Tides of Time Chapter 9: The Boat Ride
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Hey everyone! Just thought I'd let you know that I've been writing a small side story-type-thing called 'My Name'! It delves a little further into the pasts of the characters; I'd appreciate it if you gave it a look! Without further ado, on to the chapter!
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"SVEN!" Kristoff cried as he caught a glance of his reindeer friend casually strolling along next to Blaine's house, which was situated on the coast. The moment that Sven realized just who had called him, the large animal shook off any and all lethargy from his body as he bounded over to capture his best friend in a loving tackle along with a series of kisses.
Meanwhile the rest of the group, excluding Olaf and the royal sisters, all stared at the scene unfolding before them with increasing amounts of both bewilderment and concern for Kristoff's supposedly lost sanity.
"So you weren't kidding..." Andrew began as he glanced over at Elsa who was chuckling softly as Kristoff and Sven wrestled. "He is actually best friends with a reindeer... Holy-... I've seen fucking everything now..."
Elsa and Anna merely chuckled softly at the young soldiers exasperated comment, knowing that at least one of their friends would have a reaction of the sort, although Elsa had honestly expected it to be Hannah or Roc, not the man who had seen weirder things on a near daily basis, working in that rave and what-not.
"Sweetheart, you have the ability to shoot flames out of your hands and you're surprised by this?" Elsa asked as she strutted over and threw her arms around her lover's neck, pressing herself against him, breathing in his warm earthy scent while he shifted his gaze to Olaf, who was playing with Hope a few feet away from the rest of the group, showing him how to play tic-tac-toe.
"I suppose not... Hey Olaf! Come here for a second." Andrew called out as he waved his hand towards him in a friendly gesture; he had to know where to begin looking for this book, and as far as he knew, Olaf and Sven were the last to see it. Since Sven couldn't speak, it fell to the slightly spazzy snowman to provide them with directions. God help them all.
"What's up fire-buddy? Need a Hug?" Olaf asked, bounding over to the embracing couple with a large smile on his face, however Andrew held his gloved hand out, refusing the gesture of kindness as he began to speak.
"Listen, you said you know where the Book of Time is, right?..." Andrew paused for a moment to wait for Olaf to nod his head, which he slowly did. "Good, you're going to lead us to it when we get to Arendelle, but until then you'll be taking care of Hope, alright?"
"Got it buddy! You can trust me, Hope will have a great time!" Olaf said as he saluted the young soldier, who chuckled softly before silently waving off the snowman to go and take care of the boy who was being introduced to Sven by Kristoff, happily petting the reindeer's snout in gleeful affection.
Elsa glanced down at her outfit, which consisted of her usual blue tank top and black sweatpants, but what was a key difference today was what was resting on her right wrist; a small metal bracelet with the words 'My husband is a soldier and a hero' engraved on the outside. There were bracelets that stated the same with boyfriend as an alternative but... Elsa just felt right in choosing that particular phrasing.
Tearing her vision away from her new piece of jewelry, Elsa observed the rat of the groups outfits, which had all been purchased the previous day by Anna and Hannah, exercising their powers over their boyfriends and dragging them shopping. Everyone was now wearing some form of 'London' based tourist shirt; with Hope even sporting a ridiculous 'I love London' backpack.
Fortunately for both she and Andrew, Elsa had conceived Anna that Andrew looked fine in black and camouflage, which resulted in the two power-born young adults to be the standouts; which was rather rare for both of them when it wasn't required by either 'Anna is hyper' or 'Roc is being a douche'.
"So anyway... I have a surprise for you Snowangel..." Andrew began as Elsa tilted her now curious gaze up to her boyfriend, confused as to what sort of surprise Andrew could possibly have for her up here. Her silent question was soon answered as Andrews arms suddenly tightened around her thin frame, trapping her in his grip. "ROC NOW!"
