#for some reason i suddenly pictured anna eating berries as elsa explained that wolves lived there

[justlookatthosesausages]

:: “Memoirs” :: post-Frozen 2 Time Travel AU

======= CHAPTER 5 =======

“What do you mean? Elsa, what do you mean?” 

The Snow Queen still was holding her mouth, hiding it, and one could tell she wanted to hide her whole self behind it. She couldn’t believe she had let the truth escape her. She wished she was able to summon Gale right then to swoop her away in a ‘nope nope nope you heard nothing!’ method. 

“Elsaaa...” Grumbled Anna, who hadn’t had any answer from her sister for several seconds now. 

Her tone, which was confused until now, had switched to a scolding one. 

The elder shook her head, clearly indicating she didn’t want to explain. "Shouldn’t have said that... Shouldn’t have said that...”

Anna frowned at her mumbling, and noticed the state Elsa was in. She shifted a bit as they were both still seated on the evening grass, and put a hand on her elder’s shoulder. “Are you okay? Wait, is that... The memory of the future that Ahtohallan showed you?” Understood Anna, her eyes widening. 

Elsa had a muffled yelp behind her hand, and nodded. Anna gasped at the news, now realizing that she truly would, one day, have a daughter. Her breathing sped up, and she was about to reply. The blonde thought she would panic. But instead, Anna went:

“How the hell did you manage to refrain yourself all that time and not tell me right away that you saw my daughter?!” 

Her voice was overflowing with astonishment. 

“I’d have spilled the beans like, two seconds after waking up.” She continued. 

Elsa smiled a bit behind her hand. Anna had so much positive energy that she lowered her hand. 

“I didn’t just see her. I also saw you, older, and there was Kristoff too, and--”

Anna let out strangled noises. “WAIT, WHAT??”

“Oh my God. Oh my God why did I say that.” Panicked Elsa, realizing once again that her sentence slipped away. She hurried to stand up, stumbling on the grass, and was about to ran as far as possible. 

The redhead closed her dropped jaw to bend her head with amusement.

“Elsa, where are you even going. We’re in the middle of a valley.”

The Snow Queen stopped in her movement for what was about to be indeed ridiculous, and slowly turned around to go back to her younger, who looked at her with a warm smile. 

“Come on. Sit back down. It clearly put you in a crazy state. It’s okay. We’ll go at your own rhythm. Explain it to me bit by bit if needed.”

Elsa looked at Anna’s teal blue eyes as she sat next to her. She couldn’t help but smile. Anna now had the opportunity to ask all the questions she wanted to know about her own future, and she still wanted to make Elsa comfortable about it first? For the second time in the day, she got emotional at her sister’s unique altruistic care. 

She calmed down, and took at long inspiration, then exhaled. “There are several reasons why I haven’t told you right away. And the first one is obvious, it’s because I can’t reveal the future, Anna!”

“What? Oh, please, you can’t just drop the bomb that you saw me and Kristoff as parents and not tell me anything about it!!”

Her little sister’s big eyes were so insisting and excited that Elsa had no way to resist it. And she spilled another detail. 

“You weren’t parents. I mean, technically, yes, but you had just given birth and- STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, I’M SAYING IT ALL NOW!!”

She buried her face in her hands, groaning in frustration. It was a good thing she now had perfect control of her magic and that it wasn’t linked to her emotions anymore, because otherwise the whole grass would be covered with ice. 

“You... Saw me... Being in labor?” Muttered Anna. 

A deep blue eye peeked at her through pale fingers. The elder nodded.

“Elsa, that’s... That’s just wonderful. Oddly unsettling and quite weird, but... That’s really wonderful.”

A silence passed. A thousand questions burned Anna’s lips, but she promised to take things on Elsa’s rhythm. She gently stroked her arms, allowing the latter to lift her face from her hands. 

“And then?”

The blonde gulped. 

“That’s the memory of the future that Ahtohallan showed me, and which proved that I changed the timeline by my presence in the woods that day... You, older, giving birth to your future daughter, with Kristoff by your side, and Gerda wrapping her in a blanket.”

