Chapter 8: I open at the close
"Okay, I know you can't tell me what I said in the future memory and also what you said, and also what Kristoff said, and what my daughter said…" Blabbered Anna with a fast voice, already gasping for air under Elsa's amused eyes. "But there must be a thing… Or two… That you can tell me without dropping major stuff, right?"
Elsa finished smiling before thinking. They were seated on the ice floor of Ahtohallan, Anna with her forearms on her bend knees, and Elsa in lotus position close to her, an elbow on her leg as one hand held her cheek with a touched grin on her lips. Anna had been adorably curious since she woke up from the visions of the future.
"Well… I saw three different memories, from three different moments. One was when you were pregnant, one was after you gave birth, and the third one…"
Anna instantly blushed.
"Oh my goodness, please don't tell me that you saw Kristoff and I… Doing the…"
Elsa frowned in confusion, then choked on laughter.
"No!" She wheezed, trying to catch her breath back, and Anna let out a relieved gasp. "No, are you crazy?!"
The blonde lifted her head, still laughing. "You would never show me that kind of thing, would you?" She asked to Ahtohallan.
The glacier flickered with bright lights, and the sisters interpreted from it a mix of an offended gasp, a 'Of course, duh' and a loud laughter.
Anna massaged the back of her neck. "Okay, sorry for interrupting. What was the third memory?"
"Your daughter was grown up, aged of 10 years old, I think - that I can say, it won't make any impact - and we were telling her a bed time story."
The redhead melted with a touched smile and wet eyes. "Awww."
She then bit her lip with a grunt. "Hnnnn, it's so hard for me to not ask you what her name is!"
"Yep. I get you. And there's no way I'm going to tell you."
Anna's nails scratched the ice under them in an exaggerated upset gesture. "This is torture!"
Elsa giggled. "I'm sorry. Hold on, maybe I can think of something else…"
Ahtohallan sent a warning pulse to her mind. She winced a bit at it. "Yes, yes, I'm careful, I promise." She mumbled, looking up at the magic ceiling.
The redhead smirked, her gaze alternating between the magic source and Elsa. The Snow Queen pouted as she thought.
"Hmmm… Something that doesn't reveal too much…" Her thinking Scrunch then switched to the most emotional and touched expression. "She looked just like you. Truly your spitting image."
Anna's smile stretched to all her face, and she gasped as tears now fell on her cheeks. She let out a cute giggle, and looked up to Ahtohallan. 'Is she allowed to say that?' seemed written on her face, but the glacier didn't react, and her face melted as she stared at Elsa again. The elder shared her smile.
"Though I have to say, she looked a bit like Kristoff as well."
The Queen fanned herself with her hands. "This is adorable."
The blonde laughed. "If that makes you this emotional, just imagine me who saw the whole thing."
Anna gasped, and grabbed her hand. "True. Oh my gosh, how did you even hold the secret about the fact I'd have a daughter for so long?" She admired.
Elsa snorted. "I told you less than 24 hours afterwards. I blurted it out in no time."
The two sisters laughed together, their voices echoing in the giant room.
"Hey, you haven't told me: what did you look like?"
Elsa started to blush. "How is that important?"
"Come on, I'd freak out in the best way if I saw my own self in older version. Tell me!"
Elsa now blushed deeply, and looked down with a shy smile. "I looked great. I mean, I… I looked okay. Very… In shape."
Anna had an amused smirk as she stared at her elder being bashful. Whatever she had seen, it had marked her. In a good way, she presumed, given her blush. She didn't insist much, and simply replied with a nod and a smile.
"So, I can't really ask you more, uh? All I'm supposed to know is that, I'll have a daughter with Kristoff; that the reason why you won't be there at her birth is because you will be saving Ahtohallan from raiders; and then that we'll be the best mother and aunt ever?"
The Fifth Spirit smiled tenderly. "Pretty much, yes."
A silence passed.
"Yet I can see in your eyes that you want to tell me much more." Noted Anna.
"There are a thousand things I also want to tell you." Grinned Elsa. "But, each thing at its own time. You'll have answers as they come naturally."
"Alright." Smiled Anna, a bit disappointed but respectful. She also had enough wisdom to understand that if she asked too much, she would alter and maybe ruin her own future, and after Elsa's retelling, she didn't want any other than this one.
