#anna fraser

(Warnings: angst, blood, mentions of being shot and a slightly fluffy ending)

A/N: I am aware that this will not be popular or read at all, it’s basically self indulgent but for those few out there who are like me and a total slut for Takkar, here you go lol.

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Climbing over sharp rocks, hiking for miles and miles in the worst terrain, rationing food, sleeping in tents, her strawberry blonde hair sticking to her forehead after being tugged loose from the tight braid it’d been in, all for this. This exact moment. Anna felt excitement rush through her at the sight of the cave, her blue eyes wide in wonder as she quickly got out her camera, taking a picture of the marvel before her. One of the most well preserved, undisturbed and unknown caves in history. Every single lead, hint, clue and legend pointed to this exact spot, at least by her calculations, and here they were. She heard a small grunt from behind her, turning around to see her assistant, Horace, struggling to climb up the relatively small ledge. She approached and helped him up, patting his shoulder and turning to the cave ahead, gesturing to it. Anna didn’t wait for his reaction, instead walking closer to the cave, a brand new notebook out as she wrote down nearly every detail she saw, every thought and theory she had, mind racing, her hand desperately trying to keep up as she got closer and closer to the cave. “What’s so special about this shit again?” Horace asked, out of breath, but she barely paid attention to his struggles, daringly venturing inside the cave at a very slow pace, so she wouldn’t miss anything. “If my calculations are right, this should be a cave occupied by the Wenja tribe… one of the most well known tribes yet we don’t really know anything about them except that they were here… their culture, their beliefs… They called this land ‘Oros’, if I’m translating it correctly, and it’s theorized that they’re one of the first tribes to ever have a civilized and cultural language with nuances and depth” Anna muttered to herself, walking over to a particular cave painting near the entrance, frowning softly at the almost demonizing picture, a black horned, broad, menacing figure engulfed in red flames, a red handprint on it’s chest, a chill running down her spine as she began to draw it in her notebook, her thoughts written down next to the drawing. ‘Was this an enemy or were they worshiped? Perhaps a leader? A demon of sorts?’

She slowly moved further into the cave, her hand gently running over the cold stone as she walked further into the cave, unaware of Horace’s halted steps, his eyes lingering on Anna as he let himself sag behind, watching her go further and further into the cave. “Holy shit! Horace! We’ve found it!” Anna shouted as she entered an open space in the cave, rocks carved in the sides like small shrines and altars, paintings depicting different things were everywhere, her heart racing with excitement and satisfaction. She’d found it. She’d fucking found it and those assholes at the university could suck it.

She hurriedly took a few pictures before drawing one of the particular drawings that caught her eye, a man amidst beasts. An owl, a bear and other animals that had been smudged out over the years, Anna’s heart racing as she carefully reached out for it, fingers dancing along the male figure, her heart skipping a beat when she felt an almost electric shock run through her fingertips, a frown forming on her brows as she quickly pulled her hand away, looking down at her fingertips before hurriedly getting out her notebook and writing down the experience. As she looked further around the cave, she noticed another painting of another figure, this one seemed to be a woman, sitting cross legged, arms raised above her head, the same beasts from the previous drawing surrounding her and at the top, above her raised hands, was a tiny figure, a small human… a child, a strange sense coursing through her as she stepped closer, studying the drawing of the child closely, noting that the previous figure, the male surrounded by the beasts, was off to the side, facing the woman and the child, spear raised, almost as though hailing the child, the beasts following and hailing that child as well. Anna quickly got out her notebook again and her new pencil, instantly re-drawing what was in front of her before adding her own notes off to the side of the drawing, two pages each, each one dedicated to the drawings, one of the man and one of the woman and child, her notes about the drawings written next to them. In the bottom corner of the drawing of the man surrounded by beasts she’d written; ‘Who was this? A God? A deity? A leader? Maybe a spirit of some sort?’

By the woman with the child, she’d written; ‘Who was this? A goddess or a matron of some sort? Perhaps that child was some sort of heir? A miracle maybe, or some destined leader?’ She looked over her notes before nodding to herself, lowering her notebook and putting the pencil in her back pocket, kneeling down as she took off her backpack and began to dig through it, getting out her camera and taking pictures of the cave paintings.

