, the man reached inside his wound, ran his arm up and ripped out the captain's still beating heart. That was when all of the beast like people around them cheered, loud animal noises of howls, growls, hissing and even buzzing. The man, the one she assumed was the leader due to his role in this horribly cruel act, bit into the heart after a mighty howl of his own. It was after that was over did the others begin to act. Others ran forward to the body, all of them digging in and finding whatever organ they could and tearing their teeth into it. The only solace to be found in watching this was the fact that she couldn't hear the squish of organs between teeth due to everyones excited growling.

Elsa backed away from the entrance, hand still over her mouth as she tried to calm her breathing down. It didn't work, and to add even more misery to the situation she felt herself begin to vomit. While most found its way back down her throat with an acidic burn, some watery vile managed to slip past her lips and between her fingers. It was disgusting, it was horrible, it was as cruel an act in nature as you could find. Now she realized why the bodies seemed strange earlier, all of them had been cleaned out, organs eaten and bones picked apart, leaving nothing but a husk of skin.

What sort of people could do that to another person?

"Mmm." Something growled lowly.

Elsa froze, slowly turning around at the sound of something shifting behind her. She felt like crying again as she realized that her dreams were not really dreams and in fact she and her troop had been attacked by beasts.

Because of the dim light entering the room, the only thing Elsa could make out was the shape of something in the corner, the very corner that is next to the bed of leaves she was sleeping on earlier. She realized that whatever it was had been here the entire time. Whatever it was had been next to her while she was sleeping, watching her, waiting for her to wake up. Elsa felt her eyes getting hot as she realized this could be another person just waiting to drag her out and place her against that rock.

"Mmm." Another growl, though this one sounding more human, like a low mumble.

Elsa almost thought to run outside, but what was waiting out there was far worse than whatever could be in here. Surely it was another person, another of these beast-like people. These people that were-

Half-Beasts...

The legends were true. Who else could these people be. They were human, but not human, beast but not beast. They were not as hideous as the stories made them out to be, but certainly as vicious. Elsa didn't know what to do, either run outside and try to escape what could have been twenty or so people, or stay and try and deal with the one she was sure was hiding away in the corner watching her. Perhaps she could plead for her life, surely they have some humanity left in there somewhere.

"H-hello?" Elsa tried, not at all ready for what was waiting for her.

She jumped when the darkness shifted, the outline of a person's body becoming more clear as they moved a bit closer toward the light, though they were still sitting on the floor.

"I...Please don't hurt me." Elsa begged. "I have a family, a family that needs me back home." It was the truth.

"Eee... Ooo.. Urrrr... Eeee" More sounds came from the dark, now sounding much more feminine and less animlistic.

For some reason, realizing that it was a girl made Elsa feel somewhat better. Surely a girl would listen to reason and let her go.

"Please, let me go home. I won't tell anyone about this, I will-"

Elsa choked on her words when a face finally formed from the darkness. Her assumption that the voice was feminine was right, however she hadn't accounted for just what her "roommate" looked like. She had red hair, maybe orange, some shade between. She looked young, most likely younger than Elsa herself was, and her skin was tanner than Elsa's, likely having seen the sun more. Those features were normal and nothing to have a heart attack over. However the horns coming from her head and the slit eyes did well enough in scaring poor Elsa. The girl had her mouth open, in the middle of another sound, showing off her rows of sharp teeth. She moved out far enough to show that on her back were tendrils colored the same as her skin, waving about in the air around her as if they had a mind of their own.

Elsa backed away, not daring to scream. Still, backing away so far that her head went through the curtain until she was outside was not very smart. The girl was making more sounds in the tent, these ones sounding louder and more urgent. Elsa found out it was for good reason when she turned and noticed she was outside the hut. Her eyes looked on at the devouring of her captain that was still going on. The monsters were too busy having their feast to notice Elsa. Still she didn't know whether to go back inside or to try climbing down and making a run for it while they were distracted.

She got her answer in the form of leader of these beasts noticing her.

Elsa watched as he looked up at the sounds coming from the hut and noticed her trying to escape. He grimaced as the wound on the middle of his face began to move. She almost threw up again when she saw the wound open, revealing a third eye. The thought to curse went through Elsa's mind, but that wouldn't really accomplish much. Instead she scrambled backwards when she noticed he was making his way towards the tree's built in ladder, huge grooves carved into the wood to use as ladder steps.

Back in the hut, she thought to try hiding, but she stopped herself before she could do something so stupid. She needed her weapon if she was going to survive this. She looked around hopelessly, finding no weapon and not even one piece of her armor. The girl, the one she had forgotten, had moved closer to her while she was distracted. Elsa nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of one of those strange tendrils on the girl's back touching the side of her face. She did yelp and back away, pushing herself along the ground until she back into the wall of the tree hut. The girl cocked her head at the side, but didn't make any sudden moves as she slowly moved towards Elsa again, walking on her feet, but crouched down and using her hands to help move along the ground like some sort of ape.

"Oooo." The girl sounded out, another tendril moving towards Elsa's face.

"No!" Elsa responded, head moving away, while her body got ready to push the girl out of the way so she could run.

