Usual disclaimer. So, I feel like I should let you all know this now: I'm going to be going into band camp tomorrow, so I might be a bit unavailable for some time. I also would like to give you guys one more chapter to decide upon the smut thing, since I only got one response (thanks Strasza!). As always, enjoy the chapter!
"Gita, we have rebels now in the Terra Magus now. Same X's as before. I've a feeling that soon we will have people in other lines as well beginning to rebel, if the trend that has been being followed persists," Pocahontas told her friend. Gita sighed, the words of Horatius from her dream a few days ago resonating in her mind.
Is this what he meant by 'They rise'? A new uprising, a new Line? She was so uncertain as to what was causing all of these rebellions; there had been a period of peace now for several years, animosity taking a break for once. She was an Ultimum Maleficus that favored peace, having been raised upon such roots that valued kindness and peace as opposed two generations of Ultimum Malefici ago, under the leadership of Lord Ja'far Thueban, great uncle to Yusraa and Princess Jasmine. He was a crooked man, bribing and intimidating in order to be elected into his spot instead of Lord Walter Disney, who later became the Ultimum Maleficus after Ja'far was killed for his crimes.
Regardless, the very real and very possible threat of a new enemy was arising, and it agitated Gita that she may have to resort to something along the lines of violence in order to solve the problem. They had gotten no headway with those they had captured before, and thus had no name for the groups that were beginning to stir up trouble all over.
"Poca, we need to address the groups as something, at least until we find out more about them. Any ideas?" Gita asked. Pocahontas thought for a second, then an idea seemingly came to her.
"Well, the only thing all of them have in common, according to reports, is that they all have X's on their left arms. That's curious, don't you think?" Pocahontas asked, almost to herself. "Well, either way. What about the X-Rebels? That's about the only thing I can come up with, considering our minimal information on them." Gita nodded.
"We should send out a memo, just to assure everyone stay safe," Gita started, "these X-Rebels are dangerous; let us not forget the three month purge about fifteen years ago that we had by this same group, around the time I was elected." Her young advisor nodded, frowning at the thought of her best friend possibly being killed.
"I'm going to have to have a conference with the Magi soon. Send word, I want to have one within the coming two weeks," Gita said, knowing this was going to be something that needed to be discussed amongst the leaders.
I have a bad, bad feeling about all of this…
"Just a little more Anna, c'mon…," Elsa encouraged, Anna's hand squeezing hers as she tried her best to lower it to their goal temperature, "You've almost got it frozen! You can do this." Anna had sweat beading her brow; they had hit forty five degrees a yesterday; now, the goal was set to the freezing point. Anna had to keep her hand out of the water for this one, which was proving to be the most difficult challenge of them all. She could no longer use the Water's energy directly, and instead had to feel the link between herself and the molecules.
Anna tried to focus on feeling each of the individual pockets of energy transferring into her system, coils wracking their way through her body. This process was difficult, but getting easier as time passed by. She felt the cold flowing out of her palm more and more, and knew she was close –
"You did it!" Elsa yelled, extreme pride evident in her voice. Anna opened her eyes, the teal glow that was present dimming, and stopped the flow of energy, looking down at what had happened. The bucket had turned into a block of Ice. She took a deep breath and released Elsa's hand, much to both of their chagrin.
Elsa was starting to become quite fond of the fact that Anna was like an oven all of the time. While the cold never specifically bothered her (considering the Branch that she was in), she craved warmth like she craved chocolate, and Anna seemed to have plenty of both. She wished that her father could see this, how her teaching had progressed.
Speaking of, Elsa's father had yet to come home; it had been two days, and she was getting worried. Her concern would be heard later, though; right now, she needed to focus on her pupil and how she was doing.
"How do you feel?" she asked, knowing that the actual process of freezing would take a lot out of someone who had never done it prior. Anna grinned at her tiredly; they had gotten up at nine that morning, ate eggs and bacon, then started PT for about an hour. If Anna wasn't tired, then she surely wasn't human.
Anna wiped off the sweat she had accumulated on her brow, letting out a breath of air before answering with a grin.
"Just peachy, Frosty. Juuuust peachy," she replied, chuckling at the nickname she had recently donned for Elsa. The blonde rolled her eyes and helped Anna to her feet, stretching her back and feeling her spine crack.
