~ Rosa's Inn ~

Diana POV:

"So, what's your story, can you tell me anything, besides your name, because I think some guards may come to look for you, you know, since you mentioned that people ran away from you when you approached them"

Ah... I don't want to get caught, for no reason, earlier civilizations, and their stupid customs, folklores. It's good that this world/universe was created, otherwise, I am pretty sure I'd be on a pole, burning to death for being a witch. Which is not that far from the truth, in this case.

But, this is Frozen, yeah, they may think that I am some bad omen, but nobody did anything mean or bad to me, just ignore me. So, I know that it's a nice enough place and it will be even nicer after the Great Thaw, so, I know that I'd be safe if the guards got me, placed in a prison cell, perhaps, but not hurt. Besides, the prison cell may as well be just as good as my house, at least I wouldn't have to make my own food.

Then there's also a chance, I could get to meet Anna since I am pretty sure, I am the only person in the world... at least the nearby kingdoms, with red hair, so as curious as she is, would definitely want to meet me.

No, I can't do that, it'd be too much of a butterfly effect, I need everything of the first Frozen to happen, just as it did before, even if I'd like to try and 'woo' Anna, I won't be doing that, I can leave her to Kristoff, otherwise, what'd be the point of him being there.

And who knows, what would happen, if I were to meet Anna this early on, I could stop her from meeting Hans, easily, but then, Hans could try and get Elsa faster and without Anna talking about him, could have certain implications I wouldn't be happy with.

Anyways, tangents again, Rosa's still waiting for an answer... What the fuck do I say to her... I should've thought of a backstory before I left the house...

Wait... It's easy, because of the red hair, before I would've thought of something else, now with it, it's way too easy.

"Well... you see, I never understood that my hair is some 'evil' thing, right? But now that I know it, I can put pieces together from my childhood. My parents loved me, even if I was born with red hair, but they tried to hide me, for reasons I didn't know, they used to say, that the world can be bad for girls, so I should wait till I grow up to go out the house"

"That's.... a prison"

"I ain't going to refute that, but, they were right, you see I wasn't born in Arendelle, I was born in the Southern Isles, so one day, a few years back, I argued with my parents, you could probably easily guess about what"

"Is it about leaving to see the outside world?"

"Yes, so I went back to my room, to cry, thinking that I have bad parents, that they are ashamed of having me like I am some, great evil that should've not been born"

"That's not true, everybody deserves a chance at life"

"I agree, wholeheartedly. But, not everybody sees the way you and I do, even the people of Arendelle don't want to be near me, but it is better to be ignored, than... Be damaged, I'll leave it at that" I sigh sadly for effect to drive this fake story to be more believable.

"You don't have to continue, I can imagine what happens" Rosa kindly says while taking a hold of my hand. A great gesture, that would make me feel really good, if it were not for the lies I am spewing, now it's just guilt down there.

"No, you need to know, if you're going to be my 'boss', besides, I think I need to get it off of my chest"

"I understand"

"So, that very night, when we got in an argument, in the middle of the night, I snuck out through a hole I was secretly digging for a few years below my bed, because there was only one window and it was in my parent's bedroom, I never understood, why. So I left the house, for the first time since my birth, I was so happy, everything looked way beyond my child-like imagination and the things I've read in the few books I had"

I take the cup of water that Rosa gave me before we started talking and drink half of it. And I continue, lying, to this sweet woman, but it is necessary.

"And so, I ran away further from the house, while looking around anywhere, every building, I scoured every nook and cranny, it was beautiful, but the most beautiful thing... The night sky, the millions of blinking lights in the sky, stars, for the first time I've seen stars, I was so mesmerized, that I didn't realize I was walking without looking and that led me to walk into a person, the first person, I've met outside of my parents"

I drink the rest of my water, Rosa seeing this, replaced with a new one, how sweet. Making this even harder, I might actually cry from this, the kindness, that before, was my mom's job... Stop thinking about it.

"So, I didn't really have manners, but from what I read in the stories in the books, I was supposed to apologize, so I tried to do it... But it didn't go well before I knew it, I was on the ground, with a big headache, bleeding from my lip, not understanding anything, I tried to look at the person, but all I saw was hate-filled eyes, he never spoke a word, just took me by the neck and carried me all the way to the guards, I tried to thrash around, but me doing that, only infuriated him even more and so, he knocked me out, the next time I wake up, is in the cell, tied up, like a pincushion, with everything hurting me. I cried, a lot, called for mommy and daddy"

I sigh and shed a tear, from a bunch of factors, I never thought I could make up things like these, but I guess, experiencing death, makes you think. Sad, alone, in a new world, so this story's ending won't be that far from the truth.

"Calling for mom and dad, was the second biggest mistake I've ever done, first, was leaving the house. For, when I called them, the guard outside my prison cell, obviously, heard me and he instantly ran to get a higher official, I think, anyways, after a few dozen minutes of me crying and shouting, my voice going hoarse, the 'door' opens and in comes two guards and the very man that I bumped into and still with hate-filled eyes, he looks at me, which makes me try and hide from it, but he takes my chin and locks our eyes and asks me, if I have parents, I say yes, because I didn't know any better. And so... that look of hatred changed into a sweet smile... which I only realized later, that was completely and utterly fake''

I take the second cup of water and drink from it, while Rosa stays silent, probably to not interrupt my story at all. Which I am thankful for.