Anna emotion’s overflowed her whole soul. She shivered in raw joy, and gasped with delight, squealing even. A daughter. She would have a daughter. She would have kids! She never would have believed the news if it were another person than her sister telling her. Anna knew instantly that Elsa was telling the truth. It was real. It’s what she had seen, what Ahtohallan had showed her. The Queen’s brain felt dizzy with joy. That was the future. Later, she and Kristoff would have a daughter. 

Anna smiled and rubbed her eyes so she could see Elsa sharply after having so many tears on her lashes. 

“That’s... Woaw... Amazing... And excellent news, right? What’s wrong? Why are you making that face? Why did Ahtohallan show this memory of the future as the ‘bad’ consequence of you being in the woods that day?”

Despite Elsa’s evident pride for her sister becoming a mother, she could see sadness. The blonde took her time to answer, and this time, she looked at Anna straight in the eyes. 

“You were the only people in the room. You, Kristoff, Gerda, Kai and two maids. That was all. I wasn’t there.”

The redhead went speechless. Long seconds passed. 

“Or rather... I won’t be there.” Corrected Elsa. “It means I was gone. I’ll be dead before it happens.”

Anna’s mouth went in a O, then her jaw dropped, then she searched her words, and she blinked in confusion.

“Wh- How did it possibly lead to you dying? Before I even got to be a mother?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it linked to me?” Worried the Queen.

“I don’t know, Anna.”

Elsa bit her lips, and added: “I only saw you giving birth to her. That’s all. No context, whatsoever. Just my absence.”

Anna clenched the hand that wasn’t on Elsa’s arm, grass blades snatched in her fist. Sometimes she purely hated how cryptic Ahtohallan was. She could never tell if they were mysterious on purpose, and it drove her nuts at some points during the past years.  

“Okay, hum... Try to get some clues. What was my daughter’s name? How did we call her? I mean, how will we call her?”

“I don’t know, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, Anna!”

“Right. It would influence me. Oh, too bad, I’m dying to know what is was. I mean is. I mean, will be. Damn, I’m so excited I can’t talk properly!” She squealed.

The Queen cleared her throat to remain serious. They had to stay focused. 

“What did we say?”

Elsa didn’t have to think much. It felt like it was printed in her brain. “It started with Gerda announcing ‘It’s a girl!’. Kristoff said ‘Called it!’. Then Kai asked how he knew as he laughed, and Kristoff laughed back and said that she kicked in your belly for months with your type of energy. You laughed too and then the memory ended. I woke up.”

Anna brought her hand to her face with a gasp, and bit her lips behind her fingers to not burst in tears right then. Her expression then switched.

“Hey, see? We laughed. Why would I laugh if you’re dead?”

“Because Kristoff is funny?”

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation!” Insisted Anna.

Elsa grunted.

“I’m dead before that event happens, that’s all, Anna. Don’t overthink it. It’s how the future will happen, I have come to terms with it.”

Anna wasn’t feeling happy anymore. She felt emotional about Elsa. “You’ve been thinking about it all that time... Since you woke up on the way to Arendelle... You thought you were going to die by the day I give birth?”

“I don’t think. I know it. I can feel that what I saw was the truth. Why wouldn’t I be there on the day you become a mother, Anna? Apart from being dead?” 

The redhead was about to say something, but Elsa rose a hand. 

“Don’t bother. You seemed happy and your joy is all that matters to me. You will be a great mother. The best in the world. And your daughter was - will be - so beautiful and–”

“Then it’s the proof that you simply were in another room!” Said Anna, not even paying attention to the touching fact that she found her daughter cute. “If you were dead, you’d have seen me crying my heart out for not attending the birth, that’s for sure.”

Elsa winced, looking down and toying with the grass. “Maybe you’d have mourned before then.”

“Excuse me??”

“What? We don’t know how many years separate those two events!”

Anna frowned. “Listen, first of all, stop calling it an event. Your death won’t happen, okay? Maybe that Ahtohallan is completely wrong, or just has some delirium or something, because, ha, frankly, showing the future, I mean…!” Blabbered Anna, emotion taking over.

Elsa was still looking down.