"Fantastic, dare I even say. Like I could conquer the world," Anna joked. Elsa turned to her with a devious glint in her eye.
"Really? How's your balance?" Elsa asked. Anna eyed her warily, unsure of if her honest answer was going to prove of much use to her in this situation. She had pretty good balance most of the time, set aside on slippery surfaces.
That's something you should get used to, you know… Training with Water people and all… she grimaced at her thoughts, but looked to Elsa, who was awaiting her reply with the glint never fading.
"I'm fairly well balanced… Why do you ask?" she questioned, the look in Elsa's irises making her dread what she was certain was something slippery in her future. With a mischievous smile, Elsa stomped her foot on the ground and put a sheen of Ice underneath their feet throughout the entire shack, giving Anna no room to escape the literal slippery slope that rested beneath her feet.
"Elsa! What the hell?!" she yelled, starting to flail around like a fawn that had just found its feet. Elsa slid away gracefully, balancing impeccably on the slippery surface. She soon began to giggle, laughing at the sight of Anna thrashing wildly in front of her. Even though the whole scene was quite hilarious in how pathetic it was, Elsa couldn't help but find frustrated Anna unbearably cute.
Too damn adorable, I swear to the Gods, Elsa thought.
"Dear Gods, Elsa, can you please help me before I fall flat on my ass?!" she half-heartedly yelled, worrying for her potentially injured bum. Elsa created a little pile of snow behind Anna in case she did fall, but kept her distance for now as she watched her pupil gain her bearings on the Ice.
Tonna had trained her on Ice for a long time, teaching her how to maneuver and fight fluidly in order to use it to her advantage. She could move just as easily on Ice as she could on solid ground now. Soon enough, Anna's struggling paid off, as she managed to stand straight up.
"Well, you seem to have gotten it down pretty well. I think you'll be fine," Elsa said, starting to glide toward the door which Anna was currently residing beside.
"Meet me outside when you've learned how to walk on Ice, Miss World-Conqueror," she laughed, zooming by Anna.
Well, almost zooming by Anna.
"Oh, no you don't!" Anna cried, grabbing Elsa's waist and pulling her away from the door. Taken off guard by the momentum, both Elsa and Anna fell backward onto the snow tuft behind them, disoriented from the world suddenly going upside down.
When the dizziness stopped, Elsa noticed a warmth settled underneath her and opened her eyes to present to her a befogged Anna, who quietly groaned as she clutched her head in pain, her other arm still wrapped around Elsa's waist.
Wait, am I in her… lap? Looking down, Elsa realized that her suspicions were confirmed as she blushed like a madwoman. Her behind was settled against Anna's lap, and though her legs were in a bit of an awkward position, both of them were generally on either side of Anna's waist. Anna began coming to, having taken the full brunt of the fall making the recovery a bit longer. She opened her eyes and Elsa could see the same thoughts she had previously had reflecting in there, her ears and neck alighting a deep red.
Leaning in dangerously close to Elsa, Anna looked down at her lips and licked her own. Elsa's heart started drumming against her chest, a quick rhythm waiting for the right moment to break out of her ribcage. Anna's warm breath fanned her face, the proximity between them becoming smaller by the second.
Time for payback.
"Shouldn't you take me out to dinner first, Frosty?" Anna murmured, half smile crossing her features as her eyes lit up in mirth. She picked up Elsa with ease and moved her to the side, standing up and leaving a vastly befuddled Elsa in the pile of snow of her own creation. Anna dusted herself off of the fluff, chipper personality returning to replace the flirtatious facet that had just shown itself.
"I'll meet you at the top of the hill with lunch ready!" she called, closing the door behind her. Elsa blinked a few times, wondering what in the name of Vita had just happened.
I'll find a way to get you back somehow, Anna…
A car pulled up into the driveway as Anna got to the top of the hill, Elsa trailing a little bit of a ways behind her. A man soon got out of the car, a yellow Lab following suit. The man was dressed in a worn, brown leather jacket with a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and brown work boots to match his jacket. His thick hair was a light caramel brown, streaks of grey mixing their way into the color as well. He sported a thin mustache and sideburns, and as Anna got closer to him, she realized his eyes were a shade of grey green.