"And he asks me, still with that fake smile, where are my parents, I couldn't answer that, for I had no idea, I've never left the house, so I didn't know where it was, so that's what I told him and he looked at me in pity and asked me if I knew the names of my parents, that I did... And me a gullible child... I told him, the next moment I know, I've been struck, hearing being called a spawn of the devil, this time not a slap, but a punch into the gut, I coughed up blood and when the dizziness was gone, I realized I was alone in the cell yet again. The next time the door was opened, was the next day, is what I think, I didn't know how long I was there, but I knew that I was hungry, I wasn't being fed. And so... the door opened again and I am being released, I am thinking that I can finally see my parents, which was true... I could, but only their heads... on an execution pedestal, that now was waiting for me"

I take another sip of water, this time much calmer as if I was making rights with the idea of what happened in the past. Now comes the hard part... How do I make my escape believable?

"Now, I am sitting here, so the execution for me, didn't happen. Which all came down to complete and random luck, I was petrified, not being able to move, mind blank, thinking why, why were my parents killed, I didn't understand at all, I was moved closer and closer to my death. But just as I reached the executioner. Somehow, a prison escape happened, the next thing I know, there's chaos everywhere, I got knocked down, bruising my knees, which also helped me to snap out of it, I realized that if I stay, I will face the same fate as my parents, I ran, followed other prisoners, I... I think I even killed one of them, or at least left him to perish, as I grabbed onto one of the bigger prisoners, there was another man running near the big guy, the big guy felt that something grabbed him and he whooped his right hand back, hitting the man straight into the head, which knocked him out, throwing me off too, but I was thrown through the air, there were these hills and then all I knew was that I was rolling down while getting nauseous"

I finish the water, but this time Rosa doesn't get up to replenish the water, I don't know if it's because she's immersed in the story, or if she knows that it's coming to an end soon.

"By a miracle, I survived, everything hurt, I had a broken arm, but my legs still worked, painfully, but they did and so I stood up and ran, ran and ran, until I was at the port area of the town and so I saw a medium-sized ship, unprotected, so I snuck unto the ship, hiding as best as I can. It was empty, only a few sailors doing their jobs, it wasn't supposed to leave the Isles for a few days, which I didn't know at the time. But I was hungry after not eating anything for a full day, is what I think on how much time passed. So the first thing I did, was sneaking around the place, in search of any kind of food and yet another bout of luck, I found a full bag of potatoes that was barely started, I wanted to eat it right there, but I had to find a place to hide first, so I did just that, I searched for a hiding spot and I found one... In the captain's cabin... You may think it wasn't smart, it probably isn't, but it was like I was in a needle in a haystack, nobody expected to find somebody in the cabin except for the captain. There was this small compartment, I hit inside of it, making no noise, at least trying not to, so I went back, grabbed as many potatoes as I could, did that five times, I think I had around 40 of them, sadly my pockets weren't big, so it barely had space to carry them. But I made it work and the last thing I did, before hiding, was try and get myself some water, after I acquired that, I was set, so I ate raw potatoes and drank some water, most of it was used the first time, after that, I used them up steadily. And around a week later, I arrived, at this new area of land, Arendelle, I left the ship, the compartment in the Captain's cabin, full with used up potatoes and water pouches. I made way around Arendelle, trying to dodge every single person, so, something like before wouldn't happen, I found a small house, it was uninhabited, clear of people living inside of it, so still carrying a few potatoes left from the ship, I planted them as best as I could outside of it, and that's how I survived for the few years that I was afraid to leave and look for people, I was sneaking around the alleys, finding scraps, trash, papers, anything that I could fin usable. But after a few years, I finally had enough, I cleaned myself as best as I could and finally left the house, and now I am here... Finally understanding the reason, why I was being kept inside a cage and why I lost my parents"

The story is pretty... okay, it's barely believable, but I think I played the emotion game at least somewhat correctly... And with the idea of my hair being a symbol of evil  and me being locked inside the whole for my entire childhood, could pass my naivety in stride, I think I got it.

There's a long silence, me looking straight at Rosa, while she thinks, just as I start getting nervous, about me not being in the clear, her eyes start to tear up and she hugs me, yeah, I don't think I can't stop the tears myself, I needed a hug.

"You poor thing, that should never happen to anybody, the fact that it happened because of you being born with red hair, is insane... Don't worry, I will try to help you as much as I can, you already saw that the people here, don't actually hate you or are mean, they just ignore you as best as they can, because there's still folklores going around, but with me by your side, you should be fine, I will help you"

"Thank you, Miss Rosa, I am glad, very happy, that you'd help, a spawn of the 'devil'," I say as a finisher. I am awful... But I am just trying to survive in the new world.

"Come on, you're beautiful, you're not a spawn of the devil. no spawn of the devil, no evil, would be beautiful, so don't call yourself that, you're a kind, pretty young woman and nothing else"

"Thank you"

And sorry for lying.

~ End of Chapter 5 ~