When Anna realized that Horace never responded to her call, she turned around, packing away her camera. “Horace? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten lost already” she called out in a joking tone, though she didn’t feel like joking around, and certainly not with him. Horace was annoying, lazy, dumb as hell, didn’t give a shit about archeology, creepy, pushy and didn’t take no for an answer. He was a narcissist through and through, he hated working for a woman and he hated footwork most of all. In short: he wanted all the glory without working for it. Like most men at the university she went to. Hell, even some of the women didn’t want to work for it, they wanted the title of ‘first female archeologist to:’ something-something, either sleeping, bribing or cheating their way to the top. And then there was Alice. One of the brightest students Anna knew, and one of the smartest minds at that university, hard working, diligent, trustworthy and kind, her boyfriend luckily being made of the same sturdy material. They were a rarity that Anna quite enjoyed, even now, having discovered one of the greatest archeological finds pertaining to the start of human civilization, she regretted that they weren’t with her, that every hardworking student, male or female, was with her on this. Instead, she got Horace.

“Horace? I’m serious, where the hell-”

“Right here” Anna jumped at the sound of his voice, standing up and turning around to find him with a gun pointed at her, a small scoff leaving her lips “really? A gun? What is this, The Last Crusade?” she asked with annoyance as she turned back around to zip up her backpack, locking the combination lock around the zippers before standing up with her backpack hanging in her hand, Horace smirking at her as he walked closer, leading her backwards until her back met with the cave wall, stopping her, though it didn’t stop Horace, the gun still pointed at her as he stopped barely a foot away from her. “Give me the camera and your journal-”

“No-”

“GIVE IT TO ME” the way his voice echoed in the cave made her flinch, the fear of having a gun pointed at her finally started to seep through, yet she just glared at him. “I’d rather die than letting your lazy ass place your name on this! I’ve worked so hard for this, I did all the calculations, I did all the planning, I was the one to figure all of this out! You haven’t earned shit” she spat in anger and she knew it was stupid. Giving him the camera and journal would probably spare her life, and yet she clung to her backpack, thinking it over, eyeing the gun, before sighing, raising her free hand to show she wasn’t doing anything stupid as she kneeled down. She unlocked the lock around the zippers and dug through her backpack, getting out the camera, zipping her backpack back up again and locking it. “You can have the camera, okay? I-It has all the proof, all the pictures and videos, okay? You can have it, you can have the film” she offered softly, watching Horace nod, it wasn’t everything he wanted, but it was proof, he never knew what she wrote in her journal so to him, this was the one proof above all. Anna nodded and slowly turned, putting her backpack on properly as turned, putting the camera on one of the small carved out rock shelves to take out the film.

Anna carefully placed her notebook in between two surfaces, hiding it as best as she could before taking out the film from the camera, turning back to face Horace, the film in her hand but just as he reached for it, she tore it apart, glaring at Horace as she ruined any chance of salvaging the evidence. Horace jumped at her in anger, hitting her across the face with the gun, knocking her to the ground, lining up the pistol but she jumped at him, tackling him and fighting for the gun and somehow, the trigger was pulled in the struggle, a blinding pain coursing through her right side as she screamed out in pain and rolled off of Horace, fighting against the pain as she stood up, slinging off her backpack and using it to hit him across the face, grabbing her notebook as she ran away as quickly as possible while Horace was still in shock, as though he truly hadn’t expected her to actually go for the gun, or that it'd go off in the first place. She ducked behind a large stalagmite with an old altar-like structure carved out in front of it, clinging her notebook to her chest with one hand, her backpack next to her and she clung to the strap, no way in fucking hell she’d let him have that, hearing Horace’s hurried footsteps come closer and she instantly held her breath, her body shaking with fear, her heart racing so fast she worried he’d be able to hear it. She watched his shadow as he stopped, looking around, turning side to side to find her. “Fuck… fuck fuck fuck!! Shit… fuck it” Horace muttered, his voice shaky like he just realized what he’d done, the consequences of it, and like the coward he’s always been, he ran.

