Jump Into the Fog

Jump In

Jump Into the Fog

Chapter 16

"Jump in… jump in… jump in…"

~

Much as he loved Anna, Kristoff was starting to wonder whether or not she was going insane.

She kept too much to herself, bottled her emotions in. They only came out during practice, in a silent rage as her once-clear blue eyes clouded over and conveyed just what she wanted. Kristoff could tell that in her eyes, there was only one focus, one goal, one reason to keep going.

And it had nothing to do with him.

He should have been more disappointed about this, but… well, Kristoff knew once this was done and over with, they could finally start a real relationship.

Finally.

Kristoff kind of had his limits, too. And so far he felt like, at times, he was just being dragged along like some lost puppy, as if to find a new purpose in life. There was some truth in that.

The trolls had taught him to love unconditionally, to accept people for their faults. By no means was Anna a perfect person, but Kristoff kind of missed the aloof, awkward princess he'd gotten to know and love during their adventures together. He loved her smile and her braids and her skirts and her freckles. He loved that she talked casually, unlike how he imagined a princess should.

He missed her.

Not that Kristoff didn't love the new Anna—on the contrary, he was starting to love her determined nature and pin straight hair, her sword-wielding, badass nature, and how good she actually looked in his spare pair of pants.

It was just difficult to get used to… it was like falling in love with two people, but it wasn't.

Anna had changed, and Kristoff had to accept it. And while he could accept and love this changed Anna, that goal she obsessed over was making him start to really worry. It wasn't that he wanted to distract her from helping Elsa, not at all.

Did she even have fun anymore?

Rarely did Anna smile; she only seemed to do so when Kristoff said something encouraging, or when she perfected a complicated move with her two swords. There was something kind of oddly beautiful about watching Anna now—she had more control and was starting to work with the swords instead of trying to control them. But that seemed more like a skill rather than a fun pastime.

Maybe she meant to kill, but Kristoff couldn't tell at the moment. And it wouldn't be against a guard—he was suspecting Anna might want to slay Hans.

But until he was sure he wasn't confronting her on that.

They practiced on ice, as Anna pointed out that this might be a possible battleground against their opposition, and they had to be prepared for anything, She learned how to use her slips and falls to slide and still attack, and Kristoff, though not as experienced as Anna, could still predict where she'd strike and he blocked her, as his offense was terrible and he'd much rather defend.

Her hair swung about her like a whirl; it was so swift and straight and was definitely something to behold.

Anna blushed as she noticed Kristoff just looking at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked, sheathing her swords. Her tone had a bit of the old Anna shining through, and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"No," he admitted. "You just look incredible when you're fighting."

"It's because you've never seen a girl do this before." She smirked, pushing her hair back from her face.