No sooner had Elsa heard this, Roc, who had been sneaking up on the young queen, threw a blindfold over her eyes as she began to shriek in surprise, only beginning to kick her boyfriend in resistance when she felt Roc tying a knot into the blind-fold, rendering her vision temporarily useless as the two marines laughed at her feeble attempts to escape the fire-wielder's grasp.
Well she would show them she wasn't someone you could sneak up on and easily get away with it.
Channeling all of her focus into her powers, Elsa began to repeatedly let loose a wave of icy power, knocking Roc to the ground. Unfortunately for her, Andrew held strong, his fire powers giving him some form of resistance to his girlfriends chilling barrage. Once Elsa realized this, she ceased her struggles and went limp in Andrew's arms, resigning herself to whatever the demon she called a love had planned for her.
"Roc, where's the boat?! I can't hold onto this crazy beast forever!" Andrew yelled as Elsa's eyes shot open as wide as dinner plates. That word; boat, it put fear into her heart. "Dude, Fucking Grab Her Legs, she's starting to kick again!"
"Never gonna hear that again am I?!" Roc asked with a laugh, stifling himself as Elsa blindly launched her foot towards with crotch, dodging at only the last moment, much to his relief.
Realizing that she was being taken aboard a ship of some sort, the young queen once again began to struggle, more ferociously than before, landing a few good blows with her feet and elbows to both young men doing their best to carry her to the shoreline, all while the rest of the group observed the proceedings in confusion.
"Isn't this sort of thing illegal?" Anna asked Hannah, who was silently pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to suppress a giggle that was inevitably going to pass from between her lips as she watched Elsa jab her elbow into Andrew's bicep, giving the red-eyed young man quite the wager in their fighting skills.
"Yeah, but something tells me those two don't care... Is there a reason that they're doing this, or are they just being men?" Hannah asked, stopping herself to chuckle when Elsa's foot made contact with Roc's chin, sending the Marine to the ground once again. This woman could kick some serious butt if she wanted to.
"Elsa's afraid of boats. We thought our parents had been killed when they were on a boat and my sister has been afraid of them ever since, but she's never admitted it to anyone but me, and I guess Andrew." Anna explained as Sven came up to her for a carrot, to which she could only reply with a shrug; she hadn't even seen a carrot since departing from the USA.
"RELEASE ME! RELEASE ME OR I SWEAR TO YOU, YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" Elsa roared in terror and rage, panicking even further when she heard the sounds of the footsteps of her captors change to that of walking on a hard surface. They were on the boat. Elsa realized the only way out was to play on Andrew's one weakness; her supposed suffering. "Please! Please don't make me go! I'm scared, please sweetheart, I don't wanna go!"
"Nuh Uh." Andrew muttered, never slowing his pace even once. "We're taking the yacht Elsa, I'll hang onto you the entire time if you want, but this is the only way to get to Arendelle, since there are no airports in the area, and even if there were, we couldn't take Sven on a plane, so don't pull anything funny."
Elsa however, merely charged up a blast of ice and shot it and Roc, sending him into the wall of the boat, where the captain was watching in confusion while Hannah and Anna both giggled at the impromptu high stakes wrestling match.
"I'd say that constitutes as funny!" Hannah coughed out, out of breath after laughing so hard for so long, while Anna nodded in confirmation; she was really loving this future, and she had a feeling it wasn't about to go away any time soon.
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Elsa shrieked in panic for the umpteenth time of the trip as the boat rocked against the waves, while the captain grumbled quietly in his seat, wondering to himself just how boisterous this young woman's lungs were, along with how strong she was, given the fact that it took fully trained Marines to escort her aboard the medium sized luxury vessel. Honestly; he could hear the crazy woman from the other side of the yacht!
"Elsa, you're going to make my ears pop, so please stop screaming into my ear." Andrew muttered as he glanced over to the rest of the group, all snickering to themselves, minus Olaf and Hope, who were playing with Sven below decks, before turning back to Elsa, still trapped in his grasp, and still struggling just as much, if not more, than when they all entered the ship.