Anna’s vision began to blur as she heard him running out of the cave, leaving her there as she continued to bleed, sitting against the stalagmite, her mind hazy and not even really registering where the bullet landed, all she knew was that it was her right side, the shooting pain, the burning, all the blood, it prevented her mind from registering exactly where it’d hit her. An artery, a vein, organs, she didn’t know, her mind too hazy and tired to try and figure it out. She reached for her backpack with shaky and bloody hands, undoing the lock and getting out her Garmin inReach mini 2, her hands staining the device as she sent out an emergency SOS signal.

Just when she thought it was it, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion, she heard what sounded like a spark being lit. She dared to lean to the side, looking out from behind her cover, a frown forming as she saw a spark spring from the rock wall. She somehow managed to pull herself to her feet, limping over, watching another spark emerge from thin air against the stone wall, like someone was striking the wall, creating sparks. As another spark appeared, she flinched at the close proximity, the sparks appearing from the cave painting of the woman and child that she’d noted earlier. She lifted a shaking and bloody hand, flinching back as there was yet another spark, hesitating before touching the wall, feeling a sharp and burning pain rush through her, her muscles tensing, burning, searing, a pain almost like being shot again and she slumped against the rock wall to the ground as her eyes closed before she even had a chance to register what had happened.

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Anna could hear birds chirping, voices muffled by something, her back no longer on the harsh stone surface of the cave she had passed out in, instead feeling the soft feeling of furs beneath her and her first thought was her notebook, if Horace had come back and found her, found it, the second thought was wondering where she was, last she knew, the entire canyon where she had found the cave was isolated from humans, few people knew of it, mostly elders in nearby villages, and they wanted to keep it hidden, guiding scholars and tourists alike away from it, steering them in the wrong direction. Anna slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the pain she felt, her hand reaching down, fingers running over a leaf that covered her right side. She turned her head down and looked at it as much as she could, groaning in pain when she tried to sit up, her body heavy and numb with pain.

Just as she was about to try and sit up again, she heard voices and footsteps, her eyes finally scanning her surroundings, frowning at how much it looked like a tent from the stone age. She looked towards the sounds of people as a flap opened, revealing two people who stared at her, their language unknown to her, foreign, clumsy even. The two men stared at her, one of them wearing some sort of wolf fur on his head, the fur stretching down his back, almost like he was part wolf. He had some sort of black and white paint over his eyes and mouth, streaks of white paint covering his body here and there, chipping off as though it had been dry for months without being reapplied, he carried a stick of some sort and was skinny, one of his eyes pale and possibly blind, antlers attached to the back of the wolf’s head. He had white paint painted down his front, along his ribs, white paint stretched across his arms, some sort of sea shell bracelet tied around one of his upper arms and around his waist as a belt, holding a bundle of furs around his hips as his only clothing, he looked old and weathered, like he had seen things one could only dream of, like he had lived for far longer than what should be possible. The second one was much taller and much more muscular, he had an almost ‘lumberjack’ beard, thick dark brown hair that was tied back in dreadlocks. He wore fur around his broad shoulders, a necklace of what seemed like sharp teeth or fangs hung around his collarbone. He had a brooding look to him, a white streak of paint down his forehead to his nose, two dots of white paint above his eyebrows and a line of paint in his beard under his lips. Around his wrists and some of his forearms he had skins and fur wrapped around them, the same kind of sea shells as a bracelet around one of his wrists. From the waist down he was clad in the same kind of fur and skin, all the way to the heavy boots or shoes the skins had been made into, his chest bare and hairy with a white handprint on his upper chest, one on each pectoral with streaks lower down, like someone had wiped their hands with the paint there, some sort of horn hanging by his hips in the front, a quiver of arrows hanging from his right hip and a string over his chest holding something in place that Anna weren’t quite sure what was.

The language they spoke was rough, unfamiliar and nowhere near any language she’d ever heard before, the tallest one about to approach when she held a hand out and shuffled away from him, unsure of where she was, who they were and why she was there. “Don’t come any closer” she snapped, the two men exchanging confused glances before looking back at her. Seemingly recognising her fear, the tallest one kneeled down, almost like he was about to crawl around on the floor, one hand reached towards her to show her he had no weapons, the other hand was gestured at himself “Takkar” he kept repeating, a confused frown on Anna’s brows as she studied him, heart leaping up into her throat as she tried to calm herself down. “Takkar?” she asked softly, the man nodding with a gruff grunt of affirmation. He gestured to the man behind him, the one clad in wolf’s fur, spouting out another word “Tensay.”

