Chapter 3 - Anna's Adventure

To say Anna Penrose's life had been turned upside down would be an understatement. She had expected to find some strange old relic in her house: perhaps a previous owner's collection of baseball cards, or some work of art that had been missing for God knows how long.

What she hadn't expected was to find a time portal connecting her house to the kingdom of Arendelle in the year 1844, and for that portal to lead to the royal bedchambers of Queen Elsa herself. Being a history nerd, this was honestly a dream come true for Anna in some ways.

She and the Queen had actually gotten on well as roommates-a term Anna loved to use around Elsa, and which would confuse the queen each time it was mentioned. Elsa and Anna were more than happy to see each other very often, but due to their differing time zones, it would only be early in the morning when Anna was getting up and Elsa was going to sleep, or the other way around.

Anna didn't mind this, though. After all, she had started to focus more on finding herself a job rather than having a new friend in Elsa, although she did enjoy Elsa's company. In her spare time, Anna was researching all she could about Elsa's time period, trying her best to understand the customs of the era.

Surprisingly, when Anna started researching about Arendelle, she couldn't find much other than the occasional mention. This was unusual, as Anna clearly remembered learning about the country for her degree, having to write a paper on it, as well as other European kingdoms of the time like Corona and Germania.

It didn't bother Anna much, though. Most of the kingdoms she had learned about were built around similar cultures, so it was fairly easy to figure out what life in Arendelle was like.

Whether Anna would get a chance to show off her historical knowledge, however, was another matter. During her many visits over to Elsa's time, the queen had forbidden Anna from leaving the royal bedchamber. Elsa had told her that people in Arendelle could find her strange and possibly fear her.

Anna knew Elsa was trying to protect her, but she couldn't help feeling a little bit peeved. Her interactions with the queen had given her an opportunity that a historian could only dream of, and yet Elsa wouldn't let her take advantage of it.

One week after meeting Elsa for the first time, Anna decided to finally make her move.

It was a quiet evening for Anna: she had been spending the evening browsing job offers on her laptop. Unfortunately for her, the jobs that she found either didn't interest her, or she didn't meet the qualifications.

Finally, she got bored of it and closed the job-search website, opting instead to check on her blog. As she browsed through her dashboard, she noticed the familiar white door that led to Elsa's room, standing out from the rest of the furniture in the house.

Part of Anna felt a little curious to see what was behind the door again, to perhaps take a look around in Elsa's time. She had noticed that time somehow seemed to move more slowly on either side of the door: she could spend ten minutes with Elsa, and only lose about one minute in her own time. So logically, she could spend as much time as she wanted in Arendelle, and she wouldn't miss anything here at home. Besides, she could do with a distraction anyway.

What Elsa doesn't know won't hurt her, Anna thought to herself, climbing out of bed and making her way to the door.

Anna pressed her ear very close to the door, trying to listen in for any noise. She had noted that Elsa rose early in the morning, so her room would likely be empty, but she needed to make sure, in case she got any surprises.

Thankfully, no noise could be heard from Elsa's room, so Anna gently turned the golden doorknob and let herself into the room, travelling two hundred years into the past by merely taking a single step forward into the light.

Now inside of Elsa's room, seeing the light of the Arendellian sun pour through the window, Anna took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her Eagle had now landed; one small step for Anna, one giant leap for Anna-kind.

That was easy, Anna thought, smirking. She thought of what she could do first. Maybe go out and explore Elsa's castle? Perhaps help herself to some local food, food that may not even exist in her own time? Whatever she would do, Anna knew she couldn't exactly go around in modern clothes. If Elsa's initial reaction to seeing her for the first time had been any indication, she would need a change of attire.

Anna headed over to a large wardrobe on the other side of Elsa's bedroom, opening it up and seeing an array of rather regal looking gowns and dresses all hung up. Elsa seemed to have more than a dozen of these, so she probably wouldn't mind if Anna borrowed just one.

Browsing through Elsa's clothes for a few seconds, Anna soon found an outfit for herself. It was a simple brown and grey dress with a long skirt; not something that a princess would wear, but Anna could tell it would fit her just fine. It was as if it were made for her!

The young girl slipped on the dress and some matching shoes and, after hiding her regular clothes under the queen's bed, she walked out into the corridor. Just walk around like you own the place, she thought. Don't call attention to yourself.

