The company of three had a hard time travelling, Anna's leg injury was fine, it got frosted over shortly after the fight. But Robert could only help Jonas walk for a certain amount of time before having to rest. On top of that they had to avoid the main roads, and moving through the dense forest hindered their travel speed immensely. Although along the way, Anna got to smell the fresh air and see all the things she had only read about. At first she was ecstatic. The crisp smell of winter was intoxicating to her, but when the first week of the second month since her escape rolled by she started getting some intense recurring nightmares. It was always the same, the same dream-vision of her parents death. And it took a toll on her, everything else she had been subjected too she had been able to fight through. But this pain wasn't physical or mental, it just hurt, and it proved hard to overcome. She couldn't exactly get used to it the same way she did with other hardships. She ended up sleeping less and less, and practicing her magic when the others were asleep. The late nights and early mornings had bad side-effects. She began getting short blackouts and a constant dizziness enveloped her mind.
She knew the extreme changes she had gone through in such a short amount of time was a major factor. But then again, it was only temporary she told herself. So her focus and energy was pointed towards hunting, gathering during day and setting up and taking down the camp at night. She kept herself busy with other things and pushed her worries aside.
She had also talked a lot with Jonas and Robert about her plans. At first she was reluctant to go East instead of north, to her 'home'. But after some back and forth discussions she had been convinced that her role as Queen could wait a few months, if need be even years.
During the past week the weather started changing from winter to spring, the sun would peek through the clouds for longer and longer periods of time. Both Robert and Jonas reveled in it, but for Anna and her newly acquired body temperature, it was bad. She constantly struggled with keeping her body cold enough to stand it, and at the same time not releasing too much energy to hurt the people around her. Her magic would fluctuate erratically, at random intervals. When Jonas or Robert would ask her if she was okay, she would just shrug it off and keep it to herself. Jonas seemed to be convinced as he never inquired further. But somehow Robert could see right through her act, she could see it in the way he looked at her, as if it pained him that she wouldn't open up about it. Yet he chose not to say anything. Why he could read her so easily was a perk of being a father she guessed.
And here they finally were, at the large river splitting Sasmain from Escain, but the bridge was heavily guarded. Apparently the amount of guards had been tripled since Jonas had been there last, and the King had even subjected a good amount of mages to keep it safe. Under the threat of being dispatched they had reluctantly agreed to help at the borders and crossings, not that they had much choice with their collars on. They were sitting a good distance away from the bridge they had to cross. They had to come up with a different way to get past the guards, Anna had tried freezing a part of the river for them to cross, but the current broke it away before she could manage to complete her icy walkway.
"What are we gonna do about the mages and warlocks at the crossing?" Robert asked Jonas, who clearly had more knowledge about it than he had.
"Hmm, let me think about that for a moment, meanwhile. I want you to give Anna this and tell her to put it on, don't think I haven't noticed her eye going haywire every once in a while. Can't have them see her like that, you know the rules. They would never allow a hybrid to roam freely" He pulled forth a crude eyepatch, and held it out to Robert, who laughed at the piece of leather and how Anna would look like if she put it on. A real life child-pirate.
"Yeah, you don't have to tell me. But do you honestly think this will be enough? I mean, I've witnessed mind reading first hand, how to hell are we gonna trick someone like that? Robert worried, until recently he didn't even know mind reading was a thing, and if the southern royal family were just a little bit smart they would be dead within minutes if they got caught again.
"Yeah, it'll be enough, and the mind reading is a very rare skill. Only a few people know how to do it, the chances of running into one down there is very slim" Jonas replied pointedly.
Robert nodded and took the small piece of leather, he walked the short distance into the woods where Anna sat in the shade of a rather large tree. Looking a little paler than usual Robert could feel his paternal side flare up, the need to protect and care for the kid in front of him.
"Anna, you hanging in there?" he tried sounding casual, but it came out a bit strained as he closed the distance between them.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little warm" she weakly waved him off as if it wasn't a big deal, as she opened her eyes in the same weak manner to look at him.