They finished chatting then stood up slowly, facing each other, and Elsa suddenly held Anna by the shoulders. The move surprised the redhead, just like she had been when her elder had suddenly hugged her when she woke up from the memories, but she rolled with it happily.
"Anna."
"Uh-uh?"
"You were right all along. I wasn't dead- I mean, I won't be dead on that day. Your unique positivity led you right as always."
Anna smiled, and passed a hand in Elsa's hair to tuck it aside after a strand had fell in front of her face. She did all she could to make the gesture reassuring, soft and warm.
"Of course you wouldn't die, you silly." She said, and she could see the emotion tightening her elder's throat. "And of course I was right. I'm always right."
Elsa chuckled at her humorous addition, that Anna had purposely made to light up her mood. It worked, and she nodded as a thank you.
"Also, you can miss a birth anytime if it's to be a badass in Ahtohallan and protecting it from invaders." Assured Anna.
Elsa chuckled. "I'm so happy that we finally found out the truth."
She then frowned, and lifted her eyes to the dome.
"What I don't get is that… If you wanted to show me that event in the future, you getting raided and needing my help to defend you, then why did you not show me a memory of the raid? Why did you show me a memory of a moment I talk about it?"
Ahtohallan didn't respond, and Anna smirked.
"Maybe they didn't want you to get too much details about the attack so that you would fight them without much indications. Just the essentials, only broadly speaking. Exactly like a bed time story."
The blonde nodded, but blinked in confusion.
"And how come I already know about it in the future they showed me?"
Anna had a thinking pout, bending her head, then suddenly her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers, her mouth open in a O. "It's a time paradox! You know about it because you just learned about it. It's a loop!"
Elsa's eyes widened just as large. "Oh my God."
"You can call me Anna." Joked the redhead, sticking her tongue out.
She bounced in joy. "Now I get why you got so excited earlier. Nerdy theories are funny."
Some lights brightened, and Ahtohallan seemed to approve.
"And that's not even the most beautiful."
"What is?" Asked Elsa.
When she turned to her younger, she was smiling warmly. "The reason why Ahtohallan showed you those memories of my daughter… It's a reward, as a thank you from them for saving the whole glacier from the raid. They showed you what you couldn't see while you were here helping them." She explained, gesturing at the magical source.
Elsa's eyes glittered with emotion, and she gulped with a soft smile. She nodded to her sister's analysis, and lifted her head. "Thank you."
Ahtohallan's lights flickered as a "You're very welcome." gesture.
Suddenly, all the floating beams turned to bright white, and the sister suddenly hissed and groaned at it.
"Woaw, what is this?" Grumbled Anna, squinting and protecting her eyes with her arm.
"I think it's our way back", muttered Elsa on the same tone and with the same gesture. "I can feel the love emanating from it."
"Love?" Repeated Anna. She knew that Elsa shared a special and unique connection with Ahtohallan, and that it's how she was able to translate the glacier's emotions to her, but that was confusing. Ahtohallan's feeling in the end was love for them?
The white light turned to blue, and Anna let out a gasp as she recognized it. It was exactly the same than the one emanating from the magic rock she had touched in the Forest, and that had brought them two in the past in the first place. She could also feel that it was the same sensation, palpable in the air.
"So that was caring love…" Murmured both sisters in one voice, then they turned to each other and grinned.
"Thank you!" Smiled Anna to the magic source, as the light got even more intense. "That was quite an adventure. And even if the main goal was to show Elsa the future and thank her for it, you allowed us to see our parents on that day. Now I can tick 'travel through time' on my bucket list, and, honestly… Life goals."
Elsa laughed by her side, and slid her hand in hers.
"Are you ready?"
Anna looked at the light. "I was born ready."
"Technically, you aren't…"
"Born yet, yes. I've been thinking of that pun for two days now."
They giggled, and all the white light condensed all along the dome to one spot, the size of a large door big enough for them to both go in, and Elsa recognized this spot on the wall as being the entrance she went through to dive into the past on her first visit.
It made sense: now was a time when Ahtohallan was used to see memories of the future; so, in order to go back to 30 years forward, they had to go through there. Anna clenched her hand as they walked.
"Elsa… I wonder… If the Northuldra chief was indeed the Fifth Spirit and he saw memories of the future, then he knew that he would die that day because of our grandfather, right?"
Elsa nodded with sadness. "Yes. I suppose that he accepted that it was his destiny."