The dog spotted Anna, and began to bound up to her. She prepared herself for impact, when –
"Janders, sit." The command was thrown into the air by the man, whose voice was strong and authoritative. The dog immediately paused, stopping just a few feet before Anna.
"Papa! You're home!" Elsa's voice sliced the air behind them, running up to greet the man as she pulled him into a tight hug. Anna averted her eyes elsewhere, awaiting Elsa to introduce her to her apparent father.
"Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you Papa! No calls, no messages, nothing! You could have gotten into a car crash and died, and I would be none the wiser!" she chided, simultaneous relief and anger clear in her crystal irises.
"Elsa."
"And you took Janders with you, thank you so much for letting me know about that! I ought to rip your head off –"
"Elsa."
"- I swear, Papa, one of these days I'm going to have a heart attack because you don't answer your phone! I didn't even get the chance to say hello when I first got home –"
"Elsa!" He finally yelled. She realized that she had been becoming caringly fretful, a habit that her mother had as well. Of course, she had no clue of it – but the ever present yearning for Iðunn found its way back into Agðar's heart at the ministration that his daughter and late wife shared.
"Elsa, I had very important business to attend to with Janders," he said. It wasn't a total lie; he had gone to Arendelle to get his yearly check up on Janders to make sure all his systems were functioning properly.
"I'm sorry I wasn't home to see you, but I really needed to make sure everything was okay," he explained to her. She nodded, and he continued.
"In addition, my dear, I had work on Friday and today I was finally able to come home. I apologize once again, but I know for a fact that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself – though I see that you have your new pupil here as well," he said, acknowledging Anna. The redhead smiled politely, reaching out her hand to the man.
"My name is Anna Branansikt, sir. Thank you so much for letting me stay in your home and training on your property. It really means the world to me," she said, shaking his hand that he had extended toward her too. He smiled kindly back.
"Agðar Isånd, a true pleasure. Elsa has told me much about you. I understand you can control Fire as well?" he asked, releasing her hand from his grasp. His hands were more rough than Elsa's, though Anna figured that she should have expected as much; from her experience with men and women in the past, men tended to have more of a callous feel to them as opposed to the soft smoothness of women's hands, like Elsa's.
"Indeed… I hope that doesn't present a problem, Mister Isånd," she began, "Otherwise I can sleep down in the little shack down there, at the bottom of the hill?" He shook his head, indicating that everything was well.
"You have nothing to worry about. As long as everything stays under control, I don't believe that there will be anything that will make me kick you out of my home," he replied with a hearty laugh. She smiled, liking how much this man was like Elsa. Their general demeanors were very kind, stern people. She had heard the rumors about what he had done, but with all of her past qualms gone upon their meeting, he had her second guessing all of that.
"Thank you, Mister Isånd. It is truly appreciated," she said, meaning every word that she spoke. He smiled kindly at her in the same way that Elsa was now.
"You're quite welcome Anna," he said, starting for the door, "Also, if you would, just call me Agðar. You have already gained my respect by being willing to come here." There was a sad shine to his eyes, one that spoke of past memories that he could not put into words. He whistled for Janders to come after him, and then turned away. She smiled in understanding as he walked in the cabin and closed the door behind him.
"Elsa…," Anna started, turning to the person in question, "I just want you to know, I can see how whatever it is that happened to your mom deeply affected you and your father, even if you were only a year old at the time. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here." She cupped Elsa's hand with both of hers, hoping to provide some relative form of comfort and trust for Elsa. The blonde looked on the verge of tears, which caused Anna to scrunch her eyebrows together in concern.
"Thank you, Anna. That means very much to me," she said, pulling Anna into a tight hug. Anna hugged her back, rubbing up and down her spine as she and Elsa stood outside, embracing each other for the sheer need of having someone there.
A/N: Meeting the family, always a fun occasion. I don't really have much to say here this week, so let's get to the reviews, shall we?
Reviews! (thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed and commented this week. You all kick ass!)
(ch. 12) Strasza: This chapter feels a tad slow, in a good way. I like how it's focusing on the budding relationship the two leads have, as well as hint at an upcoming chapter. As for the smut, I say go for it, it could definitely work in this story. Also Anna should try chocolate covered Bacon, the two best snacks combined
Burns: Certainly. I wanted to take a little bit of a breather on this chapter, since so much has been going on in the past ten. And yeah, will do!