A/N: You're getting an early update because I may not have time to post tomorrow morning. If that's the case, you'll get the next part tomorrow night. Somebody in the reviews asked, "why would we hate you for writing this?" The best answer I can give is that, I'm not really referring to hate-hate, I'm referring to love-hate. Beyond that, all I can say is, you'll see. Also, with this being chapter five, we're getting close to the adult content, and I feel like I should go ahead and give some heads-up that the content rating will go up to 'M' at chapter 8.
Disclaimer: Frozen is copyright to Disney corp.
Chapter V: "Climb into his skin..."
Anna's madness became worse as hours passed. The second day saw to more frequent bouts of panic and dismay, and resulted in Elsa's alarm clock shattering much like her lamp. The blonde became more adept at calming the girl each time though, and by two AM on the third day, the redhead remained calm so long as Elsa was present.
That lasted until Anna broke into a fever. Her waking time was delirious and filled with hallucinations, which by night had turned to terrors that sent her into fits of thrashing and screaming; about monsters, and teeth, and being eaten alive. The stress of caring for the girl was beginning to eat at both Elsa and Kristoff, though Elsa had a patience that the man lacked.
The last bout had seen the blonde woman hit pretty hard by a flailing fist, square on the nose. She emerged from the room with blood dripping down her chin and a distinctly human bite mark on her forearm.
When she passed through the living room to go to the kitchen, however, Kristoff saw the bloody nose and jumped to his feet to follow her, "What the Hell happened, Els?"
Elsa snatched a dish towel and ran it under the sink, giving her cousin a chance to look at her arm. "She bit you!?"
The blonde woman held the cool damp cloth to her nose, voice coming out nasally, "And clobbered me too. You know, she hits pretty hard for a human."
Kristoff slumped, slack-jawed. He studied Elsa's face for any trace of anger or resentment, but found none. Just nonchalance. Now, he knew his cousin was a patient person, but before recently-
His nostrils flared, and he suddenly straightened up, cocking his head curiously, "Elsa."
"Hmm?" She turned away briefly to run the cloth under the sink again.
"Something weird is going on with you. You've never let anyone land a hit on you." The man furrowed his brow, adding a mumbled aside, "Or let anyone walk away for trying, for that matter."
"She caught me off guard."
"That's what I'm talking about."
Elsa crossed her arms in that confident posture she adopted so well, squinting with skepticism at her cousin, mulling over his words.
"Well, he has a point. When was the last time somebody caught you off guard?"
Another moment of thought. "She was just lucky."
Kristoff stepped toward her, getting into her personal space and squatting a bit to meet her at eye level. Elsa didn't back down. The man moved abruptly again, making to shove her by the shoulder. Elsa caught his hand and squeezed, pressing his wrist back and bringing him to one knee with ease.
Kristoff flashed a knowing grin, "That's what I thought."
Elsa's calm countenance fell and she frowned, letting slip a low, feral growl.
"I can smell her on you, Elsa. Don't get attached. You know we can't stay."
The blonde woman released his hand and flung his arm away from her, stepping past him in a flurry and flinging the towel into the sink, making sure her knee caught his shoulder to send him sprawling onto his back, "Fuck off!"
Kristoff pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking hold of his sore hand and trying to rub the pain away, "Maybe a bad move..." He muttered to himself, flinching as he flexed his hand experimentally, "Yep. Bad move." He would need the cold compress from the freezer.
Elsa returned to her room with hurried steps, slowing them once the door was closed behind her. Sliding down the wall at her place near the foot of the bed, blue eyes studied the deeply sleeping figure of the redhead. After a moment, she frowned again, looking away and scoffing at Kristoff's statement.
Quietly in the dark, she spoke to both herself and Anna.
"I could stay if I wanted."
Another day of waking nightmares, and Anna began to show the promise of recovery. She awoke with slightly more coherency, asking for a drink of water, but fell asleep immediately after rather than having a fit. In spite of Kristoff's conviction, he breathed a (secret) sigh of relief alongside Elsa.
