A/N: So, I'm taking a break from Lost Soul due to writer's block and have decided to write a Hiccelsa story. This is going to alternate between movies until they meet each other. I'm also only doing HTTYD 2, so assume that Hiccstrid broke up between the movies. I happen to like Astrid a lot, so she'll still be pretty cool and involved, just not dating Hiccup. And now, on with the show.

Elsa awoke from another nightmare covered in sweat and frost. A strange combination, to be sure, but the queen-to-be didn't even notice anymore.

Elsa quickly rose out of bed to make her way over towards the restroom. She needed to wash her face, and she hoped that some cold water would shock her out of her nightmare.

The nightmare. Every night for the past month, the same dream had been visiting her again and again. Her sister, servants, counselors, soldiers, all frozen in the middle of their day-to-day business, leaving Elsa to walk through the frozen halls among the ice statues in silence. Terrible, deafening silence.

Elsa shuddered once, then plunged her head into the bowl of water, only to be repelled quickly and painfully. While she had been distracted, she had allowed her powers to overflow and freeze the water. Again.

Quickly grabbing and donning a pair of gloves and something thicker than her nightgown, Elsa cracked open the door and peered out into the hallway. Thankfully, her nightmare was once again only a dream. A figment of her imagination. Only a dream. Not real. Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show.

Grimacing at the number of mantras she had been collecting, Elsa walked down towards the courtyard for some exercise outdoors before she locked herself in her room. Again.

Elsa sighed, and there was more to worry about now than ever before. With her coronation coming up in… how many days was it? It was on her birthday, which was on Saturday, which was… Oh, no!

Elsa quickly dashed back to her room to begin preparing. She had to make sure she had as much control on her powers as possible. She also had to ensure that the servants were prepared, that the dining hall and ball room were well-lit, and that she knew what to do for the ceremony. So much to do, so little time…

LINEBREAK

Elsa steeled her nerves as the first well-wisher approached. The ceremony had gone fairly well, she had almost had a heart attack when frost began creeping up the scepter, but other than that nothing bad had happened.

"Congratulations, my queen."

"Thank you."

"May you reign long, my queen."

"Thank you."

The evening stayed much the same for a few hours. People ate, danced, talked, overall quite a success. Even the cake tasted wonderful, considering it had been made in only a few hours. Somehow the bust of the founder of Arendelle had made its way onto the cake. How, no one knew, but it mattered little now.

"Excuse me, Queen Elsa?"

Elsa turned at the sound of a young man's voice. She realized she had been lost in thought for a few minutes. When she turned, she had to hold in a gasp at the strange man standing before her. He stood at least six and a half feet high, but wasn't large. He seemed to be a bit below average weight, but not underweight. He had almost ice-white hair and pitch-black eyes, which caused a strange contrast. But the strangest thing about him was his clothes. He wore some kind of… was that a dress? She almost let out a yelp of laughter before she managed to stop herself.

Upon seeing the amusement in her eyes, the man rolled his own. "Yes, yes, I know, that's a weird thing I'm wearing. Stupid fashion. The Guild-master spent way too much time in Greece and Rome, if you ask me. Requires us to wear these on formal occasions." Thankfully, he stopped his rant upon seeing her face. "Apologies, Queen Elsa, I am Gray Marshall." When he bowed, everything about him was sharp, precise, and unnervingly military.

Elsa responded with a curtsy. Not too deep, not too shallow, just right. "How do you do, mister Marshall?"

"I'm quite alright, Your Highness. If I may offer my condolences to you and your family for your loss. Your father was a great man, taken far too soon."

Elsa was quite surprised. Her father had died almost two years ago, and though people still mentioned it, no one had offered her their condolences in a long time. "Yes, thank you. He is dearly missed. If I may, how did you know my father?"

At this, Gray straightened almost imperceptibly. "That is actually why I'm here, Your Highness. If I may, could I speak with you somewhere quieter? This concerns your…talent."

Fear clawed at Elsa's heart, attempting to gain a handhold. No, surely he can't know. She told herself. There's no way father would tell anyone, he even had Anna's memories erased.

"I don't understand. What ability?"

"The one your father told you to hide? The one that feels like…magic?" He seemed confused, probably thinking that he had the wrong sister.

"I'm not to leave this room alone, no matter what for." Elsa said, grasping at straws to politely end this conversation before she got too scared. One of the thousands of books her father had left her came back to whisper in her ear. Fear is the mind-killer.

The man looked surprised. "I didn't mean like that, your highness. Gather those that you trust and those that know about the secret and gather them somewhere we can meet."

Elsa just shook her head and mumbled, "No one else knows."