"I'LL STOP SCREAMING WHEN YOU RELEASE ME!" She retorted, before winding her foot up and mercilessly jamming it into her boyfriend's leg, causing him to tighten his grip on her as he hissed in both surprise and relative pain.
"Fucking hell you crazy-..." Andrew cut himself off as a plan began to take shape in his mind; a wicked grin appearing on his face. He knew just how to stop Elsa from destroying his midriff in her escape attempts. "Hey Snowangel, do you wanna talk to your mom?"
Elsa froze mid-strike, her entire body tensing up on Andrew's lap. Had she heard the young soldier correctly? Did he truly ask if she wished to speak to her mother? Biting her lip in thought, Elsa quietly debated on whether or not Andrew was speaking the truth, eventually coming to the conclusion that she would just have to find out for herself.
"...I'm listening..."
"There's a computer with an Internet connection and a big TV sized screen in our cabin, so if you stop kicking me then I'll see if your mother wants to speak to you and Anna." Andrew casually offered only realizing what he had said after it was already out of his mouth, prompting Elsa to nod quickly; she was finally going to acquire a chance to converse with her mother after 3 years!
"Deal, but only if you take us now!" Elsa cried, smiling widely when Andrew pulled himself and the young queen up to a standing position, prior to leading the now calm Elsa and Anna to the cabins, where, unbeknownst to both royal sisters, they would learn the truth about their mother, and why they hadn't seen her up to that point.
However, things would not be so easy for the snow queen.
It seemed like to Elsa, with every step they took towards her and Andrew's cabin, it felt all that much farther away. Once they were in view of the room, Elsa could swear that her body was beginning to fight her, with every step becoming more difficult than the last, until eventually her legs became stone, causing her to nearly trip over her own feet, something that did not go un-noticed by the two young adult's strides ahead of her.
"Elsa? What's wrong, don't you want to talk to mom?" Anna asked, concerned as to why her elder sister was behaving in such a bizarre manner, however it was Andrew who would realize the reason first.
"Snowangel, are you Nervous?" Elsa could only nod meekly, and who could blame her? This would be the first time she would see her mother in over 3 years, and much longer than that since their last real conversation. Elsa couldn't even remember what the conversations between her and her mother were like.
Andrew meanwhile strode over to his petrified lover and silently lifted her off of the ground into a bridle position in his arms, before turning back to Anna, who was now standing at Elsa and Andrew's cabin door, leaning against the ornate metalwork serving as the doors decorations.
Upon seeing the red-eyed young man carrying Elsa in such a way, Anna felt her heart swell in happiness. When Elsa had shut herself off for so long, Anna was convinced that her sister would end her life alone. After the 'Never Ending Winter' crisis was averted, the young princess then became convinced that Elsa would be forced to marry and bed a spoiled prince, all in the interest of protecting Arendelle's assets, with no regard for what she wanted in her life or what would make her happy, and that all that she did to bring the snow queen down from isolation would be for nothing as she was either taken to a far away kingdom or forced to live in the castle, producing children for the rhetorical king in question like a slave.
The mere thought of someone like Norris or Hans using her sister for her powers, and inevitably her loins, infuriated Anna. Thankfully, that would never come to pass; for here she was, watching as Elsa visibly snuggled into the chest of not a spoiled rotten noble or an egotistic aristocrat, but a soldier, and not a scheming soldier looking to find a way up the socioeconomic ladder, no. He wasn't even from their time, and couldn't care less if Elsa was queen or peasant; he loved Elsa, and Anna was so thankful for the fact that not only would Elsa always be able to stay with her friends and family, but that in the end she found someone that she truly loves, not someone she married because of politics.
Suddenly, the princess was ripped away from her thoughts as she observed Elsa quickly tilting her head up and kissing Andrew's cheek before she whispered that she loved him very much. Anna smiled; she knew that Andrew and Elsa would get married, and she was so excited for that particular day.