The redhead repeated the pattern several more times throughout the day, and when night came and she was sure Kristoff was asleep, Elsa gradually crept up to the head of the bed on hands and knees. She decided to keep her vigil there for the evening, and soon her head lulled and she passed into sleep. It was the longest stint of rest she'd had in nearly a week, so when she woke up near dawn to find Anna peering up at her, she actually cracked a small smile.
Aqua eyes squinted. The girl looked exhausted, but it was wonderful to see some measure of clarity in her features.
"Feeling better?" Elsa asked quietly, voice carrying the rasp of slumber.
Anna groaned, her own voice hoarse, "You're incredible."
The blonde felt her cheeks burn, looking away from Anna as she discreetly reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes, covering the fact that she was blushing quite flawlessly, "Wh-what are you talking about?"
"You're so pretty. Like," she paused to swallow, mouth dry, "unreal. It makes me jealous."
Elsa shifted uncomfortably, drawing her knees up to wrap her arms around them, the scorch of blood coursing to her face hitting the tips of her ears. She looked at Anna from the corner of her eye, waiting for her to continue.
At first, Anna looked a bit confused, as if she weren't sure what she wanted to say. Then a somber expression replaced it, "But you're so cold. You seem," a beat as the girl closed her eyes, sighing tiredly, "lonely."
Elsa sighed and pressed her face against her thighs, hugging her legs more tightly, not knowing what to say. It only took a few seconds for Anna to be asleep again.
From that point until the next night, the blonde woke Anna every few hours to help her catch up on fluid intake. Finally, the girl's fever broke.
With her face buried in Sven's bushy tan fur, it took the redhead a moment to realize her whereabouts when morning came again. She was hugging the massive beast, who lay flat and still on the mattress next to her. When he realized she was moving, he lifted his head and peered down at her, head cocking thoughtfully as she rolled back away from him and rubbed at her eyes with a groan.
She wasn't sure, and her mind was foggy from the ache in her muscles and her ravenous stomach, but she thought she might have asked to see Sven at some point in the last hours of her fever. Before she could look at him again, he hopped off the mattress and trotted out the door. Anna remained, resting on her back and attempting to rouse herself further before she heard the gallop of footsteps thrumming loudly through the house.
The door banged against the wall and Elsa charged in, stumbling to a halt in the center of the room. Cold, stoic Elsa beamed at the sight of the redhead sitting up with a groggy waver, once again rubbing the heel of her hand against her eye. Kristoff staggered into the doorway behind her, grabbing hold of the door frame to stop from crashing into his cousin. He cracked a grin, but quickly smothered it.
Anna, however, had dropped her hand to her lap, staring at the stunning smile and glowing eyes of Elsa. Her heart began to jackhammer.
"Yep. Stunning. Look up 'stunning' in the dictionary and you'll see that smile." Anna felt her face flush at the dawning awareness that she was ogling the woman, agape.
Kristoff could only tolerate the pair simpering at one another for so long, and coughed awkwardly into his fist.
The redhead startled slightly, hoarsely letting out an impulsive, "Hi!"
The blond man glanced at his cousin. "Oh God, reign it in, Elsa." He thought to himself, rolling his eyes.
As if reading his mind, the woman relaxed, pulling back on the grin, "Welcome back."
An uneasy lull in the conversation. Then Anna groaned, setting a hand against her stomach, "Oh my God, do you guys have any food?"
It didn't take too long for Kristoff to cook up pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. He and Anna ate quietly for a couple of minutes while Elsa sipped a mug of coffee and read the paper. Once the worst of her hunger pangs were settled, the redhead spoke around a mouthful of eggs. "So, I was thinking while I was waking up," she swallowed, "Since you guys were telling the truth, I think I need to ask you some questions."
Elsa lowered her paper enough to peer at the girl from over the top, and Kristoff swallowed his own bite before looking up at her.
"I mean, you say this guy is an escaped criminal, right? A werewolf criminal?" she asked as she cut out another slice from her pancakes.
The woman returned to the paper, and Kristoff nodded, "Yeah. That's right."
