Pauley: Okay, this is an idea that came to me while having a Horror Movie marathon with a friend~! I hope you all enjoy it!

Elsa sighed as she glanced down at her list for today. Three girls, two boys and an elderly lady. She sighed again, running her fingers through her white hair, her fingers shimmering, as they always did when she was in her own form. Her lists were getting shorter and shorter. They knew that the people she delivered were always scared out of their minds. Pretty soon she was sure she'd be bumped down to animals. Or serial killers. Or something else equally as demeaning.

It wasn't her fault, that's what she'd been told, back in the light, before she had a true form of her own. She was just a little different, little off. But it was okay, she'd get the hang of it.
She could shift, that's all that mattered for actually getting the job, gaining a form. But she couldn't shift right.

Glancing down, she located her first charge of the day. The elderly lady in her hospital bed. She'd actually been watching this lady for a while. She liked to watch people when she wasn't busy and this lady had become a fascination of hers. She was elderly, infirm, clearly on her way out. No last bout of strength, just laying in her bed and waiting. But she had family that came by, every day. They told her stories, sang her songs. She had grandchildren with children of their own who came by with pictures of her being happy, in her old home. Pictures of her dog, all things that would make her smile.
Elsa didn't really understand it, why did they bother? Surely it would be kinder to send her on her way before it hurt too much. But instead they kept her there, made her wait.
It seemed... cruel. Cruel but kind.

Carefully she appeared next to the woman's sleeping form, focusing. A form she'd like, one that would comfort her. She could do it! She could!

"Time to go...!" Her voice was raspy, harsh. The lady, just rising from her body, turned to look at her and let out an almighty scream. Oh she'd gotten it wrong again. She caught sight of herself in the mirror, a long black cloak, a skull, boney fingers. The Reaper, the one the humans feared. That's the form she'd taken.
"Please, don't be afraid!" She tried to assure, but her voice made her sound monsterous. With a sigh, she swept forward to clutch at the soul, making sure she didn't run away, knowing that if she lost another she'd be in trouble.
Quickly she got them out of there, to the door to the eternal. Most guides took their charges inside, found them where they were supposed to be, guided them all the way. She just shoved the souls inside and left as quick as she could. She hated hearing the souls scream. Because of her.

The rest of the day was a repeat of the same problem. She'd try and take the form of the thing they'd want to see and instead just became their greatest fear. It was often the reaper, but one little boy... he was only five, a tiny boy. She took the form of his father and the way he screamed and cowered from her. She felt like a monster. Why couldn't she get it right?

Her final charge was a girl of eighteen. Suicide, her sheet said. Suffocation, in her car. She could do this, surely this one person, this one girl she could manage.
She watched with care as the girl took her last breaths. She focused and shifted, glancing down at herself with a frown when her form didn't change. She focused again and still nothing. Well at least she wasn't the girls worst fear.
As her soul rose, the girl smiled at her, approaching her easily, the way they were supposed to.

"Hello." Her voice was lovely and Elsa frowned. Why wasn't she changing? Shaking her head slightly, she decided to focus on her job, smiling at the girl and extending her hand.

"Time to go." She said, feeling thankful at least that if she hadn't changed, it was her voice she was hearing. The girl took her hand, for what was the first time ever for Elsa.

"Okay. What's your name? Do you have one? I'm Anna." She said, still smiling. Elsa laughed, this all felt surreal. Someone was talking to her, they weren't screaming, they weren't afraid.

"Yes I have a name. I'm Elsa." She explained, tugging Anna closer and wrapping her arms around her to transport them. She hoped she could still do that, at least.

"Do you know if people will miss me?" She asked as they appeared in the bright light of the After. Elsa stepped away and bit her lip.

"No I don't know. But I can check if you'd like?" She offers as they approach the opening to the After. She was going to take her first soul through, the way she was meant to. No shoving screaming souls in and running, nope she was taking this girl, this Anna, all the way through.

"Please? I want to know." She says as they step through together, Anna still holding tightly to Elsa's hand. As she lead her through, past the other souls, Elsa had to ask the one question that was burning a hole into her mind.

"Is there nothing you're afraid of?" Anna let out a quiet laugh, barely drawing any attention from those around her.

"No not really any more. In them last moments... I just stopped being afraid. It was time to go." She explained. Well that was why she didn't change, Elsa realised. If she only took the form of peoples fears and this girl wasn't afraid, then she only had her form to take. Elsa nodded at Anna, still smiling brightly. She was so happy that there was someone that wasn't afraid of her.

"This is you." She said, stopping before a bungalow. Everyone got their dream house here. This one was nestled in between a mansion and a castle, just a sleepy little bungalow.
Anna beamed and she turned to hug Elsa tightly, shocking her so much that it took her a second before she hugged back, patting Anna's back awkwardly.

"Come and see me sometime? Please?" Anna asked hopefully and Elsa nodded without thinking, wanting to stop her as she pulled away.

"Of course." She agreed demurely, smiling slightly as she patted Anna's hand before letting go.
"I'll come back soon and tell you what you wanted to know." She assures before she disappears, back to her own place of resting. She had never lived, so she had no dream home like all of the souls.
She was a Guide, they all had the same room. A place to rest, a place to sit and that was all.

Elsa sat there, thinking. Contemplating. She hadn't changed, this girl wasn't afraid. Of anything but best of all she wasn't afraid of Elsa. It was new and strange but she loved it. Maybe... maybe if she just never changed then less people would be afraid of her. Oh but if they thought she'd lost her powers she'd be sent back into The Light, just becoming another consciousness, a Gatekeeper, as all started out. She liked what she did too much.
Maybe she could just keep her own form with people she desperately didn't want to scare, like that little boy from today, maybe that would work.
She sighed to herself, wishing there was some way she could practice her changing, not to herself. To herself she was perfect, could take any form. But on another person. On a human. On someone who wasn't afraid.

Someone who wasn't afraid... Anna! Anna wasn't afraid of anything! She could practice on her, if Anna agreed. So she could become better, take the form of something pleasant. Anna wasn't afraid of her, surely that would work!

She vowed to check back later, after she'd rested. She needed a rest. It had been an emotionally hard day. Or... well it wasn't really a day, more simply a time between rests. But whatever you wanted to call it, it had been hard on Elsa and it was time to rest for now.
Tomorrow she had a plan.

Pauley: Reviews would mean the world!