“Maybe you were in another room with Sven and Olaf”, tried Anna.

“I’ve been thinking about it countless times so far, Anna. It’s obvious that Olaf wasn’t there because I was dead.” Mumbled the blonde.

“WILL YOU STOP IT!”

“And reindeers have a lifespan of 12 to 15 years. Sven surely had died a long time ago by then.”

“Oh my God, this is getting worse and worse, please stop talking.” Blinked Anna.

Elsa lifted her head. “You said you wanted me to share everything about this memory!”

“Yes, not speculate about it!!” Exclaimed the younger.

“It’s true, you know, about the reindeers. I’ve learned a lot about them by living with the Northuldra. Sorry for Sven but he’s gonna die one da---”

Anna muffled her with her hand. Her eyes were filled with an expression Elsa had never seen. 

“Will you PLEASE stop talking nonsense?” 

The blonde gave her a sorry look. She wasn’t apologizing for what she had said, but because she firmly believed that it was the inescapable truth. 

As a blank passed, only the distant crickets could be heard, and Anna’s heavy breathing due to her emotion for the passed minutes. Elsa blinked slowly, and a tear rolled on Anna’s fingers. 

This broke the Queen’s heart. 

“Elsa. Chase those thoughts out of your mind. I swear on my own life that we’ll find the truth. I’m certain that you weren’t dead on that day. That you won’t die before that day comes. And won’t die until you’re like... 200 years old.”

The elder had a bubbling giggle in-between her tears. Anna took her hand away from Elsa’s mouth. 

“There must be a perfectly logical explanation. No way on Earth I would be as happy as you described if you were gone. Do you hear me?”

It was weakly, but Elsa nodded with a gulp. She shifted forward with her arms opened, and Anna held her close in a hug. 

She rubbed her hand in her back. “How you possibly held that secret for this long is completely beyond me.” She whispered on her shoulder. 

Elsa smiled and hugged her harder. “The certification that you will become a fulfilled mother helped me go through.”

After a while, they parted the hug, and Anna rubbed the tears on her elder’s cheeks. She got surprised by the gesture. Usually, they did it the other way around. When Anna had a long week of Queen duties and she broke down after Friday game night, when she was nervous asking Elsa for advice, or any moment she got overwhelmed, her sister was always there to gently erase her tears with a soft smile. 

Once, Anna heard about the existence of a charity for sloths in tropical rain forests, and she had cried for a whole hour about it. Kristoff didn’t know if it was funny or touching, and was glad that Elsa was around to help him deal with her. 

“Come on. Let’s go to bed. Your ice hut will do perfectly with a weather like this.”

They stood up with smiles, and entered Elsa’s creation. The temperature inside was ideal. 

As they were about to go to sleep, Anna turned to her elder. 

“Do you think I’ll be a good mother?”

Elsa smiled, turning to face her too. “You’re amazing with kids. I’ve seen the way you take care of Northuldra children or go visit the Arendelle primary school on Wednesday mornings. You’ll be an excellent mother, I have no doubt.”

Even in the dimmed light now that the night had fallen, she could see her younger blush. 

“And what did I look like? In the future memory?”

The blonde smirked. “You just had given birth... So... Quite breathless...” She teased. 

Anna now blushed for a different reason. “I-I meant physically! In appearance!”

Elsa smiled. “I only saw you in ice statue, so don’t expect much details, but... You had - will have - way longer hair. And you looked more regal than ever.”

Anna had a grin. “Okay. And what did Kristoff look like? Super hot I presume.”

“That’s a bit awkward for me to tell you right before sleeping.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Come on, what did he look like? It won’t change the course of time if you tell me!”

“Well, he had a beard--”

“OH MY GOD HE HAD A BEARD?!”

=======

On the next morning, they decided by mutual agreement to go check for answers about their novel-like situation in Arendelle’s public library. They went as incognito as they could with their hooded cloaks, yet Elsa was happy to see that the librarian wasn’t the same woman as the one in their present time, because she often went in the facility to borrow books about astronomy or nature to bring to the Forest and read to the Northuldra.

