Anna's head leans on Elsa's shoulder, a strand of her ginger hair in her mouth. She's been sleeping for quite a while now; Elsa's shoulder is covered in Anna's drool, but she doesn't let it distract her. Elsa's gloved hands tightly grip the reins, eyes scanning the road ahead as the horse trots on. Sunset has already come and gone.
They're deep in Nightmare territory, and Elsa knows it will be near impossible to find a safe place to sleep. She looks over at Jack, who is warily watching the trees to their left. Any movement and they'd be out of there faster than you can say 'Valley of the Night'. His russet brown hair blows softly in the wind, and though it only bothers Elsa, she knows he enjoys the feeling. Her platinum blonde hair is in a tight bun, a pesky strand managing to get in her face every few seconds. If she were to let her hair down, it would be all over the place, the wind undecided on which direction it wishes to go. Kind of like Jack.
They had spent nearly a half hour arguing on which route to take, Anna somehow sleeping throughout the entire debate. Elsa had insisted upon taking the safest route, going around the valley and through a small town. It also happened to be the longest. Jack's argument changed constantly, insisting that they go through a tunnel that runs through one of the mountains around the valley. When Elsa pointed out that the tunnel is old and isn't maintained, he voted on going up the mountain. Elsa was quick to point out that it was too steep for their horses, and they would tire quickly. He pondered making camp right then and there, but it was quickly dismissed, as they both wanted to use as much time as possible to travel, especially since they only packed for two. Eventually, he argued the quickest way would be through the valley, and if they were quick enough, they could make it out in time and wouldn't have to worry about the Nightmares.
That is, if they hadn't spent all their time arguing.
At that point, Elsa now realizes, they really should have made camp there. Sunset had been in less than an hour, and they wouldn't make any of the journeys in time.
Just as the sun made its way past the horizon, Jack jumped onto his horse, untied the reins, and rode off into the valley. Elsa could only sigh as she raced after him in the governess cart.
At the best of times, it would take just over an hour to exit the valley.
Of course, Jack and Elsa couldn't resist an argument somewhere in the middle of the valley, just begging for a Nightmare attack.
Jack had gone ahead, looking for a place to camp. He returned shortly afterward, claiming he found a small cave and that "we just have to light a few fires to keep the shadows away!"
Elsa had sighed, saying that it still wouldn't be safe.
Jack's reply was "Yeah, but it's in the Moon's light. If the Hunters can do it, we can do it."
Of course, Elsa scoffed at that. "That won't make any difference. And I think you're forgetting the fact that the Hunters lure the Nightmares out to kill. We're trying to do the opposite!" she had said, her grip on the reins only growing tighter as she tried to keep herself calm. "We can still make it to the town on the other side. If we just push a little further, we'll be checked into a hotel in no time."
What Jack had said next pushed her over the edge.
"The horses are exhausted; you're pushing them too far, Elsa."
"I'm pushing them too far?! You're the one who ran off into the freaking Valley of the Night! I wanted to go to the nice, safe town. But you decided wandering off into Nightmare territory at night would be best. Now look where we are!"
And soon, they were caught up in the middle of a yelling match.
A half hour later, and they still haven't spoken to each other, about two thirds into the valley.
Elsa can't help but wonder if she prefers the yelling over the silence.
"How come I've never seen yer face 'round 'ere?" The fierce girl with a mane of wild, red hair asks with a Scottish accent. Jack doesn't think he's encountered anyone from Scotland in a while; nobody's crazy enough to come here anymore. She keeps her distance, an arrow notched in the bow, ready to fire. "I know every single face 'round 'ere, but I've never ever seen yours."
A man and a woman approach behind her, the man cautiously making his way over to the governess cart with a strange, curved weapon in his hand. Before he can answer, she continues.
"Ye don' look like traders, or just any travelers," she walks towards Jack, her voice now a whisper. "Ye look like a warrior," she pauses, and Jack can feel her breath against his ear. "We don' like unknown warriors passin' through our town 'ere." she says menacingly.
"We were attacked!" Jack hears Elsa shout, and he wishes he could turn around, but he doesn't dare turn his back on the girl. "Please, help us. Or at least let us through. My sister is hurt!"
The red-haired girl shoves past Jack, and he turns around. Elsa is standing in the cart, her arms raised. The man with the strange weapon approaches her, and Jack's fists clench. The man only peers over the side of the cart, and Jack is sure he can see an injured Anna lying on the seat.
"She's telling the truth! It looks like they were attacked by a Nightmare; the child's going to need help quickly." The man shouts in a strange accent, Jack thinks he's only heard it once before, but he can't quite pin it down. If Anna were awake, she would yell at the man, exclaiming that she isn't a child, which is only half true in Jack's opinion.
"Ye were dumb enough to go through the Valley of the Night, weren't ya?" The girl asks Elsa. She lowers the bow, and Jack breathes a sigh of relief.
"You can ask him about that." is Elsa's only reply.