Anna looked at the other one as Takkar said the name, nodding softly as she carefully pointed at him “Tensay? He’s Tensay?” she asked softly, the man in front of her, Takkar, nodding before then carefully inching closer, gesturing to his chest. “Takkar. Takkar” he stated softly and Anna nodded, pointing to her chest “Anna. My name is Anna” she informed, the two men frowning, looking at each other before Takkar looked back at her, trying to pronounce her name and failing, a tiny smile forming on her lips as she shook her head and said her name more slowly, Takkar catching on and saying her name again, this time somewhat correctly.

“I don’t know where I am… am I still in the Carpathian Mountains?” she asked softly, glancing between the two men who didn’t seem to understand, a frown forming on Anna’s brows as she looked off to the side, trying to think of a way to communicate with them. “Uh… am-... Anna in Kyrat?” she asked slowly as she tried her hand at what she knew of American sign language, the two men still unsure and she sighed again, this time with a deeper frown, until a thought struck her. She gestured at herself as she spoke, then gestured to the ground “Anna, Oros?” she asked, the two of them nodding and she sighed, running a hand over her face in frustration, only to wince in pain in her side, her eyes finding the source of the pain in her side, fingers daringly brushing over the broad and long leaf that covered her side. “Shit…” she murmured. ‘Well, at least it wasn’t a headshot’ she thought. “Fucking Horace…” she murmured, looking around before forcing her numb body to stand up, wincing and clutching her side in pain but she forced a smile at them, awkwardly gesturing to her side and bowing her head. “Thank you” she stated softly, looking up at them, hoping they recognised what she was trying to do, and it seemed they did, both of them giving a brief nod and she found her eyes lingering on Takkar. He had a rugged, brooding aura about him but it made him quite attractive, in a feral, primal sort of way, her cheeks blushing at the thought as she looked down and cleared her throat. “Thank you, for your help, but I have to go... I must go” she stated slowly and softly, slowly walking around the two of them and outside the tent, only to halt completely.

This was nowhere near where she was with Horace, yet it was the exact same spot, except she wasn’t in the cave she’d found, she was almost directly across from it on the other side of some running water. The vegetation was far more prominent, bushes, flowers, small trees, vines, leaves, everything that hadn’t been there before. Tents were raised around the mouth of the cave and further down a small hill that hadn’t been there before, the hill having replaced the ledge she had been forced to crawl up on, or maybe it had been the ledge that had replaced the hill? There was a small stream of water running that separated the tent she had been in from the rest of the other tents, smoke rising from small campfires scattered here and there. It was practically everything the stone age had been pointed out to be. And it was beautiful in some sort of odd way. Anna felt a presence beside her, turning and looking up at Takkar who watched the people buzz about, a sort of pride and warmth radiating from him as he watched the people relax in their home, in and around their tents, talking amidst each other. “I-.... holy shit… is-... how the hell is this possible?” she muttered to herself, turning to look up at Takkar once more, finding his brooding eyes already locked on her and she swallowed thickly, hesitantly gesturing to the campsite and small village. “Wenja?” she asked softly, Takkar seemingly taking a long breath, as though he was somewhat surprised that she had heard of the tribe, her knowledge putting him a little on guard, but he gave a gruff nod, her eyes returning to the tents. “Either this is some fever dream or-... I-...” she couldn’t even finish that sentence, her eyes landing on Takkar before back on the cave, a frown on her brows as she hurried over the passing, hearing Takkar follow her as she walked through the crowds of people, trying to ignore their stares and hushed whispers as she entered the cave. She walked directly over to where she had passed out, hesitating, praying and begging to whatever god or entity that brought her that they brought her backpack, and if not that, then at least her notebook. She looked over the cave in the area, eyes scanning along the stone floor, dread filling her when she didn’t see it. “An-na” Takkar gruffed out and she spun around, seeing Takkar reach behind him, taking out her notebook. It was a bit bloody and dirty, but it was the exact notebook. She hurriedly took it from him, letting out a heavy breath of relief that she hadn’t even noticed that she was holding. It was better than nothing.