Gray started, obviously surprised that no one else knew. Thankfully he kept his voice lowered to a reasonable volume. "What? Why would you not tell anyone?"

"My father believed it was the right thing to do."

He groaned. "Why on Earth would he think that? That's a terrible idea! That almost as bad of an idea as-"

Gray was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Crown Princess Anna and an auburn-haired man in a fine suit. "Elsa!"

Elsa jumped a little at Anna's sudden appearance and exclamation. Anna quickly grabbed her hand and led her away from Gray, who was frozen in place from the suddenness of the situation and the sensitivity of the matter that the princess could have overheard. Were she not preoccupied with getting her sister away from the guy in the dress. "Wait, Anna, I need to-"

"No buts!" Her sister exclaimed. "We need to talk, we have something to tell you and we are going to go over here and-" Once she was sure that they were out of earshot of Gray, Anna quickly turned to Elsa and began to look over her like a mother hen. "Are you okay, Elsa?"

"What?" Elsa was confused by her sister's question. "Of course I'm okay, Anna. Why would you think differently?"

Anna sighed in relief. "Well, you were talking to that creepy guy and looked scared, like, really scared. I wanted to get you away from him."

"Creepy? How is he creepy? And I was not scared!"

Anna merely shrugged. "Elsa, he dyed his hair to match yours, he's tall and looks like he's plotting something, and do I even have to mention the dress?"

"No, that has something to do with fashion from… Greece, I think?"

"Grease? Like, from bacon?"

"Maybe, I honestly have no idea."

"Whatever, as long as he isn't hurting you."

"Um, excuse me." Hans' voice interrupted the sisters' conversation from where he was awkwardly standing a few awkward feet away. "Anna, didn't you have something you wanted to, you know, tell her?"

"What? Oh, right! Well, Elsa, Hans and I- oh, have you met yet? So sorry, just got distracted, and well, you know. Anyway: Hans, Elsa. Elsa, Hans. There, now, Elsa, Hans and I have been talking and we've been getting along really well and, well…"

Hans picked up where she left off. "We would like-"

"Your blessing-"

"For-"

"Our-"

"Marriage!" They finished together, then looked at each other with barely concealed joy.

"Marriage, oh, wow, um-" Elsa was very much distracted form the mystery that was Gray Marshall. As a matter of fact, her entire train of thought was just derailed with major casualties. "Marriage? Um… I'm sorry, I'm very confused." She looked from one to the other, trying to convince herself that they were pulling her leg, but Anna wasn't one to do that.

Was she?

It suddenly occurred to Elsa how poor of a sister she had been to Anna. She hadn't had an actual talk with her in years. They hadn't played together for even longer. But, she had a good reason for not talking to her own sister.

Right?

When she finally pulled herself from her thoughts, not much time had actually passed. Anna was rambling on about where people would live. Wait, people? Live here? No, no, no. They couldn't. She kept trying to interrupt Anna, but she was so involved in her rant that she wasn't listening. Also, Hans wasn't helping by encouraging her.

"Wait. Slow down. No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married."

Anna looked at her, aghast. "Wait, what?"

Elsa clasped her hands and looked pleadingly at Anna. "May I talk to you, please? Alone?"

Anna looked uncertain, before wrapping herself around Hans' arm. "No. Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us."

Elsa sighed, this was starting to look bad. But she steeled herself and prepared to deliver the news. "Fine. You can't marry a man you just met."

Anna's mouth dropped open, and she started to get defensive. "You can if it's true love."

Elsa was starting to get exasperated. "Anna, what do you know about true love?"

"More than you. All you know is how to shut people-"

This time, it was Gray's turn to interrupt. "If I may be so bold, your highnesses."

Anna whirled around to face him, while Elsa looked over her sister's shoulder at the tall foreigner. "This is a private affair Mr. Creepster! And you would do well to mind your manners when in the presence of royalty!"

Gray sighed, looking tired and annoyed. "I merely thought that I might lend my assistance. I do have some understanding of marriage and true love."

Anna was getting annoyed. First this bozo hits on her sister, then he tries to insert himself into private family matters!? She was about to give him another piece of her mind when Elsa's soft voice interrupted her. "Mr. Marshall, I do apologize for my sister's rather… rude behavior." At this, Elsa shot a look at her sister that demanded silence. "I believe that you had something to talk to me about?"

Gray bowed, nodding his head. "Yes, Your Majesty. However, what I want to talk to you about is not for public ears, and the amount of attention this group has attracted makes it rather… difficult to keep things confidential."

Surprised, Elsa looked around, only to see that only a few people were still dancing, and even they had most of their attention directed towards the royal family and the two foreigners.