However, searching in the Arendelle’s public library turned out to be totally useless. Three hours later, Elsa put her elbows on the table, biting into a groan as she passed her fingers through her hair under her hood and closed her eyes. Her revealed sleeves on her wrists, not hidden by the cloak, glittered in the sun light passing by the window, pairing well with the dust floating around.

They had read the equivalent of both their weights in books, desperately looking for anything that would mention a magic glowing rock possibly making people time travel, and hadn’t find a single clue. The librarian was eyeing them since they pretended they were scholars doing research for their homework, because Elsa had emptied almost all the shelves, Anna was loud when clapping each book and saying ‘Nope!’ when it was a failure, and the two of them now were surrounded by giant piles.

Elsa had to conjure all her royal behavior remaining in her to not craft an ice staff right then and start to jump around and yell to let off some steam. She missed Honeymaren and her expertise at making her feel better with a good fight practice after a long day. 

Anna didn’t hide a groan - it was impossible for her, anyways, thought Elsa - and bumped her forehead on the table. The blonde winced.

“I think we have to admit it. We came to Arendelle for nothing. We thought we would find answers, but there’s none. And we put ourselves in danger for nothing.”

“Don’t say that!” Exclaimed Anna, hating to hear Elsa being pessimistic. 

“SHHHH!” Warned the librarian, and both sisters turned to see the woman holding a finger on her lips with a frown. 

Anna gave her a sorry gesture. It wasn’t the first time she told her that during the morning.

“Don’t say that, Elsa.” She repeated in a whisper. “At least we searched. And I had no idea that the public library looked like that 30 years ago, so it’s good we came to visit it. Oh, and we had the unique opportunity to eat delicious grilled meat yesterday.”

Elsa lifted an eyebrow. “I admire your... Random positivity, but none of the books here talk about time travel magic at all. This is a dead end.”

The younger had a pout, that turned into a grumble. 

“Ughhhhh! This is so frustrating!” She whined.

“SHHHHH!!” Now warned half of the people in the library. 

Anna urged to hide behind her book. She repeated in a lower voice:

“This is frustrating because I know Papa had books about trolls and stuff. And since we know that Mama was Northuldra, I always wanted to lurk around the castle to see if she didn’t hide info on ancient magic as well.”

Elsa gave her an undertone look.

“But we can’t go in the castle. Not even sneak in. You know we can’t.”

“Ngnnnnnnnyes.” Whined Anna, and she bumped her head against the wood table again, this time adding a ‘ouch.’

=======

“This was our last old time money.” Declared Anna as she gave Elsa her sandwich. “I paid both with it and I had several cents left, so I gave it to the musicians over there.”

Elsa smiled at her kindness. 

“And no, I won’t steal more money. There’s no way I’m gonna steal again from my citizens, even if I’m not their Queen yet.”

The blonde looked at her with a tender expression as she unwrapped her sandwich. 

“What?” Asked Anna, seeing her face. 

“Nothing. You just make a remarkable leader.”

The redhead lifted an amused eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you used to steal from Arendellians when you were in charge!” 

“Of course not”, eye-rolled Elsa. “I just think you have very good morals. This role suits you well. Those last years, it made you an even better person than you already was.”

“Aww, thanks.” 

“Cheers?” Suggested the blonde, lifting her sandwich on Anna’s level. 

The younger snorted. 

“You dork. Okay, cheers. Gosh, to think that if we don’t make it back to our time, I’m stuck with your humor until we are like 50 years old, and that will be before we even reach the day of your coronation.”

“You can always hang out with my 21 years old self instead of me if you wish.” 

Anna shook her head. “Just eat.” 

Elsa giggled, and they enjoyed their sandwiches and the summer breeze on the docks, which had become one of their favorite spots to hang out. After eating, Anna rested her head against Elsa’s cloaked shoulder. 

She didn’t go into a nap, nevertheless.

“Elsa. You know what our last resort is. We should go to Ahtohallan, they surely have answers for us. Maybe they even can show you other memories of the future, and we’ll have the proof that you are not dead in the moment you saw.” 

The Snow Queen patted Anna’s head. “And how do we go there?”