"I'm starting to get a bit worried. You can tell me if something is wrong, you know that right?" he didn't try sounding casual this time letting worry show on his features. He lifted a comforting hand to lay on her shoulder. But before he could get close Anna scrambled away from him with fear in her eyes.
"PLEASE DON'T" she yelled and protected her face with her left hand.
"Hey hey hey, it's just me little one. Tell me what's wrong" Robert exclaimed as he pulled his hand back. He didn't really know Anna that well, but her personality was a little.. off.. lately.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-I'm sorry.. I thought I saw.. Nevermind" she looked away from him and to the ground, why had she just done that? She didn't even know herself, all of a sudden she just felt panic-y, and, scared? A feeling she wasn't used to, normally nothing really scared her, but for some reason the thought of getting physically close to anyone frightened her. And why did she see her mothers killers face on Robert? She shook it off, it was most likely just sleep deprivation, or something.
"It's okay, just tell me what's going on, I can- We can help you get through this, you're not alone" This time Robert didn't try getting close to her, he figured that keeping his distance was the right thing to do for the moment.
"I can't, I'm sorry. Maybe some other time" she weakly said, and she wondered why she couldn't just tell him. He already knew something was up with her, but probably not about it showing up every time she closed her eyes.
'What the hell is going on with me? I don't normally act like this.' Anna thought to herself, not knowing heads or tails in what was happening to her. Ever since she got that stupid ice power she hadn't felt like herself, not fully. She had used another personality to hide away from the bad stuff before, but this was different. This time she didn't want to hide away, she was finally out in the world, the company might not be the best but it was at least a hundred times better than what she had experienced before. Yet she still felt like she was slowly changing into someone else. Someone she couldn't recognize, and she didn't like it.
"Uhm, I don't want to ruin the moment but I think I know how to get past the guards. It might be a little risky though" Jonas got a stern look from Robert, and no eye contact from Anna. "What? The faster we get to my clan-mates the faster we can fix Annas, uhm.. how do I put it.. problem" he lightheartedly added trying not to falter under Roberts gaze, they didn't really have the luxury of freedom right now.
"Of course, what do we need to do?" Anna stood and braced herself against the tree, feeling a little light-headed, but she had to focus. No time to waste, Jonas was right.
"First, get your eyepatch on, when we get into Escain we have to go into some towns to establish contact with my clan, we can't just waltz our way to them. The location is.. well, pretty unique" he smirked, intentionally leaving out where they kept their base of operations.
"What? Eyepatch?" Anna tilted her head slightly.
"Oh right, here" Robert fumbled a little but then held it out to her, Anna swiftly took it without a word and put it over her left eye.
"No no no, other eye" Jonas said while rolling his finger around in the air. And Anna complied.
"So what is the plan?" She asked when she had put on the eyepatch.
"Do you think you can create a leg for me the same way you have made your hand?".
"What good would that do?" Anna crossed her arm, not liking the idea of using her powers on Jonas.
"Well, the guards will look for a little girl, a one-legged man and a priest. But we will go as two guards and a captive street urchin. Like I said, risky, but I think it just might work with these idiots, from what I could see they are mostly human guards and the mages are not looking confident. So I believe it can work, that is if you can control your abilities of course?" Jonas lifted his eyebrow in a questioning manner.
"Nope, not gonna happen, what if I freeze you? What if they figure it out? I know I've killed people, but only because we would otherwise die, and I don't want to accidentally take your life. Oh, please don't make me do this, I know we haven't gotten along very nicely, but you're one of the only ones I know who hasn't demanded things from me. And-and" Anna had to stop, she could feel her lungs close up, her breath was shallow and the world started spinning.
Rober deftly took a step forward and caught Anna before she fell to the ground. His face contorted into something akin to fear mixed with a large splash of worry, "Wouh, you are seriously not okay, we need to rest before we do anything else, please." Robert pleaded, he couldn't put her under anymore strain for the moment. Annas complexion got paler by the second.