After a few moments of calming silence, Andrew set Elsa onto her feet next to the door and reached in his sweatpants pocket and fished out a small card, which he held up next to the scanner on the door. Registering that this was the rooms occupant's card, the scanner flashed green as a distinct clicking sound rang out throughout the hallway, signaling that the three young adults could enter the room, which they did, Anna in front, and Elsa and Andrew behind her, hand in hand, both smiling softly.
The room was simple, yet cozy; the walls were painted a soothing shade of monotone red, with a large double bed sitting adjacent from the large flat screen TV which was secured onto the wall next to a small bathroom.
Elsa smirked; this room was about 10 times cleaner than their room back in America, thanks mostly in part to Andrew.
"So why exactly haven't we been allowed to speak to our mother up until now?" Anna inquired as she sat at the foot of the double bed. "Does she just not want to speak with us?"
"No it's not that exactly..." Andrew hesitantly explained, earning a glare from both sisters. "You see, she doesn't actually Know that you're here yet because we didn't want her to get so excited that she..."
"That she what sweetheart?..." Elsa was beginning to grow increasingly nervous; as far as she knew her mother never suffered any heart problems, and she always heard her playing with Anna after dinner.
Andrew merely sighed and sat on the bed, patting his lap as a sort of silent direction for Elsa to take a seat, which she did, wrapping her pale arms around his neck and turning to face the screen.
"Your mother-... Your mother had an accident after she and your father arrived in the future... She was out alone in the forest trying to find some wild razz berries to help Nathan make his kids some smoothies and..." Andrew paused as he spotted both Anna and Elsa's eyes fill with tears. While he didn't exactly want to see Anna cry, watching Elsa weep was absolutely heart breaking. "Maybe it's best if you see for yourselves..."
Without even waiting for a nod from either sister, Andrew picked up the remote laying next to him and pressed a small series of buttons, prompting the TV to activate and display the green silhouette of a phone while speakers attached to the TV began to spew out noise that resembled a dial tone.
A few seconds later, the ringing ceased, and Elsa and Anna's father, Maurice, appeared on the screen, in all of his now farmer like glory.
"Oh! Elsa, Anna, Andrew! How are you all?" Maurice asked with a wide smile; it always brightened his day to see his daughters happy and healthy, with the elder of the two happily nestled in the arms of Andrew, the man that he owed his wife's life to. His grin what short lived however, when he caught a glance of the young soldiers face. "Is something bothering you my boy?"
"I-... Well... I think it's time that these two get to speak to Jennifer..." Andrew muttered, earning a shocked gasp and a rather interesting facial expression from the middle-aged man on the TV screen.
"Are you sure?..."
"Well if they don't get the chance, something tells me these two will rip my head off with their nails, so yeah, I'm sure." As if to make a point, Andrew gently held Elsa's hand up, which still sported her long, still very sharp nails, which the poor soldier learned when he and the young queen were fooling around in bed and she'd accidentally scratched up his back, something he still had a few bandages on from.
"Ahh..." Maurice sighed; Andrew was right, his daughters would most likely murder him the moment the call ended in resentful anger. "I understand, I'll go and fetch her... But one thing Elsa, Anna?"
Both young women perked up at the mention of their respective names, gazing curiously at their father as they nodded, signaling the former king to continue.
"Please... Just don't flood her with questions or get her too excited... She can't really take that sort of thing anymore..."
Elsa solemnly nodded while Anna stared on in confusion, neither one fully understanding the situation, but thanks to Elsa's political training, she was able to put on a brave face, despite the pit that was forming in her stomach.
A few moments after Maurice disappeared, the three young adults began to hear a hushed conversation between what sounded like Maurice and a middle aged female. Elsa knew that other voice; it was her mother. No sooner had she realized this when Jennifer finally appeared on camera, and the sight nearly caused Elsa to faint in terror and surprise.
The woman on the screen was most definitely her mother, but there was a major difference between her and the woman of Elsa and Anna's memories. What used to be an absolutely flawless face was now marred and distorted by what appeared to be claw marks from a large beast. The left side of the woman's face looked as if had been torn off of the bone and inexpertly reattached with sewing twine.