As Anna opened the door, she saw the long carpeted hallway that was the upper floor of the Arendelle castle. It was a rather fancy-looking place, but Anna knew that the corridors weren't the interesting parts of a castle: it was the rooms connected to those corridors.

She tiptoed through the corridor, hiding behind bust statues to keep her presence hidden from the servants and maids she noticed walking around the halls. She then turned a corner and found herself in a large room filled with various paintings and statues. Clearly, this was where Elsa kept her treasured belongings The room was vast and expansive, with paintings lining up to the ceiling.

Admiring a painting of Joan of Arc, Anna grinned. She wondered where some of these paintings were in her time, if they had even survived for that long. Any devious person would probably have ideas to steal such works of art, but Anna, knowing when to respect someone's property, wouldn't dare touch the masterpieces.

The strawberry blonde continued walking on, taking in as much as she could of her surroundings. This was a dream come true for her, and she didn't know if she'd ever get an opportunity like this again.

However, she was so lost in her reverie that she didn't notice a large metal object directly in front of her. She walked straight into it, knocking it to the floor with a resounding CRASH of clattering metal.

Pulling herself back into reality, she looked down and saw she had bumped and broken apart what seemed to be a priceless suit of armour. "Oh shit!" she swore, covering her mouth. She hoped that no one heard the noise. "Okay, okay, don't panic. You can fix this. I mean, you learned all about weapons and armour in history class." She bent down and picked up the armoured boots, placing them on the stand. "Okay, so I think these go on the bottom, and…."

"Stop right there!"

Turning around again, Anna saw a pair of guards dressed in green uniforms standing at the door to the gallery room where she was, looking at her with menacing gazes.

"Halt, intruder!" one of them barked.

"No, wait, I can fix this!" Anna protested. "I'm a friend of Elsa, she can vouch for me!"

The guard frowned. "A friend of the Queen's?"

"Yes," Anna answered, speaking quickly. "I'm not like a best friend of hers, but she and I get on well, so…I'm sure she'll be able to speak for me."

"A likely story," the other guard snarled, walking towards Anna. "I'm afraid you will have to come with us, Miss."

"W-wait!" Anna said nervously. "I-I'm not an intruder, I swear! Just ask Elsa!"

"And ask her we will. But you're going to remain in custody until the Queen says otherwise."

Gulping, Anna knew there was only one thing she could do. She suddenly darted out of the room and into the corridor, and the guards gave chase.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, hoping that she could find wherever the front door was in this massive place. She dodged past two maids heading out of one of the guest bedrooms before flying off down a stair railing. Her rear felt very cold sliding along the wood, but in a way, this was the most alive Anna had felt in a long time. She cried out in glee as she rushed down the stairs like she was riding a flume slide at a waterpark. "Wooohoooo!"

As she got to the bottom of the stairs, she landed on her feet and attempted to continue running, but stumbled over her own feet. High heels, she had just learned, were not exactly made for this sort of thing. She fell through a set of double doors and onto a floor of polished white tiles. As she got up, she realized that she had found her way into the kitchen of the castle, and all of the cooks and servants were staring at her in wide-eyed confusion.

Anna gulped, looking up at the bewildered kitchen staff, nervously smiling and waving. "Oh, hey everyone! I'm the new, err…kitchen inspector. Yeah. And I've to come to examine your, ummm…." Her eyes darted quickly around the room before latching onto a tray of freshly made chocolates. "Chocolates!"

She made a beeline for the tray of chocolates, snatching up one and stuffing it into her mouth. "Mmmm, that's delicious!" she exclaimed. "Who made these?"

"Er…I did, ma'am," answered a lanky young man with curly ginger hair.

"Well, you've got some serious talent," she said, popping another chocolate into her mouth. "Keep it up!"

The young man looked confused. "Thank you…?"

Just then, a guard burst into the kitchen. "I found her!" he shouted.

Anna's eyes widened in panic. "Son of a bitch." She grabbed as many chocolates as she could carry and took off running, popping the treats into her mouth as she went along.

Anna had never been so glad to have had so much chocolate in her arms. Now she was running for her life as a literal chocolate bandit. Now she needed to find a way out of the castle, and there were only two that she could think of: either the front door, or the portal back to her own time.