Immediately, and almost completely subconsciously, Elsa straightened and played the part of the perfect queen. "Of course. Come, Mr. Marshall, we shall speak in the council chambers."

"I'm coming with you." Declared Anna, in a voice that said that no was not an answer.

"I apologize, princess, but this matter is confidential between the Queen, your late father, and myself." Gray said politely, but Elsa thought that she could see a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. However, it was gone so fast that she wondered if she had imagined it.

"Wait, what?" Anna said, going from angry to completely unbalanced by the sudden mention of her father. "What does dad have to do with Mr. Creepster over here? Elsa? Mind explaining?" It appeared that marriage was suddenly the furthest thing from her mind.

"Anna, I need to speak to Mr. Marshall here alone. I'll come back and talk to you when we're finished, alright?"

"No!" Anna exploded, her anger returning. "If this has something to do with dad, then I want in!"

"Princess Anna, I shall speak with the Queen first, and when we are finished she will speak with you and she can disclose anything and everything we discuss to you then. Besides, I believe your marriage will look much more appealing after our talk. Prince Hans, I do believe that this song is a very nice song from your kingdom. Why don't you and the princess dance and make wedding arrangements while the Queen and I talk…" He looked at Elsa from the corner of his eye. "Business."

Hans, seeing that this was going nowhere, decided that a delayed audience was better than no audience. Besides, he could wait. The princess was like clay in his hand, the queen would be no problem, though this new player did seem troublesome. No matter, he would return to whatever rock he crawled out of within a week or so.

"Of course. Come, Anna, I think that you'll like this one. It's very… distracting."

LINEBREAK

Elsa opened the door to the council chamber to reveal a small round table capable of seating up to eight people comfortably. She took a seat in one of the chairs, remembering to keep her back straight and her hands firmly clasped in her lap. She gestured to one of the seats and asked him to sit down, but Gray politely declined and stood at parade rest, hands behind his back and feet shoulder-width apart.

"Alright, you said something about my father. Tell me everything."

"As you know, your parents died whilst travelling back from visiting your aunt in Corona. While in Corona, your father learned of the Guild's existence. I don't quite understand how, but he managed to gain the Guild-master's favor, quite the achievement I should say."

Elsa looked at him, confused. "But what is this Guild? You keep talking about it like it's famous, but I've never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised, most people don't hear about us unless the Guild-master allows them to. Apparently, your father needed help enough for the master to talk to him. Very lucky indeed. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, what we are. We're mercenaries, plain and simple."

Elsa almost fainted from shock. "MERCENARIES!?" She cried. "There is no way that my father would ever deal with mercenaries. He was a noble man, a good man, a-"

"Yes, yes, I know. A righteous man." Gray interrupted. "Full of the word of the Lord and all thaty jazz. Now, if you'll let me explain?" At her mute, angry jerk of her head, he continued. "Thank you. Now, we are a band of mercenaries, but we're slightly different from your average mercenary guild. First off, we only take jobs that would improve someone's life. If the purpose of the job is to hurt someone, we will not take it. However, if the job is to protect someone, we will hurt people to protect that person. Do you understand?"

"But what if you're hired to protect an evil person?"

"If the client is evil, then they will not have found the guild in the first place. Now, there is one other thing that we specialize in." He paused, looking uncertain on how to proceed.

"Well?" Elsa urged, urging him to continue.

"I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours." He said suddenly.

"What?" Elsa almost fell out her seat. "What do you mean?"

"Your magic. Your father explained that you had been born with, how did he say it, oh, yes, 'born with winter in your hand.' Sounds like a freaking poet to me, but to each his own." He shrugged.

Elsa shook her head. "No. No, I'm not supposed to use it. Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show."

Gray looked at her like she was crazy. "Really? That's what they're teaching you? Be afraid of your powers? Dang, and I thought my training was slow. Look, I'll make it easier for you."

Marching out to the opposite end of the room, he held out his hand as though to grasp a staff and slowly curled his fingers inward. Immediately, the room temperature dropped and a small flurry of snow swirled around his hand while frost moved from the ground, creeping up over him and encasing his body in a layer of ice that looked oddly like armor. A helm formed on his head that looked like his entire head was inside a wolf's mouth looking out. The armor around his body had images engraved in it, depicting scenes of a group of wolves hunting.

Ice spread upwards and downwards from his hand to form a seven-foot spear. The tip gleamed like silver, and the bottom formed the head of a howling wolf. He raised the spear and smacked the ground with the spear, standing straight at attention as though he had done it his whole life.

"I am Captain Gray Marshall, ice mage of the Guild, and commanding officer of the Snow Wolves; charged with the protection and tutoring of the Queen of Arendelle, Elsa, until she fully grasps the art of ice magic."