"So, I need to know some stuff. In case he comes after me, right?"
The man opened his mouth, wanting to dispute Anna's question, but a quick glance from Elsa told him to answer. He sighed. "Okay, fine," he relented, shoving another bite of eggs into his mouth.
"Great!" Anna cheered, "First question is, how much of the rumors and mythos is true?"
The blonde woman peeked at the redhead again, but didn't say anything.
"Well," Kristoff began, "There are kernels of truth."
"Like? Silver?"
"It's kind of like a poisonous allergy," he hesitated as if he wasn't sure how to explain it, "Contact with our skin can cause a rash, or a burn, if it's pure and concentrated. In the bloodstream, it can slow us down, or, with enough, kill us."
Anna took another bite of her food, listening studiously.
"But like a lot of toxic things, if a were gradually introduces their body to it in tiny, increasing increments, they can build some immunity." A beat, "Oh, like Elsa!" He motioned to the woman with an open palm.
She tried to ignore the gesture, but after a very expectant look from Anna, sighed heavily, folded her paper, and set it on the table. She turned the side of her head to the girl, then pointed to the small (and intricately designed) ear ring in her ear. The redhead looked slightly confused, "Really? Just that little bit can make a difference?"
"I've done more with it. Ingested it, specifically."
Aqua pools widened in surprise, "You... poisoned yourself?"
This caused the cousins to chuckle, Kristoff more than Elsa.
"It's not as exciting as it sounds. The increase is so slight that you never really notice a difference until suddenly, a large dose doesn't effect you like it normally would."
"How do you find out?"
"If you're lucky, you don't." Kristoff interjected.
"Otherwise, how else? You test it."
Anna's postured shifted uneasily. "Did you?" She asked, looking Elsa in the eye.
One corner of Elsa's lip twitched upward, looking somewhat smug as she leaned toward the table to rest on her elbow, "I did."
Anna looked like she'd burst if she didn't know, "How!?"
The burly man once again found himself rolling his eyes, face-palming and leaning back in his seat with a groan. He hated it when Elsa gloated; it was a symptom of life in the caern, particularly for his cousin.
Elsa hooked a delicate finger into the collar of her shirt and pulled down slightly, revealing a circular mark with webbed scarring creeping out from it below her collar bone, "I was shot," she paused to point her finger in the shape of a gun at Anna, "by a silver bullet."
When Anna actually gasped- gasped, for fucks sake, Kristoff could have hurled. This was creepy. Not to mention, probably wrong on some level, considering what Anna had just been through. He shot his cousin a dirty look and cleared his throat, "To answer your question, the silver thing is at least somewhat true, if misunderstood."
With the redheads attention back on him, the man relaxed a bit, pushing his empty plate away from him.
"How 'bout gypsy curses and pacts with the devil?"
Kristoff shook his head as Elsa returned to reading her paper, "I thought we cleared that up? No, none of that-"
"Well, that may not be entirely true," the woman interrupted from behind the safety of the paper. "Some historical texts suggest that the first may have been cursed or granted power from an outside force, but it was an extremely long time ago, so there's no way to know just how reliable the stories are."
The blond man eyed Elsa carefully. What was she doing? When she didn't continue, he turned back to Anna, "Like I've said, most werewolves are born that way."
"Most?"
Kristoff hesitated. Elsa wasn't giving him any signal to stop. "The genetic trait of the ones with the change can be infectious."
Anna tilted her head, "So, the thing about a bite or scratch?"
"It's transmitted through blood contact."
"Okay, then, if there are differences between the ones that are born that way, what's the difference between one that's born, and one that's infected?"
Silence. The man didn't want to answer that.
Elsa did instead, in spite of his reluctance, "Control. An infected monster changes with the full moon. It's hypothesized that the moon exacerbates the condition, causing an 'episode'; forcing the change to occur."
Anna seemed to mull the information over, a light-bulb going off in her head, "Control? So, you can change whenever you want?"
Elsa looked to Kristoff and they shared a few seconds of quiet worry before turning to Anna, who appeared to be far too curious for her own good.