“We can cross the mist anytime as long as we hold hands.” Reminded Anna, recalling their power as the Bridge. 

“I didn’t mean that. How do we get to the glacier?”

Anna shrugged. “Duh. You get Nokk.”

Elsa stared at her with a dropped jaw. “Have you been listening to ANYTHING that I told you about do’s and dont’s in time travel?!” 

“I did.”, insisted Anna, retrieving her balance after Elsa made her fall from her shoulder. “But Nokk is mute! They wouldn’t say anything! You just have to order them not to tell the other spirits and we’re good.”

The elder was immediately going to reject the idea, yet she stopped in her thrust, her reply stuck in her throat. 

“Ha-ha!” Smirked the Queen. “You were about to tell me no but then you realized that this is our only solution.”

Elsa bit her lip with a wince nonetheless. “I’m not sure...”

“Come on, we can only cross the Dark Sea with Nokk! You could summon them at some place where no one sees us. You have that power, right?”

“I do, but then what, uh?” Teased Elsa with a voice overflowing with sarcasm. “Hi Nokk, I’m the Fifth Spirit from the future, please take us to the glacier?”

“Well… Yeah?”

A silence fell. 

“If it’s the challenge part you’re afraid of, thinking you’ll have to gain their trust all over again, I’m sure you can make it.” Said Anna.

“It’s NOT THAT!”

“Then what?”

Elsa now was fidgeting with her hands. “If we do that, then... Then as time will go in its loop, it means that Nokk pretended to encounter me for the first time went I originally went to Ahtohallan.”

Anna’s eyes switched from side to side of Elsa’s, trying to understand what was the problem. “...And?”

“Then why did they try to drown me?”

The younger winced internally at that. Even if she appreciated Nokk, she would forever be resentful at how violent they had been with Elsa. 

“Well...” Forced to smile Anna. “I know a nerd who would call that a time paradox.” She said with a snap. “You’re the one who asked them to do so.”

The blonde clenched her own arm with her hand. “...Please don’t be around when I ask them that.”

Anna lifted her eyebrows. “Oh, I’ll make sure to be around. I want to know if that jerk reacts with a ‘Are you crazy, Fifth Spirit? Drown you? Never would I dare!’ or ‘Sure girl. My pleasure.’

The Snow Queen couldn’t help but laugh because of Anna’s tone and humor. She giggled as well, and after a while, Elsa slid her hand along her sister’s arm to get her hand. 

“Let’s go then. We’ve got a long road to do. I know a spot in the Enchanted Forest where I often summon them when we want to go on calm rides. Even Bruni never goes there.”

“Oh, that sounds promising.”

Anna gave her elder a supportive smile, and Elsa had almost forgotten how radiant those were. She felt powered up like a whole field of sunflowers would do with the star. 

=======

"How come nobody lives there?” Asked Anna once they arrived to the quiet spot indicated by Elsa. 

“As you saw, this place is right at the edge of the mist wall”, explained the blonde, as they had just come through it. “Northuldra families with young children were afraid to live there because they could play with the fog and maybe hurt themselves. It stayed that way through the years, even until our present time. Oh, and, it’s also the territory of wolves.”

Anna immediately stopped picking berries to stare at her with round eyes. 

“Couldn’t you have started with that?!”

Elsa chuckled, especially when she saw Anna’s purple lips. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they haven’t developed much yet. Also, you’re not scared of wolves, aren’t you?” She added with a smirk. 

The Queen remembered how much they had laugh when seeing the memory in ice statue form of Anna slamming a wolf in the face with Kristoff’s lute. 

“Nah.” Shrugged the redhead, finishing her berries and licking her fingers. 

Elsa smiled, and they walked to the river. It was a spot where it was large, but the current was calm. The Snow Queen kneeled on the shore under Anna’s eyes. 

With a soft gesture, she passed her hand into the water, and closed her eyes. Anna couldn’t tell if she was sending magic through the river, or calling Nokk mentally, or just checking if the water horse was nearby. 

“Hello, Nokk. It might be weird, but what you feel is true.” Murmured Elsa after a while. “I do am the Fifth Spirit. I need your help. Please come to me. I summon you and order you to come.”