The reminding of how the Northuldra chief died suddenly made something hit in Elsa. "Wait… When I went deep down in the memories, the first time I went here, through that frame… I actually connected with his part of Ahtohallan."
Anna's eyes widened. "Is that why you froze? I thought that it was just because you searched for a secret memory?"
"…Maybe it also was because I was entering a reversed Ahtohallan, with time memories going the other way…"
Anna stopped right before reaching the frame.
"Do you think that the reason why you saw Ahtohallan in pieces 30 years later on your first visit is because it got flipped upside down, memories now going the other way, because you headed to the glacier with the intention to get answers about the past?"
The two sisters remained silent at all the possibilities this offered.
"That's another mystery we'll maybe never have the answer of." Murmured Elsa.
Anna nudged her. "Don't be pessimistic. We managed to solve this one, didn't we?"
Elsa shared her smile. "That's right. We did."
Ahtohallan sent an insisting pulse to her mind. "Alright, alright, we're going." Chuckled the Snow Queen.
"Back to present time, then." Smiled Anna, and Elsa nodded.
They stepped to the light together, and felt cocooned as it came over them. It indeed was a light of love, and it was so bright that they clenched their eyes shut, and felt dizzy for a moment.
When they opened their eyes, they were standing in the Forest, exactly where they had been standing before Anna bowed to touch the glowing rock.
The redhead looked down and noticed that it had disappeared, and startled when Elsa suddenly palpated her arms to make sure that her younger was alright.
"I'm fine, Elsa." Chuckled Anna.
"Sorry, I just… I had to make sure. Did all that… Happened?"
"You didn't dream. And I sure hope that all you saw of the future will happen."
"It will. That's the whole point." Smiled Elsa.
They looked at each other and hugged, more by mannerism than anything else, just glad they both made it, and lived such a crazy experience.
When they stepped back from the hug, they looked around, surrounded by the sounds of the forest. It felt like they hadn't come here in ages, and it was actually literal.
"THERE YOU ARE!" Suddenly yelled a voice behind them.
Elsa turned around at Honeymaren's angry tone.
"I've been looking for you for a full hour!" Frowned the Northuldra, walking to them.
"Only an hour?" Smiled Elsa, and she gave a side look to Anna, who chuckled.
"What?" Frowned Honeymaren when she was close, and this time, her voice was worried. "Where were you? I got really concerned."
"Oh, we were… Here and there…" Shrugged Anna.
"ANNA!"
She briskly lifted her head at the sound of Kristoff calling her. He ran to them, glad they found them again.
"We got so worried! I was about to prepare the cart to go back to Arendelle, and…"
He caught up his breath, his hands on his hips as he stared at the sisters. "Did you two purposely hide? Elsa, did you try to kidnap my wife so she would stay longer with you in the Forest this week?" He added with a laugh.
Elsa laughed and shook her head. "No. I would never take her away from you. I promise." She said, her gaze going to Anna as well.
The redhead smiled, and hanged to Kristoff's neck to kiss him deeply on the lips. He got surprised by the intensity, but gave it back to her.
"Okay. Time to go." She blushed once she was done, tapping his chest awkwardly.
He nodded and turned around, and as the redhead was about to follow him, she turned to Elsa. "See you next Friday, then."
"It sounds weird to say it now, isn't it?" Whispered the blonde.
"Totally." Whispered back Anna.
"What are you two whispering about?" Smirked Honeymaren.
"Nothing!" Exclaimed the Queen.
She trotted behind Kristoff, then turned around one last time. "Hey, Elsa!"
"Yes?" Smiled the blonde.
"Any chance you tell me her name now?"
Elsa chuckled and shook her head. "None. Just go, you dork."
Anna turned around and giggled openly, filling the woods with the echo of her sunny laugh.
THE END
Author's Note: Thank you so much for the positive feedback on Tumblr and FF-net! I'm really happy you all found this fanfic amazing, despite being a mess to write (time travel rules are a true headache lol) and the fact it started from a drabble and so I had to follow the prompt idea. It was a lot of fun to make, with Elsa and Anna's interactions, from fluff to angst! (Yes, I'm a lover of both).
If you liked my style, have a look at "Untangling the Frozen Knots book" on Google, a 140k words fanfic which you can get in printed version! Cheers, and see you around on Tumblr or YouTube. ;)