As she heard approaching footsteps, she halted upon seeing a woman with severed ears around her neck, Anna’s hands clutching her journal tightly against her chest as the woman slowly advanced on Anna, Anna’s feet stepping backwards with every step the woman took towards her. Anna moved her eyes down the woman’s arm to her hand, spotting a sharp dagger of some sort and Anna felt her heart leap all the way up into her throat, fear evident in her eyes and just before the woman struck, someone grabbed her arm. Anna looked up as Takkar stepped forward, the woman ripping her arm out of his grasp, turning to him, pointing the dagger at Anna while she spoke with Takkar, yet he didn’t seem fazed. Anna caught onto a word the woman seemed to respond to, ‘Sayla’, the woman glaring at Anna before leaving, Takkar turning back to Anna and she hesitantly opened the journal, flipping through the pages until she landed on her drawings of those she’d found in the cave, before everything that led her here, with these people. She carefully handed it to Takkar, showing it to him and holding open the journal as she pointed at the different drawings she had made of sights she had seen or cave paintings she had found or relics she had dug out of ruins. He seemed quite enamored with it, eyes locking onto the different paintings and drawings, barely noticing the words written near them or beside them.

He looked back up at her and nodded for her to follow him, which she did, leading her to a small area of some sort, a bedding on the ground and it seemed almost like an open bedroom of some strange sort. He picked up something and when he turned around to show it, Anna’s breath was almost stolen away. She hurried over as quickly as she could, grabbing the backpack from him, examining it closely before holding it, and her notebook, close against her chest, sighing in relief.

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Five weeks had passed and slowly, very slowly, Anna was coming to terms with her reality. She didn’t have reception and when she pulled out her phone there was no cell service. Her Garmin inReach mini 2 wasn’t any better, the only thing it was good for right now would be as a paperweight or a substitute for a rock in a slingshot. Her backpack was intact, somehow, and everything in it seemed to work fine, but there wasn’t much use for any of the things in it, not right now, right here. She had no need for a multitool, she didn’t need a thermal blanket, durable windproof clothes, extra socks, extra underwear- well okay, yeah, maybe that one. But in general, the survivalist things in her backpack weren’t needed. The only thing that was being used was the notebook and spare notebooks she had with her, along with spare pencils and a pencil sharpener. And to make things even more weird, the drawing of the woman and child that she’d seen before, the one that just… almost called to her… it was gone. She’d checked all over the cave and it was nowhere to be seen, like someone hadn’t drawn it yet…

She was currently sitting near the water, a little ways from the small village, eyes closed with her face turned towards the sun, sitting in the grass and gently picking at the straws. It was blissful. A moment of calm that was crushed at the sound of heavy footsteps. Her eyes opened and she turned to look around, eyes finding Takkar as he approached, a spear in his hand and the usual stone-faced look as his default emotion it seemed. She gave him a brief smile before looking down at the grass, running her fingers through it. It felt softer than the grass from her own time, or world, or home, or wherever she had been compared to now. There was no moss making the ground soft but it felt like it, everything seemed more at peace. “An-na” her name was gruffed out, the pronunciation that Takkar, and the others to be honest, used for her, her eyes landing on Takkar who was still standing there and after a brief moment of thought, she patted the space on the grass next to her, a silent invitation that he seemed to understand, placing his spear near him as he sat down, legs crossed like her. His eyes were still on her and it was almost endearing, the way he studied her, like she was a fascinating new creature he wanted to learn everything about, it almost made her believe he was interested in her, men apparently hadn’t developed all that much when it came to approaching women, staring was one of the things that didn’t seem to have changed. “An-na,” she looked at Takkar as he gruffed out her name again, looking at him as he motioned to her, Anna finding an odd understanding of what he was trying to say and she nodded, answering his question. “Takkar” now it was her turn to ask him, her hands gesturing to him in the same way after saying his name, “you ok?” she asked aloud while she signed, Takkar giving a brief nod and she nodded with a smile.