"Ah, I see. Another foolish boy we got 'ere, huh? Lemme guess, he doesn't think about what he's doing. He's the one tha' leaps off the cliff 'ithout a real goal in mind. He takes risks. He doesn' think about the consequences. Isn't that right?" she turns towards him, her face a little too close for comfort.
Jack nervously nods.
The girl bursts into laughter.
"It seems yer just like me then! Now, get that look off yer face, we'll escort you to the town doctor." she slaps him on the back, just a little too hard, before walking over to her horse. Jack can only stand in shock. "But once the lass heals up, I can't guarantee ye can stay."
She gets on her horse, and Jack follows her lead and gets on his own. "I'm Merida, by the way. That's Tooth and Bunny."
"For the last bloody time, it's Aster!" The man shouts, and Jack stifles a laugh. They move forward, and Jack hopes Elsa is alright with the mangled cart. He remembers what happened.
The Nightmares had come out of nowhere, attacking as they were just approaching the edge of the valley.
There was two of them, one had rammed into the cart from behind, while the other took the right side. The impact had lurched Anna out of the seat, and she banged her head badly on the floor. She had bolted up, quickly losing her balance and falling out of the cart. The horses had been spooked and raced forward, and Anna made a mad dash for it, the Nightmares behind her. Jack grabbed his staff and reached for Anna, but she was just out of reach. She fell a few times, the Nightmares slamming into her. After a few more failed attempts, Anna managed to grab hold of the staff. Jack had hoisted her up, and just a few seconds afterwards, she passed out. Elsa immediately brought Anna to her lap, too worried to care about the advancing Nightmares.
They rammed into the cart several times again, and soon the cart was barely holding together. Jack tried to fight them off, but his powers were undeveloped, weak. He only had his staff, no other weapons. They had left the valley, their territory, but they were relentless. Elsa's worry must have turned into rage, for she soon formed a large, tall wall of ice between them and the Nightmares, and they finally stopped.
"So why are ye guys travelling 'round 'ere? What's so urgent that ye had to travel through the Valley of the Night at, well, night?" Merida asks as they trot along, the town not far now.
"We're going to the Academy." Jack answers shortly.
"The Academy? Isn't tha' all the way in the capital? You've got a long ways to go from 'ere. Why are ye heading there anyway?"
"We're of age now; we're hoping to become Hunters." Jack explains, and Merida's look turns into that of surprise.
"At such a young age? And what about the wee lass? She looks the same age as me, and I've still got three years 'till I'm old enough. What're ye goin' ta do when you get there? You know they won't accept her, and she's too young to live alone." She remarks, pulling an apple from her bag and taking a bite out of it.
"She was… unplanned. Right now we're hoping they'll give her some sort of cleaning job or something and let her live in the Academy with us. Or maybe find somebody to take care of her. She's smart, but she wouldn't last a month on her own. Elsa's babied her too much, I think she forgets she's eighteen sometimes. I don't blame her, I still find it hard to believe my baby sister's fourteen already."
"I noticed yer cart's a little beat up, and you only have two horses. Y'know… you could always leave her with the town. She can't do anything about it either; she's too weak to chase after ye. She'd be in good hands." Merida looks at Jack, and he can tell she's genuine about it.
"I'd have to talk to Elsa about it, but I think I already know the answer. Anna's fierce, we'd be bed-ridden for months if we did that to her." Jack chuckles, and Merida gives a small smile before it becomes silent.
When they reach the town, Jack is frozen in shock.
A/N: Um, hello! Thank you for checking out this story! I really hope I was descriptive enough, and that I wrote Merida's accent well enough. And maybe just Merida and the other characters in general.
And if you happen to read D. W. D. Academy, I am terribly sorry! I haven't written anything for it in weeks and I feel terrible about it. I guess now you know why. I will try my hardest to juggle writing both of them, and D. W. D. Academy will be my main priority. If you don't read D. W. D. Academy, I'm sorry, but I have a bad habit of starting a story but not finishing and I'm determined to not let this happen. I started D. W. D. Academy around the end of last December, so I guess it's kinda 'first come, first serve'.
This is going to be a long story, hopefully with long chapters, so if you don't like that, I guess this isn't for you. (Personally I love long stories and chapters, and I'm always confused when people apologize for writing long chapters or whatever.)
If you have any ideas for a better summary, do tell! I haven't written it yet, but I know I'm not going to be the proudest of it and will spend an hour trying to think of one. Mainly because this is still a developing idea.
Speaking of ideas, I'm open to them! I'll likely use them, or at least part of them, so if you want something in particular with this, feel free to ask!
Sorry for the long A/N! This story is actually around 2,000 words. I have no idea what it will be when I post this.
P.S. Yes, there will be Jelsa/Jack FrostxElsa. But it will be very mild. Other ships include Flynnzel/FlynnxRapunzel, Kristanna/KristoffxAnna, and Hiccstrid/HiccupxAstrid. Ships aren't the main focus in this, though the relationships as a whole will play a big role.