What was perhaps the most gut wrenching though was the black eye patch covering one of Jennifer's eyes, which had clearly been gouged out by whatever attacked the woman.
"M-... Mommy?..." Elsa gasped out, shakily pulling herself off of Andrew's lap and onto her feet, reaching out towards the camera as if she would be able to reach through the screen and touch her mother's face. Unfortunately for the ice-wielding monarch, the woman on the screen was over 3000 miles away.
"Oh my... Elsa... Anna... Look at you two, so grown up, so beautiful..." Jennifer cooed as she held her hands up in a ball, admiring her daughters, the two daughters that she hadn't seen in over 3 years.
"Mommy... What happened to you?..." Anna asked, joining her older sister in front of the camera, while Andrew awkwardly sat on the foot of the bed, growing increasingly aware that his ongoing presence what not required at the moment.
"Well I was helping Andrew's brother pick berries and a wolf attacked me while I was alone..." Jennifer explained, causing both Elsa and Anna to audibly gasp in fear. "Before the wolf could kill me Andrew back there and his friend Roc shot the wolf and brought me to the hospital... Saved my life really..."
Meanwhile, Andrew chuckled, and was about to muster up a response along the lines that he didn't need any credit in saving Jennifer, but was cut off as he glanced up and was immediately tackled to the bed in a barrage of kisses by Elsa, who was evidently eternally grateful for what Andrew had done for her before they even met.
"Um, Elsa..." Anna cautiously piped up, causing Elsa to cease her attack of affection on the young soldier under her and turn to face her mother and young sister once again, her face as red as the wine-colored sheets she sat on.
"Sorry..." Elsa grumbled, secretly irritated that she wasn't allowed to just seal she and Andrew away in a different dimension for 3 days, just to spend time together. She bit her lip softly; she was becoming possessive wasn't she?
"So yeah... I'm gonna leave you three to catch up, see if Hope and Olaf are still actually on the ship... See you girls later. Bye Mrs. Hjroth." Andrew said, waving his hand towards the screen, earning a wave in return from the brown haired woman, before backing out of the door-way, intent on checking up on Hope... And sorta, maybe, definitely sampling some of the liquors that the ship's unmanned bar would provide him.
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A few hours later, Elsa and her mother were still conversing intently to each other. Anna had gone to bed almost an hour ago, unable to even keep her eyes open.
Though it had been nearly 10 years since they had last had a real mother daughter conversation, Elsa and Jennifer hit it off almost immediately and were already joking as if they saw each other over lunch every weekend; which was something they were planning to try once Elsa and the rest of the group came back to North America.
"So Andrew really ran into the restaurant without a shirt on?" Jennifer laughed, her contorted face twisting into a smile, however it still had a warm comfort about it, a comfort Elsa knew she would never tire of.
"Yeah!" Elsa replied with a light hearted giggle. "He didn't even know until Roc screamed it at the top of his lungs, which of course made everyone in the establishment stare at them like they were insane."
"They are rather insane dear."
"I know." Elsa let out a soft laugh; sometimes the insanity in the two played well with the rest of the group dynamic.
"So tell me; is our red-eyed friend the first man you've had relations with?" Jennifer asked, already very much aware of the answer, however she was a mother; she had to make her daughter squirm just a little when it came to having a lover.
"Y-... Yeah... I wouldn't accept any suitors that visited..." Elsa admitted, slightly ashamed of herself for supposedly letting her parents down and refusing to marry a noble and increase Arendelle's influence. However, much to the platinum blondes surprise, her mother began to Laugh.
"You were never one for tradition were you dear?" Jennifer pointed out, more of a statement than a question. However, the former was not quite finished grilling her daughter. "...Do you love him? Truly? You don't have to with him just because he saved me or even if he'd saved the world; no one is saying you have to be with him."
Elsa sighed; she knew this question would come up eventually.