"Urgh, listen Priest. Your humanitarian side has to take a step back, we have no idea how many people are after us. The King would have had plenty of time to strengthen his soldiers at every hold in the country. And just over there, on the other side of the river, his forces are considerably less organized and less influenced by his propaganda. We need to get there, today!" Jonas said in a slightly infuriated tone.
"Well listen, Bloodmage. We won't get anywhere if Anna collapses in the middle of going through the checkpoint. What do you think will happen then? We'll get slaughtered, and Anna will be taken to another facility. Unless you plan to take on the twenty or so soldiers on by yourself. I say we sit back just until nightfall. If you don't like it then tough luck, but that's what is going to happen!" Robert snapped back in anger that took Jonas by surprise.
Robert had a point though. Jonas' own desire to get back to his homeland may have skewed his decision-making a little too much. And now that he actually looked, really looked, at Anna, he could see why Robert adamantly defied him. She was not looking good and even Jonas had to admit that waiting for the darkness to fall would be the better option.
"Alright, alright. We wait for the sun to set. Make sure you get some sleep Anna" Jonas indifferently said before he semi jumped back to the edge of the forest to survey the checkpoint and the guards shift schedule. Just because he agreed with the older man didn't mean he had to be nice. Pretty soon they wouldn't be forced to spend every waking moment together, and Jonas couldn't wait. They had been arguing almost daily, Robert and him was not a good match, but nevertheless, they had both sworn loyalty to Anna. For different reasons of course, but that didn't change the fact that they would both do whatever she would ask of them when she would take up the crown. For now Anna was content with them just helping her to the people that could enlighten her on the matter of her abilities.
When Jonas had been gone for a minute or two Anna raised her head to look at Robert and in apprehension voiced her concern about going to sleep, temporarily overcoming the fear of telling him she felt mere minutes.
"I don't feel like sleeping" she said in a small voice more fitting of a young girl than her normal confident voice was.
"Why would you not want to sleep? You look like a wreck... Wait, you haven't slept for these three weeks we've been travelling?" Roberts surprise was clear as day, all the times he had asked about her well-being and she had brushed it off when she was obviously not okay, was because she didn't sleep at night?
"I.. Uhm, I've tried.. They keep being taken away from me.. I was fine before I knew.. What I mean is.. I'm not fine but.. I think I was better off not knowing about.." she timidly ended on the verge of tears while clutching his shirt tightly, even talking about it made her blood run cold. Well, colder.
"Oh, I'm so sorry sweetheart" was all Robert could think to say before wrapping Anna in a comforting embrace. He started stroking her hair and whispered words of comfort until he could feel her breathing become steady and her grip on his clothes loosen. She had finally fallen asleep despite her reluctance. Not weird considering how exhausted she must've been. Robert kept holding her for hours, foregoing his own need for sleep in favor of hers, she needed it a lot more than he did.
In Arrendelle the siblings had been back for seventeen days. On the first day home Elsa ran directly to her parents and wrapped them in a tight hug. At first they had been utterly dumbfounded before they noticed her skin was warm, she was sweating, even a little smelly. Three things Elsa definitely wasn't the last time they had seen her. After their initial confusion they had thrown their arms around her and hugged back just a fiercely.
"Mom, Dad.. My powers are gone, I can finally touch people, I can finally have the life I always wanted" she sobbed into Agnarr's shoulder.
"Oh.." Iduna exclaimed in a tiny shock, she wasn't expecting that at all. They had sent her to get them under control, not to make them go away. As happy as she was for her daughter, the fact that they were gone had to be kept a secret.
"Oh? Don't you see mom, I can finally get close to other people, I don't have to keep to myself anymore." Elsa happily said, with a massive smile on her lips.
Agnarr took it upon himself to tell her, "Yes, it truly is a great thing, but we can't tell anyone, wait, let me finish" he held up his and when Elsa pulled away in disbelief and was about to open her mouth, "we both know how much you wanted this, but the politics of our world is strained, there are multiple countries that would consider war to take our lands if they found out. We would never send you out to fight of course. But just the fact that your powers are.. I'm sorry.. were so incredible, acted as a deterrent towards that sentiment. If they found out now, then we would be en a lot of trouble. Especially with the information we have gotten from the south.." Iduna nudged him with an elbow and hissed, "Agnarr!".