Surprisingly, the girl's tendril stopped before touching her and backed away. The girl frowned, clearly upset with Elsa's refusal. Elsa wondered if she would attack now and show her true colors as the monster she was.

Slowly, a hand came up instead.

Elsa blinked as the girl touched her face with her palm this time, careful of the sharp, talon like nails at the end of her fingers.

"Oooo." She sounded out yet again.

"Ahhhma!" Something snarled.

The only reason Elsa felt it was 'something' and not 'someone' was because there was no possible way a human could create that sound. She turned fearfully towards the entrance to the hut, seeing the man with the third eye pushing into the hut that was much too small for his huge frame.

Elsa knew this was the end. That massive beast of a man would force his way inside and tear out her heart, just like he did to the captain. He made to lunge at her and growled ferociously and as a final defense, she curled away from him, arms coming up to shield her face and knees folding up to protect her stomach. This was how she would die... cowering in a corner.

Only... she wasn't dead yet.

Elsa opened her eyes, and with sight she realized that he was not the one to growl, but rather her 'roommate'. The girl stood in front of Elsa on her bent knees and hands on the ground, taking up some sort of defense in front of her. The monstrous sound that came out of her mouth and sent chills down Elsa's spine was in protection of her, not a final noise of intimidation from an animal about to end her life. Elsa watched as the man stopped in front of her, looking very displeased.

"Ahhhma..." He growled.

Another fierce growl from the girl, her tendrils on her back waving about wildly. She slammed her fist into the ground of the tree hut before issuing another sharp growl exited her lips. Elsa was sure that she was a monster, that this girl was just like the rest of them. Yet, in that moment, all she wanted was protection from her.

The man locked eyes with Elsa for just a brief moment before he made to lunge at her again, angered it seems by the fact that Elsa dared look him in the eye.

A swipe from the smaller girl was all that was needed to make him back off.

He growled lowly, looking down at his arm that was now cut and bleeding. Elsa briefly wondered what she should do if they break out into a fight. Running away seemed logical, but with all those people outside there was no where for her to go. She considered herself lucky that it didn't turn into that however. The man simply growled, looking the girl in the eyes for a solid five seconds before turning away and exiting the hut. Elsa could hear his claws digging into wood as he descended the tree outside.

Elsa watched as she stood guard for a few more seconds before her tendrils began to calm down. Soon she turned back to Elsa, face full of curiousity as she stepped in closer once more.

"T-thank you." Elsa said, still scared of her, not entirely certain that the girl didn't fight him off just so she could eat Elsa herself.

"Ahhh ooo." The girl tried, grimacing at the sound.

Elsa stared at her for a moment before, "Please, you have to help me get out of here. I can pay you, any money you need and i'll get it for you." It was a lie, Elsa had no money and she knew it. She also wouldn't put paying this girl over her families needs.

"Eeee... oooo.. aaaa..." The girl seemed to be growing increasingly frustrated for some reason.

"What do you want. Just name it and its yours. My family is well off you know." More lies, anything to get this girl's help.

"Aaaa ooo... uuuu..." The girl shook her head, angry now.

Elsa almost thought she was angering the girl, almost thought she was going to kill and eat her now. Surprisingly though, Elsa had an epiphany just before she thought to push the girl down and run.

"You... you can't understand me." Elsa's shoulders deflated at the realization.

"oooo aaa..."

"And you've been trying to mimic me this whole time." Another realization.

"ahhh oooo..."

Elsa sighed and let her head hit the wall behind her as she looked at the girl in front of her. The girl was still trying to mimic Elsa, making the most basic sounds from her mouth that most babies did. This girl however was no baby... Not even human as far as Elsa was concerned.

She was just a monster.

A cruel, manipulative thought entered Elsa's mind at that. For some reason this girl protected Elsa, wanted Elsa to live. There was no telling how far she'd go for this, but it was clearly far when she just watched the girl draw blood from a man far larger than herself just to keep her safe. Elsa could use her, use her to escape. She needed to befriend her, to understand her, to make her realize that she wanted to leave. They would escape together, and afterwards Elsa could just leave her and find her way back home.

She was just a dumb animal right?

"Elsa." She said.

The monster of a girl looked up at her.

"Elsa." She tried again, pointing to herself.

The girl's eyes crinkled in frustration at the sound, knowing she couldn't say it.

"Eh...ah."

"Elsa."

"Ehah."

"Elsa. Its a Sssss sound a ssss" Elsa stuck her tongue to the roof of her mouth and hissed.

The girl looked at her blankly for a moment. Elsa panicked, realizing that her hissing sound could be taken as a threat.

The girl laughed.

"Ehah." She laughed some more.

Elsa sighed. "Close enough... now you." Elsa girl just attempted to mimic what she had said. "No... you." Elsa pointed to the girl. "Elsa" She pointed to herself. "You." She pointed to the girl.

A brief moment of the language barrier offering its frustration before the girl seemed to understand.

"Ahhhma." She said.

"Ahma? You mean Anna?" Elsa tried, wondering if she had a normal name like others in the city.

"Ahma."

"Anna." Elsa gave a small smile, liking the idea of messing up the girl's name like she did for Elsa.

The girl let out a heavy breath through her nostrils while her tendrils moved languidly behind her.

"Anna it is."

Anna it was.