Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 2: Elsa

*First Person, Elsa's POV*

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. It was an effort to keep them open these days. I had been working pretty much nonstop. Whether it was homework, or something on my own agenda.

That agenda was currently being fulfilled right now.

I had a piece of empty paper on my desk that I had been staring at for the past twenty minutes.

What could I even say to Iduna and Agnarr?

Hi there, it's the daughter you tried to kill. You know, the one with superpowers. How are you doing? Of course, I'm doing well. I've just had a god try and possess me six months ago, which, incidentally, happened because you both wanted me dead! I just have a couple of questions before you get executed by our morally corrupt, magical Elites. Why did you want to kill me by releasing the Kelpie? Why didn't you just kill me in Arendelle? 

I silenced the train of thought. I decided that in the year that I'd spent in Skyara, it was possible that she might have become a little more sarcastic, snappy, and rude. 

Snowflake, I've got the books, the voice rippled along the invisible bond from Jack to me.

You do? I sat up right, abandoning my desk and seizing my sneakers from where they sat at the foot of my bed.

As I turned to exit the dorm room, I noticed that Rapunzel had fallen asleep in the middle of brushing her hair. A few minutes ago, she had been excitedly chatting about the new student in our class. Moana. With a sigh, I pulled the hairbrush out of her golden locks and set it on Rapunzel's nightstand. I tossed a throw blanket over Rapunzel as I left. 

Over the past few months, I had been confined to New Dawn by order of the Elites. Rapunzel and Jack were under the same rules. After the Uprising, school had shut down for the rest of the year, and Astrid, Hiccup, Flynn, and Merida had all left for their respective kingdoms, but the three of us had stayed throughout the rest of the year and summer season. Now, it was fall again.

For the past several months, I had been trying to glean any information I could about Pitch. Jack and I hadn't killed him, that was for sure, but at least he hadn't tried to possess anyone else yet. 

Unsurprisingly, most of what I learned came from the Elites. They had endless records and a huge library, which I had access to under supervision. A shapeshifter named Kayla often accompanied me whenever I requested access to the Tower's resources.

As an Elite-in-training, I attended school during the day, and for two hours in the afternoon, training. Most of it was protocol lessons though, and not actual magic. For that, I should have been attending Skylin, the school for the Elites. When I asked Jack about it, he had explained that Skylin was for most Elites, but the reason he had been allowed to attend New Dawn was because he already knew how to work his magic thanks to hundreds of years of experience with it.

Rapunzel, as an Experiment had no formal magical training, so she also went to New Dawn.

I suspected the Elites wanted to make me attend Skylin, but they were just too busy dealing with Pitch and the defectors to care.

Most of my discoveries had been trivial, but Jack had managed to acquire some of the books the Elites recovered from the odd temple that we had discovered last year.

I opened the door to Hiccup and Jack's shared room. Hiccup was tinkering with something on the floor. Sketches and screws and tools littered his bed. Jack's side of the room was not much better. 

"Voila!" Jack gestured to a stack of books on his desk. One was open to an illustration. 

"Finally, we might actually get some answers," I muttered, thanking Jack down the bond. 

We had grown exceptionally close thanks to the soul bond, and now knew each other pretty much inside out. The bond seemed to be drawing them closer, making me feel like we were connected on, well, a soul-deep level.

"This book is filled with the visions of some ancient seer," Jack informed me as he thumbed through the illustrations. "Take a look."

I nudged him aside with my shoulder, and we crowded over the book. The illustrations were cryptic. One of a golden knife, another of a silver sword. Yet another of a bloody battlefield. Suddenly, we both froze. This drawing was undeniably of Anna. She was perhaps a year or two older than her current age. Her hair was in two braids on either side of her head. She was wearing a light green dress, decorated with traditional Arendellian pattering.

And she was covered in blood.

Her throat had been slit, and the red liquid was pouring out of her. She clawed at the wound as if she could seal it back up.

I made a choking noise and staggered back. 

Jack put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. I could feel the bond between us filling with my agony. 

We shared it now, our souls. My feelings were his, and his were mine. It was odd and unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. 

"Please tell me that's not Anna," I mumbled weakly. 

"Of course, it's not Anna. It's some other ginger-haired Arendellian princess," Jack made an attempt at humor.

I felt like laughing hysterically. Maybe I was losing it.

Silently, Jack shut the book of visions, sighing through his nose.

"What am I going to do?" I moaned softly. "The Dark Moon is still out there, the Elites are in chaos, Anna is in a mystical vision of the future, and I'm about to become queen of Arendelle."

Hiccup had stopped tinkering and now watched us, looking extremely awkward.

"Technically, you can't become queen until you're twenty-one in Arendelle.  That's seven years from now," Jack informed me.

"Do you really think the Elites won't change that rule? Arendelle needs a leader, especially now."

"Stop putting this all on yourself. Let the Elites deal with Pitch and their civil war."

"You talk as if you're not one of them."

"You are also an Elite, and you refer to them as a separate group."

"That's different. I just joined."

"Once, Snowflake, a hundred years ago, I was proud to be one of them. Whatever they are today, I want no part in it."

"It's too bad we don't have a choice."

"When has this world ever given anyone a choice?" Jack asked somberly, for once, his usually mischief and sarcasm was absent.

I ran a hand through my braid, fingers snagging in the locks. I was so tired, but I couldn't give up. Not knowing that Anna was in danger. 

I tried to convince myself that the book of visions was false, but I was having a hard time believing myself. It didn't help that Jack's worry was leaking into my head from the bond.

"You should get some sleep," I said at last, picking up the book of visions from Jack's desk.

"What about you?" Jack crossed his arms as I turned towards the door.

"I'll sleep after I take care of some things," I replied and shut the door behind me before Jack could call out my lie.

Sorry that the update took so long! This wasn't a very eventful chapter, but I was trying to set some things up for further down the plot line. It felt really weird writing Elsa's POV in third person, so I gave up. I am trying to switch to third person though for the rest of the characters.

The next update will be next week at the latest, but probably sooner.

Thanks for reading!