"What about the south dad?" Kristoff asked in his most royal voice, which meant he wouldn't let this go until they told him. Agnarr sighed and cleared his throat to give him a second or two to gather his thoughts before answering.
"Well, according to our spies they have finally managed to create a kid like Elsa. And from what we've been told they have the same powers as her. I don't think they will stop at one kid, imagine what ten, or twenty people with Elsa's strength could do. We would get decimated before our own vanguard could take them out. We have to keep this a secret." He tried explaining the best way he could to get his point across, he knew Kristoff could be bit thick-headed on these matters.
But neither Kristoff or Elsa reacted the way he had expected, they shared a quick glance before they both muttered some form of acceptance.
"What now?! I know my own children well enough to know when something is up, and this is one of those times. You better come clean right away" the tone practically screamed, mother you don't want to defy even if your life depended on it.
Kristoff scratched the back of his head "Uhh, well you see.. Uhm, we were actually on our way home.. And then, uh, we saw this explosion," Idunas eyes widened a bit but she kept quiet "and I took off to see what was going on." Elsa finished for her brother.
"On the way there I felt this pull from inside the mansion that had blown up. When I got inside there was a young girl. She couldn't be more than a couple of years younger than me, but the resigned look in her eyes compelled me to help her. She sat with her eyes closed, ready for the pillar that was headed directly for her, and without thinking I tried stopping it, but I wasn't strong enough, so the pillar continued it's path," Iduna gasped and placed a hand over her heart, "I had managed to knock it slightly to the side with a pillar of ice, but her hand got caught anyway. And-and, I cut off her arm per her request" a single tear rolled down her face when she recounted the tale, "I carried her out behind the mansion after I had created a layer of ice on the wound. When i finally got out, her eyes glowed, she was like me, but the glow disappeared.. I don't know if she made it after Kristoff pulled me away. There was guards coming our way and we had to leave. I'm not sure if it was the right choice to leave her but I didn't know what to do" she looked down and clasped her hands in front of her ready for a scolding. But all that came was another tight embrace.
"Oh sweety, that was incredibly brave of you.. I don't approve of you using your powers in a country we are on such bad terms with. But I'm proud of you" came a hoarse voice from her father, even he had gotten moved by his daughters heroics. Kristoff felt like he had to join the hug.
When they ended the hug the parents ushered their kids to the dining hall and had food brought in for them, during the dinner Elsa told more about what she had seen happen to the girl, but they reacted the same way Kristoff did. They just couldn't believe it, and no matter what she said, they were sure it was just shock that had made her see things. So despite the touching reunion, Elsa went to her room more agitated than relieved about coming home. And when sleep finally found her all she dreamt about was the pale girl, her fiery red hair and the single white stripe, she had left behind some three weeks ago. The same thing she would see for the next long while when she turned in for the night.
Hello peeps, so sorry about this incredible delay. I never imagined having such a hard time getting this to flow at least a bit better than my first three drafts, I now know why real writers have a hard time writing good books. Tossing words into the keyboard isn't the way to write it seems. So I've actually had a hard time getting started with the actual "adventure" Anna is embarking on. I see the first chapters up to this to be the intro, if I can call it that. And if I have to write out the next 4 years without time jumps the story would be a behemoth at the end, so expect some skips here and there.. Unless you wanna see Anna grow into the hero/villain, (depending on your point of view) she's going to become. I think I could wring out some situations that would push her towards her goal, or I could save some of it for her to tell Elsa about if you want to get to the Elsanna part a bit faster.
Also to be honest I think I might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew, writing coherent scenes is more difficult than I had imagined. So I'm sorry if anything at any point doesn't make sense, if that's the case, please tell me so I can rectify my mistakes :)
And last but not least, as always-
Love Mr. Turtle