Anonymous asked: This was a random idea I got from looking at random pictures of owls, but...when she was small, Anna ventures into the woods and comes across a wounded snowy owl that she helps heal. Several years later, Anna goes back to the forest after running from (insert tragedy she's trying to escape from here) and meets a young woman who calls herself Elsa, who later reveals herself to be the owl she saved years earlier. (Btw this owl is much bigger and the Guardian of the Winter Woods)

Ooh… this idea has a magical fairy tale aspect to it that I can’t resist. Let’s see what I can come up with, just off the cuff…

*hours pass*

Oh. Well, apparently I was in a dark place today. Anyway, here you go? I guess?

[TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death/gore, attempted assault]

—

How many times had her father told her not to leave the door unlatched? Especially when he and her mother were away in the village. When one lived at the edge of a dense wood, one through which any manner of beast could emerge… or any manner of person…

Branches whipped at Anna’s face as she tore through the trees that were normally her silent companions, today, a barrier. The man with the sideburns wanted to rob more than their silverware. His eyes had been dark and brooding when he pressed in toward her, and she tried to remember what her father said: escape by any means necessary. ‘Don’t worry about what you broke, just use it to stop them.’ Two chairs were probably damaged, but they had tripped the man up, given her just enough time to lunge through the door.

And now… now what?

So absorbed was she with looking over her shoulder, pleading with the gods that the man didn’t follow her, that she literally ran into the back of the woman standing in the middle of the shadowy clearing.

“OOF!”

When the woman turned… everything seemed to change. Even Anna herself. Though it was only late Autumn, there was a flurry of snow that surrounded the long, braided blonde tresses, the deep blue gown. Alabaster skin did nothing to melt the flakes when they landed, but they instead blew off easily into the drifts surrounding them. Her piercing blue eyes gazed down seriously at the poor daughter of a lumberjack and hunter, dour and focused. Dark red lips that bordered on violet parted, asked a question.

“Why are you here?”

“Why… who, me?” Trying to push up from her position, sprawled on the ground, she rasped, “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was your… your whatever it is!”

Her steps were true and ominous as she approached, causing Anna to try to crawl backwards but it was no use, her body rejected her attempts to control its limbs. Crouching down in front of her, the beautiful stranger leaned in close, until their noses were mere inches apart.

“You hide from danger.”

Gulping, Anna nodded. “Y-yes. There was a man… I’m sorry, if you can maybe tell me which way to run, I’ll leave you alone.”

“No. You must stay. I will protect you.” Silencing Anna’s next words with a raise of her fingers, she straightened and looked back and forth. “Danger comes. Be still.”

What else could she do but obey? They remained entirely still as the sound of footsteps drew closer, and closer, and closer still. A pale hand raised, twisted… and the snow began to swirl and rise, up into the branches of the trees. Though Anna tried to watch what it was doing up there, she could not help but be drawn to the flawless face of her would-be saviour, and back toward the trees where the steps were growing louder.

He appeared. The man who meant her harm, who had likely already stolen their belongings and meant to steal so much more. Smooth, boyish features, sparkling green eyes. If only he had not threatened her in the way he had, decided he could merely take what he wanted, she might have been inclined to court him. As he stalked forward, sword drawn, he glowered at her with malice and hunger.

“Why did you run? You had to know that was only going to make this more challenging for me.” His smile was dark, but playful; a poisonous concoction. “And I love a good challenge.”

Just as before, after her initial warning that he should leave her house, Anna’s throat was closed off, her head foggy. Why couldn’t she speak to him? Why was she so afraid? She knew why… but that shouldn’t have stopped her. Not when her parents had raised her to be so much stronger than this.

“Please leave,” the strange woman told him firmly.

“Oh? I will?” Sauntering forward, he raised the tip of his sword. “Maybe I’ll just have two for the price of one. My lucky day.”

