firelordhans & wiinterempress
"You’ve always wanted to do this, haven’t you?"
The Queen’s ungloved hand stretched toward her, beckoning Anna toward the fjord.
"Yeah, I mean, when you ran across at the coronation, it was- yeah, it was scary, but it was… it was amazing.”
"Then what are you waiting for?" Elsa crooned with a gentle smile, taking another step forward, "I won’t let you fall through."
The suggestion elicited a giggle. “Come on, I’m not worried about that. I know you won’t.”
Elsa’s hands were always cold, but it was the cold that Anna was trying to embrace today. Almost like a ghost, Elsa glided forward, her first step onto the water freezing the surface and sending crystallized ripples around them. Three feet forward, and Anna joined her sister on that first slippery step of the frozen fjord, testing the ice with a small hop. It held her weight, and with delighted smiles, the two sisters advanced.
It was a strange sight, seeing the castle from an entirely new angle, one she hadn’t already seen. Every once in a while, the princess would stop to turn back and gaze at the shrinking spires of the castle, awed by the sight of their magnificence, finally seeing them from a distance. But Elsa, her guide and companion, would remind her of the potential journey ahead, and they would resume.
Both sisters were unwilling to let this be a simple walk. Elsa threw designs across the ice, carving in all manners of crocuses and snowflakes and celtic swirls. Anna would jump from crack to crack, and though she slipped once or twice, her sister always managed to cushion her fall with fresh powder.
But the ships were the most promising thing they came across. Anna ran a hand along one’s smooth wooden hull, glad to have the time to actually take it in this time. But the further they walked, the further away the ships become, until there were none left ahead of them. Soon, they were gone entirely, and the castle was shrinking at an alarming rate, but Elsa’s gaze was still fixed on the distant horizon.
"Do you think we should head back?" Anna ventured to ask, drawing her cloak tighter around her shoulders. But disappointment settled on Elsa’s face immediately, and she regretted voicing her concern at all.
"I wanted to go just a bit further." Elsa murmured before taking both of Anna’s hands in her own and managing a melancholy smile, "We’ll go back soon. Please, just don’t leave me alone."
Something in Anna’s gut twisted, but she pushed the feeling away. She was with Elsa. She was safe. Elsa would always keep her safe. The least she could do was keep her company after being apart from her for so many years.
And so, they carried on. Elsa created a variation of hopscotch for them; Circles of solid ice floating in the water, waiting to be jumped on, as though they were frogs bounding from lilypad to lilypad on a pond. Though Anna feared falling in, she had too much fun bounding from circle to circle to give it much thought.
But soon, her enjoyment dwindled. The cold was setting in, passing through her clothes, and the wind was picking up, battering her chilled face. But Elsa moved on, unfazed. The ships were gone, the spires were gone, the countryside had disappeared entirely. She could no longer tell from which direction they had come. It was only ice, ice that reflected the rapidly setting sun.
"Elsa, it’s- it’s getting dark, and i-it’s too cold for me, it’s not good for-"
"Trust me, sister. Just a little farther." Elsa replied without even turning her head.
Suddenly, the iceberg that the sisters had been standing on split with a cacophonous crack, creating a sizable rift between them that only increased as the two blocks began to drift. Anna lost her balance and fell to her knees at the edge of her iceberg’s half, letting out a yelp that caught Elsa’s attention. The wind was nearly blinding now, catching bits of Elsa’s snow and ice in its gusts.
"Elsa!" Anna called, but the Queen did not move. "E-Elsa, I’m scared!”
Elsa only held out her arms, bending down at the edge and smiling at her sister. “Come on then, jump.”
"Trust in me. Anna, I’ll catch you!" Elsa insisted.
She didn’t want to jump. The chill of the water frightened her, the wind blinded her, and something about her sister’s voice made her skin crawl. But she struggled to her feet anyway, trying to assess the jump.
"I won’t make it." She argued.
Anna closed her eyes and jumped.
She felt her boot hit the edge of the iceberg as she began to tilt back, and she could already feel the water, crushing, overtaking her, swallowing her. Blackness.
But Elsa’s hands were around her wrists, and she was pulling her forward until both of them were together again, shaken but alive. Anna let out a cry of relief and threw her arms around her sister, not caring how little warmth she offered in the near-blizzard.
The hand that burst from the watery depths grabbed hold of Anna’s cloak
She could only see flashes. Not a bare hand, but one shielded with a white glove. A wrinkle from the wedding ring. Dark blue wool, a cloak emblazoned with the very waves she was fighting against. Red hair and a toothy white smile. A cruel laugh as he dragged her backwards, into the sea.
She screamed her sister’s name but couldn’t tell if any sound left her lips. Elsa was reaching toward her, but she moved too slowly and Anna was still sliding, falling, choking, fighting. The water claimed her head first, sending shocks of ice down her spine before it moved to claim her shoulders, her chest, her torso. Her legs.
Blackness, settling in, filling her lungs like ink.
She could only see the shadow of her sister’s iceberg, fading away as He pulled her down, down, down.
Anna woke with a strangled gasp, and the maids were upon her immediately, carrying her to the bath as they readied the hot water as they had so many times before. It was scalding, but she didn’t care, cared only for the warmth, for the feel of the fresh air filling her lungs.
annaxmalina
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
origamiaround
yousharknotpass