"I do... I did the moment we met... I couldn't honestly explain why I fell in love with a man that was at the time a drunk, even to myself... But now that I've broken through that shell I know the real Andrew; the one that cares... There hasn't been a day where he hasn't told me how much he loves me and holds me close... There's nothing I wouldn't do for him, and I know that there is nothing he wouldn't do for me in return..." Elsa poured out her soul to her mother, and it felt quite honestly liberating.
"That's all I needed to hear..." Jennifer smiled warmly, before yawning and letting her eyes droop. "Forgive me, but I need rest Elsa. I'll speak to you soon, alright?"
"Alright mommy, goodnight."
With that the young queen ended the call with her mother and stood up off of the bed for a much needed stretch. Once that was done she decided to go and find Andrew; who was most likely causing insane amounts of trouble for the rest of the yachts occupants, not including the captain, who'd sealed himself in the navigation room hours beforehand.
Eventually after a few minutes of methodical searching, Elsa spotted Andrew laying on a sunbathing chair on the prow of the small ship, staring up into the night sky, a content smile on his face. If he had heard her walking up beside him, he gave no visible reaction until Elsa spoke.
"Hey." Elsa greeted with a small but unsure smile, tentatively sitting down next to Andrew, who had never once taken his eyes off of the starry night above until he heard his love greeting him, along with the nearly silent swish of her snow gown being spread out across the deck of the yacht as she sat next to him.
"Hey." Andrew replied simply, pulling Elsa's thing frame against his muscular one, letting her lean against him.
Sighing loudly, Elsa's mind began to wander; what would Arendelle be like when they arrived? Would it be just like the rest of the modern world? No it couldn't be; Andrew had said that there were no airports surrounding the province of her former, or quite possible still standing, kingdom, so how could it be modernized?
Unless of course it stayed true to its origins and remained a port kingdom. Was it even a kingdom anymore? Did Castle Arendelle no longer stand? All of these questions and others in relation bounced around in Elsa's head, giving her no leave to appreciate just being in her boyfriends arms, and that particular bit irked her to no end. Thankfully his comforting voice pulled her back to the plains of reality.
"The pursuit of happiness..." Andrew muttering this caused Elsa to glance up in confusion, prompting Andrew to explain, in a quiet but still quite strong voice. "It's a line from the deceleration of independence... The people who formed the country made it... 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'... There is more to that but... That's the most important part to me..."
"You really value what you believe in don't you?..." Elsa asked, tracing the muscles hidden under Andrew's t-shirt, eliciting a gasp when she traced over what she could only assume was another one of her 'Mid-sex-scratch-attacks' that had somehow been inflicted to his chest.
"I guess when there was nothing else out there for me, my views and morality took center stage..." Andrew explained quietly before an unrelated thought crossed his mind, which he spit out laughing. "So... Are you going to show me around Arendelle when we get there?"
Elsa began to laugh as well.
"So basically our first real date that won't end with a psychotic prince trying to kill you?" She said, a smug smirk creeping onto her face.
"Eh, you take the bad with the good..." This comment earned the young soldier a soft, but still playful slap on the arm from his girlfriend, who followed up the fake assault with a loud yawn, before she closed her eyes and let her head fall against Andrews shoulder, providing her with a makeshift pillow while the red-eyed young man pouted. "Oh, no goodnight kiss? Well that's disappointing."
However, Elsa merely pulled herself up and fiercely smashed her lips against Andrew's, shoving her tongue into his mouth forcefully for a few moments, before pulling away with a giggle when she saw that Andrew's eyes were now wide open.
"That enough of a kiss for you sweetheart?"
"Yeah, that was-... Love you Snowangel..." Andrew struggled out as Elsa laid her head back down once again.
"Love you, too sweetheart..." She responded, letting sleep take over a few moments later.
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So yup! As usual, if you want story updates, or just want to hear my various ramblings, follow 'TempestSquad' with the little 'at' sign on Twitter! Until next time my minions!
