Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I have had quite a lot of personal issues lately and i lost all motivation to write. I would like to give an enourmous thank you to Icy Wind for your review. It really got me going again and made me think that maybe this story isn't as bad as i thought it was. You sort of made me believe i could do this so... i did! Now this chapter is not very long at all but i was mostly to get me back on track. I can't say anything for sure about future updates, all i know is that i will be going away for a week on friday and i won't be able to write at all. I will do my best to keep updating though since i think things are about to get interesting...
Three months had now passed since Elsa came to the capital of Arendelle and spring had just started to arrive. Elsa had not met Anna much at all during the time she had so far spent in Arendelle. She wasn't quite sure if that was a bad or a good thing though since befriending a princess was not really the best thing to do if you want to live undisturbed and secluded but at the same time she was inexplicably intrigued by the redhead and wanted to know more about her. The past three months had thus been among the most calm and uneventful of Elsa's life, which was something she was incredibly grateful for. The only bad thing was that she had only started to get marginally more sleep at night since the events prior to her escape were still haunting her when she was alone in her room at night. Unbeknownst to Elsa, everything was about to change.
Elsa was walking through the forest just outside the city limits. It was rather late, the sun had set several hours prior. The sky was clear and filled with stars. The full moon shone upon the mossy forest floor through the canopy of the trees surrounding her. During her time in the city she had found that the forest was the perfect place for her to go when she needed to be completely alone and relax, being around people large portions of each day took its toll on her mentally. Tonight she decided to take a different route from the one she normally walked though. She followed a small path seemingly only used by the local wildlife which she had learned during previous explorations led to a small clearing with a big rock in the center. She remembered this since the rock was flat on top and that made it a perfect place to lay down and watch the sky.
Elsa was enjoying the cool breeze blowing on her hands while she walked. She had chosen not to wear her gloves when going out on her walks since there had never been anyone else out in the forest at the time she was. She thought it felt good to have her hands unconfined and free after wearing gloves non-stop while in the city, she even wore them as she went to bed at night.
Her relaxation was abruptly interrupted though, when she heard a voice whisper something not very far off to her left. She quickly ducked into a patch of bushes to her right, just at the edge of the path she was walking on. She wasn't quite sure why she felt the urge to hide, something about the situation just made her feel uneasy. The voices (There were definitely two now) came a bit closer and went quiet shortly after she noticed the silhouettes of two people walking crouched in the same direction she had just been headed. As she observed them from her hiding spot in the bushes the moonlight caught something in one of their hands, something shiny.
'A knife?' She thought. 'Why are they sneaking around the forest at night with knives? No one checks any hunting traps this late.'
As the whole situation got more suspicious she went against her better judgment and decided to follow them wherever it was they were going. She stuck to the shadows as best she could while crouching through the forest, keeping an eye on the two mysterious people ahead of her.
As if the whole situation wasn't ominous enough, a pack of wolves could be heard howling in the distance.
Elsa followed them through the forest for quite a long time, they were almost at the clearing now. When she was about thirty meters from the clearing and those she had followed were about to enter it, she stopped and found another set of bushes to hide in. She saw one of the men, for they were definitely men she had noticed, move around to the left to then move toward the rock. As he started climbing it Elsa could see someone shooting up into a sitting position on top of the rock. What was going on here?
When the man got up on top of the rock the other person shuffled backwards toward the edge of the rock. The man followed and struck the other person in the head, making them fall backwards off the rock and onto the forest floor with a thud. The yelp of pain at the strike proved the new person to be female. Elsa concealed a gasp behind her hands. When the woman on the ground pushed herself up with her arms onto all fours the man that stayed in the forest, the one with the knife, stepped forward. He grabbed her hair and put the knife against her throat then said something in a low threatening voice that Elsa could not quite discern. The woman shook her head and let out a whimper of pain as the knife presumably was pressed harder against her throat. Elsa watched in silent horror.
'What should I do? The best thing would be to run back to the city and alert the guards but when they get here it will probably be too late. I have to stop this, but how? The only thing I can use to stop this is what I came here to conceal.' As she thought this she looked down at her feet and saw that a layer of frost had started crawling out around her feet. She looked up at the clearing again. 'I have to stop this. I will deal with the repercussions later, I cannot sit by and let this poor woman get killed.' She slowly stood up and started silently walking up to the edge of the clearing. When she was only a couple meters away from them she saw who the woman was. It was Anna. To say Elsa was surprised would be a huge understatement, but all the years she had spent concealing her feelings weren't for nothing. She straightened her back and put on an indifferent face. No one had noticed her yet.
''I wouldn't do that if I was you.'' She said in a loud steady voice. The man's head whipped around to face her, the surprised look on his face morphed into a mocking one when he saw that she was alone.
''And what can you do about it if I go against your advice.'' She found his voice extremely unpleasant. It sounded like he spoke with half his mouth full of saliva.
''You don't want to find that out.'' She replied in a low threatening voice.
Anna turned her head slightly to look Elsa in the eye and opened her mouth to say something but the man noticed and yanked her head back harshly by the hold he had of her two braids. As she saw the glint of mirth in his eyes at Anna's obvious pain, she resented this man over everything else. To Elsa there was nothing worse than someone who found the pain of others amusing. The anger she felt welling up inside her caused the temperature around them to plummet. No one seemed to notice though. The other man was now coming around from behind the rock. The man holding Anna turned toward him.
''Get rid of her.'' He ordered and pointed at Elsa. The other one nodded and slowly walked toward her.
''Please, just leave now. I do not want to hurt you.'' Elsa warned as the man drew closer. They just laughed at her.
''I guess there is no avoiding it now.'' She thought ''I didn't ever want to hurt someone again but if I don't Anna will probably die, and I can't let that happen.'' She did not know what it was that caused her to be willing to risk everything to save Anna, a person she had only ever met a couple times and never for more than a couple minutes. Elsa guessed it was the innocence she saw in Anna, an innocence that made her believe that maybe there was still something in this world worth living for. She thought of this as she raised both hands, palms open and pointed one at each man. She took a deep breath and focused on those good thoughts she had about Anna. She knew positive thoughts and feelings were the key to controlling her magic. She let the breath out and did what she had to. Instantly the knives edge was covered in a round smooth coating of ice and a rough ball of ice shot out from each of her hands and hit hard in the head of each man, knocking them out. The knife slid harmlessly against Anna's throat as them man holding her fell to the ground. Anna gave her a brief look of shock and fell over unconscious, probably from the stress and shock of the whole situation. Elsa walked over to Anna and scooped her up in her arms. She decided to leave the men on the ground for the guards to come get later. If they remembered her use of magic no one would probably believe them if they told about it so she didn't let the thought of that bother her. What did bother her though, was what Anna would do if she remembered. For now though, all that mattered was getting Anna back to the castle. She had a small wound on her throat from the knife that was bleeding a bit so Elsa ripped one of the sleeves off her dress at the elbow and tied it around the wound to stop the bleeding. Elsa started walking as fast as she could back to the city. Anna turned out to be very light so Elsa had no greater troubles with carrying her. While walking she looked down at Anna's sleeping face.
''Why would you go out into the forest at night without your guards?'' She wondered. Questions like that would have to wait though. Perhaps she would never get the opportunity to ask them. Everything depended on what Anna decided to do once she woke up. As the few lights still lit in the city came into view Elsa felt a slight fear of what lay ahead. She had no idea how Anna would react once she woke up. She just knew she had to get her to the castle. And she still didn't have her gloves.