The redhead awkwardly looked at the stream, feeling it was a bit of an intimate moment to witness. Slowly, the surface seemed to beam, and bubbles formed at the surface before Nokk briskly jolted out of the water. 

The sisters smiled and stepped back as the magic horse trotted on the water, looking and inspecting the pair. 

“Hi.” Waved Anna with a nervous smile. 

Elsa stood by her younger.

“This is my sister. Explanations will come later, I promise, but now you have to trust me: she’s the other half of the Bridge. We kind of both make the Fifth Spirit.” 

Nokk didn’t neigh nor snort at Elsa’s sentence, and remained quiet as they looked at her, then Anna. 

“We need your help to cross the Dark Sea.” Imposed Elsa.

Long seconds of silence passed, and then Nokk stepped back, and to the sisters’ surprise, seemed to return into the water. 

“What are they doing? Do they want to show us something? Or check if the water way is clear?” Frowned Anna. 

“I don’t know.” Admitted Elsa. It was difficult for her to establish a mental connection with the Water Spirit, and she knew that it was because they didn’t trust her yet. So she truly had no idea how they felt about the situation. 

For a moment, only the sound of the woods came to their ears. Then suddenly, the river shook in waves, and they rippled in their direction, becoming larger and wider, to the point it looked unnatural for such a watercourse. 

“Hummm...” Muttered Anna.

Elsa squinted, inspecting the inside of the waves, now several meters high. It was barely perceptible, but experience allowed her to see a shape into the water: Nokk was rushing to them at great speed, and their eyes were frowning and glowing with a typical blue that was rooted in Elsa’s brain forever.

She swung to her sister.

“ANNA, DUCK!!”

The redhead obeyed and they both dodged Nokk’s attack right in time. The wave crashed in between them as they rolled on the shore. When Anna stood up again, she turned to her sister. 

“In other circumstances, I’d have joked on the fact that it’s a horse and not a duck, but, yeah. Not gonna do that.”

“You just did.” Underlined Elsa, placing herself in a way she could better see the Water Spirit’s next blast. 

“Fair enough.” Snorted Anna. 

A second later, a new wave approached, and this time, it was nearly three times bigger than the first one. And just as faster.

Elsa hurried to protect her little sister with a giant ice shield. Water splashed on it, elevating in a pillar, and when it felt down with gravity, big drops of it went on both Elsa and Anna. They winced, and shook their head now covered with wet hair. 

“Woaw. Okay.” Coughed Anna, spitting the water she had swallowed. 

“I suppose that they have to challenge my worth anyway!” Yelled Elsa above the crashing waves. 

She replaced the shattered ice with new one, and protected Anna again for she new that other waves would attack them. She could hear Nokk’s angry neigh in front of them, behind the new ice shield. 

The Queen took off her cloak to get a better vision now that her hair was stuck to her face, and tossed it away before tucking her hair behind her ears. When she turned to Elsa to suggest to get rid of her cloak as well, she noticed that she had already done so, now sporting a ponytail - that was quite ironic - fixed with an ice touch, and she had vanished the double train of her white outfit. If the Snow Queen’s aura was impressive, the redhead could still read some worry on her face. 

Anna came closer to her. “Okay. This won’t be easy. But hey, let’s try to be positive. This is a river, this won’t be more difficult than when you had to fight them in a stormy sea, right?”

As if on cue, Nokk then suddenly raised an enormous wave above them, that looked as tall as the Arendelle walls. Both sisters looked up at the upcoming danger, eyes wide, their face dipped in the blue-tinted shadow made by the water. 

“Oh, shit.” Let out Anna. 

But to her surprise, Elsa didn’t lose any faith nor bravery. Anna felt her grab her hand while the water started to fall down toward them, and when she turned to the blonde, she had a determined gaze, her face dripping wet but strong. 

“This time, we’re together.” She stated in a yell. “Let’s see what the two sides of the Bridge can do against the Water Spirit.” 

And right after those words and just before the wave slammed the sisters down, Elsa lifted her other hand. In a flick of the wrist, she encapsulated them both in a giant ice sphere.