She ran down a long corridor, with two of the guards chasing her. Anna could feel she was home free, but then she looked in the general direction of where she was heading and found a tall white door in front of her.

"Oh no."

Tripping on a bit of rug, she tumbled onto her back, rolling around and crashing into the door with a loud bang.

Her whole body shaking from the impact, Anna sat up, rubbing her aching head from having crashed fully into the wooden door. She had hit her head so much today, she was surprised that it hadn't cracked open like an egg.

"Okay, first of all: OW," she groaned, massaging her forehead.

But before Anna could say anything more, the door opened and out stepped Elsa, wearing a casual looking turquoise dress with long black sleeves, her hair in a French braid. As she looked down, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Anna?" the blonde exclaimed in shock. "What in God's name are you doing here?!"

Anna opened her mouth to respond, but then the guards finally caught up, lining up all around her.

One of the guards bowed and stepped forward, addressing the queen. "Your Majesty, this girl was found causing havoc all over the castle. She's broken a priceless suit of your great-grandfather's armour, knocked down two paintings, smashed a bust statue of your cousin, and she's frightened the kitchen staff."

Elsa glared sharply at Anna. "Is this true, Miss?" she asked in her most authoritative tone.

"Well…I admit I broke the armour and stole the chocolate, but the paintings and the bust statue were an accident," Anna remarked, making a gesture with her fingers.

Sighing, Elsa looked at her guards. She knew she was going to regret this, but Anna hadn't done anything truly wrong today. "It's alright," she said. "This girl is under my care. You can all go on about your business."

The guard who had spoken earlier blinked, his expression confused. "Are you quite certain, Your Majesty?"

Elsa nodded. "Yes, captain. Please return to your duties."

He bowed again. "Very well, Your Majesty." And with that, the platoon of guards walked away, leaving Elsa and Anna in peace.

Anna would have sighed in relief, but she had a feeling that she wasn't quite out of the woods yet.

Elsa picked Anna up, straightened her clothes and cleaned up the chocolate stain on her dress, before frowning at her. "What possessed you to come here in the first place?" she demanded.

Anna sighed, looking Elsa directly in the eye. She had been very stupid that day, and the queen, being royalty and a woman who she was starting to consider as a friend, deserved an apology.

"Elsa…I'm sorry," she said in a mature, sombre tone.

"You should be," Elsa said sternly. "You've made a proper mess of my home."

"I was just curious," Anna said, looking down at the floor. "I was bored tonight, and figured I could just go and look around your castle…until things went to shit. Look, Elsa, I'm so, so sorry. I know I screwed up. I know I'm an idiot." She turned away. "I'll just go home."

Although the queen would never understand why, she reached out and placed her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna…it's okay."

Anna stopped and turned around, her teal eyes wide in complete disbelief. "Wait-it is?"

"As I said, you made a mess of my castle," Elsa explained. "If you were any ordinary girl, I wouldn't have bothered coming to your aid. But…you aren't an ordinary girl. You're quite the opposite, in fact. I suppose what I'm trying to say is…I forgive you."

"Y-you do?" Anna stuttered, sounding amazed.

Elsa nodded. "All I ask is that the next time you want to explore the castle, please tell me. I'd be happy to show you around."

Her eyes widening and her mouth breaking into a wide grin, Anna leapt forward, hugging Elsa tightly. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, "Thank you, thank you so much." Her eyes widened and she suddenly pulled away. "Oh…that was awkward."

The blonde laughed. "It's fine. I don't mind a warm hug every now and then." She then took Anna's hand. "Come on, my dear; it's time I escort you home."

"Can I keep the chocolate?" Anna requested.

"I'll ask the kitchen to make some more soon," Elsa promised.

She then led Anna down the hall to her bedroom and back to her own time, knowing that even if this young girl would be the death of her, she would gladly make sure she would try and make her happy. Why was she doing this? Elsa wasn't really sure, but she knew one day, they would both find out.

xXx

Author's note: And here is another instalment of Souls Across Time! This is more of a fluffy cute chapter, but I wanted to show Anna doing lots of cuteness and being with Elsa and reacting to her time. Also, I think I've actually written Anna more accurately than I've done in my other fics. Well, I guess that's a good thing :3

See ya next time!