Drabble prompt: Elsa and Anna, while digging through the old part of the castle library, come across a dusty tome whose contents are the very drabble depicting the actions they're currently performing. (from aesir-blade)
Okay. So. I tried to keep this down to an appropriate drabble-length. That did not happen, and now it's nearly 1500 words long. That's why this is going up today, instead of during the Elsanna Sleepover, which it was originally meant for. Oh well, it was a lot fun to write!
Anna had found it somewhere in the darkened back corner of the library, that area neither of them liked to go because it was in just such a location—behind a column, near the staircase, cut off by two much larger, more imposing rows of shelves—that it never got any light at all, even at noon on the brightest of days. It was creepy, depressing, not to mention full of dust (the castle staff didn't like going back there either), so Elsa was justifiably confused when her sister told her where she'd been.
“Why were you even back there?”
“I was playing hide-and-seek with Olaf. He tripped and lost his head, so I had to go get it back for him. Speaking of which, you should probably help him later. His head got kind of...grimy, and he'd probably really appreciate it if you could help, um...freshen him up? Oh—anyway, check it out. It's so weird...”
The auburn-haired woman slid the book across the table to her, then pulled her fingers back from it like she'd been burned. Elsa frowned, picking up the offending tome. It was rather small, but despite its size, it was heavy. The blue binding was cracked and faded, but there was a texture to it that felt unpleasant, almost moist.
“I see what you mean,” Elsa said, turning the object over in her hands. “Why did you pick it up?”
“I don't know,” Anna said. “It just sort of...called to me, I guess? It was right there on the shelf, sort of wedged in between a couple of big old ledger books. It looked kind of lonely.”
Anna shrugged. “No idea. I thought we could open it together. It'll be an adventure! Ooh, what if it's the secret diary of one of our ancestors? Or the memoirs of an infamous pirate! We could be on our way to finding buried pirate gold in minutes. Elsa, open the book.” The princess sat back, fixing her with an intense expression.
The queen laughed. “You know it's probably going to just be another set of the castle's accounting records from the 15th century. Or something like that...”
“Hey, don't kill the fun before it's even started. A girl can dream, can't she?”
Elsa shook her head ruefully, set the book down on the table, and opened it. She picked a page at random, finding it filled with small, neatly written script, and started reading. After a few seconds, her expression changed from one of vague interest to one of slight concern, and from there to real worry.
As Elsa's expression darkened, Anna leaned forward, frowning. “What's wrong?”
Elsa swallowed, and after a few seconds began to read aloud: “Anna had found it somewhere in the darkened back corner of the library, that area neither of them liked to go...”
The princess blinked, not understanding. “Wait, does that say Anna? Like, Anna Anna, like me? That's odd. There—um, there must be someone from further back in the family line with the same name, I'm surprised Mom and Dad never—“
“The auburn-haired woman slid the book across the table to her, then pulled her fingers back from it like she'd been burned. Elsa frowned, picking up the offending tome. It was rather small, but despite its size, it was heavy.” Elsa looked up from the page at her, eyes wide.
Anna looked at her for a long moment, then laughed. “Very funny, Elsa. It does not say that. No way.”
“It does,” the queen said emphatically. “It...it's describing what's happening right now, Anna.”
“There's dialogue: 'pirate gold'...'15th Century'...'A girl can dream, can't she?' ”
Elsa's eyes flicked forward, reading ahead, and just as Anna was about to start talking she read aloud, speaking in unison with her sister, “There is no way that book contains exactly what we're doing and saying right now. That's insane! You're messing with me! Watch this, you can't predict what I'm going to say. Fuzzy slug pillow!”
They both fell silent, and Anna's eyes widened. After a few seconds, she stood up from the table and stepped back. “Okay, this is weird. I mean weird weird. Unsettlingly weird. I've seen some strange stuff but this is...” she trailed off, finding that no further elaboration would really cover it.
“We should put the book back,” Elsa said firmly. “Just put it back where it came from, and not worry about it any more.”
“I agree,” Anna said. “I mean, so what if there's a weird book in our library that just happens to contain exact descriptions of events that are either currently happening or haven't happened yet? So what? We can just set it back down and not pay it any more mind than we—“ She stopped herself, frowning. Wheels seemed to turn in her head, and after a long moment she started speaking again. “So, okay. How far ahead does it go? I mean, is the whole book full of this stuff?”
Elsa paged through the volume. “No...most of the pages are actually blank. And most of the rest is too smudged to be readable. This—this story that we're in the middle of actually only goes on a little bit longer.”
Anna's eyes widened. “Why? Wh—what happens? How does it end?”
Elsa quirked her mouth to the side and looked at her. “I thought you said you didn't want to know...”
“I don't! Not really! But this thing really bothers me, and I feel like we have to do something about it. Okay, how about this? You read ahead, tell me what I'm going to do, and then I'll do the exact opposite. That'll show it who's boss.”
Elsa sighed. “Fine, but I don't think this is going to work out quite the way you want it to. Are you ready?”
“Oh, I was born ready! Go for it.”
She cleared her throat, let her eyes drift further down the page, and began reading. “ Anna did the exact opposite of what the story said she was going to do next, thereby following the path of the story exactly.”
Anna was at a loss for words. “What kind of story is this? That's so vague, nobody could possibly know what's happening. Terrible writing...”
Elsa shrugged. “I think it's messing with you.”
“Well, fine then. I don't even care any more! I'm leaving.” Anna got up and started towards the door.
For some reason, even though she herself was fairly unsettled by everything that had just happened, Elsa found Anna's indignation funny. Unable to stop herself, she picked up the book and followed her sister out of the library, reading aloud:
“Anna stalked out of the library. At this point, Elsa's reading had once again caught up to exactly where they were in the story, so the actual text of the story was contained within her dialogue. She followed her sister down the hall and around the corner. The princess punched a suit of armor as she passed, and the helmet toppled off it, just missing Elsa's foot by inches—Hey!”
Anna didn't apologize, and instead broke into a sprint. Now feeling genuinely concerned for her sister's well being, Elsa took her eyes off the book and jogged to keep up with her.
Eventually, Anna came to a dead end, the only thing ahead a window and one of the castle's many broom closets. The younger woman leaned against the window, panting.
“Why?” Anna said. “What does it mean?”
“I have no idea,” Elsa said, approaching her. “But at least we're almost at the end...”
Anna turned, her eyes newly alight with worry.
“Do you really want to know?”
“...yeah. I do. Go ahead and tell me.”
The queen leaned close to her sister, and whispered the ending to her.
Anna's eyes widened, and she blushed. “Does it really say that?”
Elsa gave her a small smile. “You can read it for yourself, if you want.” She handed the princess the book. She scanned to the end of the page, read the words, and nodded. Then she closed the book and shrugged.
“Well, that's not so bad,” she said. “I mean, we were already going to do that anyway, weren't we?”
“In truth, I was surprised you wanted to talk about this book in the first place, considering.”
Anna smiled at her. “Well then, shall we?” She raised her free hand, and her sister took it. Together, they headed to the broom closet, checking to make sure there were no servants in the hallway to see them go inside. Once they were certain they were alone, they quietly closed the door behind them. Anna's arms traveled up her sister's back, drawing her close. Their lips met as the Princess pushed the queen against the wall. The book fell to the floor, and soon, they were both too distracted to pay it a single thought.