“An-na hunt?” he gruffed out and she looked at him, a shocked look on her face that he had already picked up on her language, a little bit, and she smiled, gesturing to his spear and the bow on his back “hunt?” she asked, using the proper sign for it, but seeing his confusion, she nodded to herself and decided to make it more obvious, drawing her hand back as though shooting a bow, only briefly, before lowering her hands, Takkar nodding and she gave him a sad smile before shaking her head “no, but I can shoot a gun” she admitted as she signed, motioning her hand like a gun, her thumb coming down twice like she shot it, Takkar frowning as he stared at her. “G-n” he gruffed out, a small chuckle leaving her “Gun, gUn” she helped him pronounce it until he got it, a nod and a smile being his confirmation that he said it correctly, and that he had learned the proper sign for it. “You… hunt?” There was a longer pause between the words and Anna frowned, thinking it over before narrowing her eyes “you want to teach me?” she asked before realizing that he didn’t understand that. “Uh.. hold on” she held up a finger and got out her journal, flipping to a fresh page and drawing a rough sketch of him behind her, helping her pull back a bow, like he was teaching her, and she showed it to him. Takka nodded and gestured to it “hunt” he stated roughly, awkwardly making the sign for ‘hunt’ that she had made before, a small nod leaving her as she packed away her journal and stood up, offering Takkar a hand. He didn’t need it, she knew that, but it felt polite, yet he stared at it with curiosity and confusion.

He slowly placed his hand in hers and she stepped back, effectively pulling him up, Takka studying her, his hand still firmly grasped in hers and her cheeks began to burn at the lingering touch. He didn’t seem to mind, instead lifting her hand and inspecting her palm, which was much softer and smaller than his, even though it had been through years of hard work. He inspected her hand closer before lifting it up, palm facing him and slowly he placed one of his hands over it, Anna’s cheeks continuing to grow hotter and hotter, the entire thing feeling intimate as he stood with his hand against hers, palm facing her palm and his fingers, gently locked through her spread ones, the feeling making her breath hitch a little and he noticed, frowning, one of his hands reaching towards her cheek, the back of his fingers brushing over her cheek, feeling the warmth that had flooded in them. He frowned and tilted his head a little at her, as though he was wondering if she was sick or if something else had caused them to be so warm. “I-I uh… t-this is a bit intimate, isn’t it?” Anna asked awkwardly, glancing at his hand interlocked with hers before looking back up at him. “What about… what about hunt?” she asked softly, watching him as he almost seemed to realize he had forgotten about it, his hand softly letting go of hers and he bent down, picking up his spear and nodding, gesturing for her to follow him, and she did, after letting out a heavy breath and running a hand over her flushed face, as though it’d wipe the heat off.

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Anna felt her sore muscles ache as she pulled the string of the bow back, wincing as she could feel her bow arm beginning to shake, her arm close to dropping and she almost did, until she felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist, gently holding it still as the other placed itself on the small of her back, pushing her chest out a bit more and she instantly felt the relief in her arm, her arm more steady and when he gave a brief grunt she let go of the arrow, wincing as it hit beside the tree which was the target, a scoff leaving her lips as she moved out of his arms to retrieve it with annoyance, walking back to him and handing him the arrow, gaze down in slight shame, this was attempt number who-fucking-knows and she still couldn’t hit a goddamn tree that was standing still, it felt almost shameful, the sun was practically cooking her alive even though they were both inside the forest, in the shade of trees, and yet she was sweating like a roasted pig. Takkar approached and gently placed a large hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him, a frown still on her brows as he said one word in his language, Anna’s frown deepening until she realized what he was saying. Patience. He said it again, eyebrows raised in a question, asking if she understood and she nodded. “Patience” she muttered and signed it, Takkar nodding with a grunt “pa-ciens” he repeated poorly, a smile managing to form on Anna’s lips. She actually liked that he tried to learn her language. He may seem tough, feral and rough, but he seemed to have a kind heart and a curious mind, which only added to his primal good looks. Anna gently put a hand on his upper arm, smiling at him when he looked down at her, watching her walk away with his bow, smiling at him over her shoulder and calling out a word she had learned meant ‘follow’, “sakwa” she called out.