The voice had been devoid of emotion before, but now it was as frosty as the air in the clearing. A sharp rasp edged around its corners as the blue-clad figure took two steps forward, just enough to put her even more firmly in front of Anna.

“You will leave, or you will not leave.”

“What kind of a choice is that?” he chuckled easily. “I will or I won’t? That seems obvious. No, I think I’ll stay.”

Her head bowed, eyes closed. “Then you will stay.”

One more step was all the attacker got before a branch high in the trees shook. Horrified, Anna could do no more than let out a strangled noise as four thick, heavy icicles rained down upon the back of his neck, into his back. Embedding their sharp points into his body, driving him down, down into the ground, where he lay gasping.

“What… how did…”

“He will stay,” the woman repeated in a heavy voice, still not daring to look. “Forever. He will nourish my trees, his blood will become theirs. He will serve them far better than he served the world of man.”

Anna’s heart stopped for a second as it fully hit home. This woman had murdered the intruder. Executed him - and all because he refused to respect her command for him to leave the both of them in peace. Whether or not he had earned his fate, a man was dead because she had chosen to flee into the forest instead of toward the village.

“You are frightened.” When Anna came back to herself, she saw the deep blue eyes gazing at her steadily. “I have no cause to hurt you.”

“But you… I… I feel like I should thank you for saving me, but he’s over there, bleeding into th-”

Her hand paused in mid-gesture. The body was gone. Red splotches stained the snow and grass, and a masterless sword lay nearby, but the cadaver itself had vanished like the snowflakes landing on her outstretched hand. Where on earth could he have gone, dead as he seemed to be?

“He chose his fate. He was warned, and his greed covered his ears.”

“But you didn’t say you were going to…” Choking herself off, she tried again. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are, or how you did that!”

For the first time, the woman smiled, though it was still tinged with sadness and severity. “You named me. How can you not know who I am?”

This was all too much for Anna. She pressed her hand to her forehead, collapsing against the ground as she tried to draw enough breath to bring herself back around. It was an uphill battle. The woman did not move, but she also did not leave her.

“This is a bad dream. I’m dreaming, I… there was no man, I’m safe in bed, and… and when I wake up, I’ll forget all about him reaching for me, about the b- about the blood… and…”

A cold hand slid to cup her cheek. When Anna looked up into her eyes, she felt the cold, smelled pine and frost, felt her heart speeding up. If if was a dream, it was the most vivid one she could ever remember.

“You do not believe. As long as you still live, I do not care if you believe, if you forget me. Just live.” Then she stood and began to walk further into the trees, hips swaying slightly so that a single branch never grazed the fabric of her dress. “Fly free.”

As Anna watched the figure disappear, something clicked in the back of her mind, long buried. A snowy owl with a broken wing, deep in the woods. Her own juvenile hands setting it, feeding it as she nursed it back to health. The nights her mother would help her soothe the frightened animal in the cage, coaxing it to sleep even though it normally would be awake for its hunt. A name she had given the bird, only a week before she told it to “Fly free” when they brought it deep between the wood, healed at last, ready to rejoin its brothers and sisters…

“Elsa?”

The figure paused, only for a moment, before it began to move faster. As did Anna. So fast that she felt more branches tearing at her skin, opening lines of red that would fade but she couldn’t let Elsa fade, not after she found her again, not with so many questions left unanswered.

An hour passed and still she had not found her. Every time she felt completely lost, she would hear a deep, low hooting deep in the branches, always in a new direction, and she would chase after it fruitlessly. When the hour grew late, her tear-stained cheeks turned toward home.

But she would not forget. It was not a dream. The owl had returned the favour a thousandfold, and the scales were not balanced. She wanted to thank her. Not in the fumbling way she had done before, but really, truly thank her for saving her from a terrible fate.

She didn’t see the glinting of eyes in the high branches as she plodded away from them to her home, tired and dejected, the hour late. That was as it should be. The Guardian of the Winter Woods was the only one who needed to keep watch. No one needed to watch her.