The boy's grip is strong despite his size. Every step he takes is filled with urgency, and Elsa finds herself having to hasten her pace just to keep up with him. For someone who obviously has endured horrific things quite recently, the boy has kept the majority of his disdain within. Elsa expected more tears, more need for comfort, but the moment he found out that the Dragonborn is among them, he seemed to have regained some vigor. The young boy also has more stomach for seeing a dead body than Elsa, obvious by the lack of any reaction from seeing Onyx standing over his latest kill who was standing guard in front of the entrance. Watching Onyx pull the bolt out of the carcass' head does nothing to soothe the visceral sight either.
"They should know by now that a lone guard in the middle of the night doesn't exactly do anything," Onyx nonchalantly states while loading his crossbow with the same bloody and well-used bolt. "Ennrk, you are certain of the numbers you spoke of?"
"I think so," the boy answers with as much confidence as he can. "I tried to count… to remember…"
Frustration seems to seep out of Ennrk as he tries harder to remember, but the act of trying also touches on the traumatic things that were done to him. Feeling the utmost pity, Elsa crouches down and puts her hand on the boy's shoulder while lifting his head up so that their gaze would meet.
"It's alright," Elsa tries to say with a smile, trying her best to ignore the black eye and the gaunt look on the little boy's face. "You did good. We'll save your parents."
"We?" there was a hint of disgust in Onyx's tone, which brings Elsa to turn to him with a reciprocating expression.
"Yes we—" before she can finish her sentence, however, Onyx brings his index finger to the 'mouth' of his helmet, signifying silence. Now that she thinks about it, he was speaking on a lower tone.
"Some of them are not too far away inside," he points inside the cave.
Part of her wonders how he would know that, but decides that it's best to move on to the more important subject. Nodding her head, she speaks with a lower tone, "I'm going with you."
"… Very well," Onyx replies after a few seconds of silence. "However you'll have to stay close."
Bewildered by the fact that Onyx isn't arguing with her, Elsa stands there for a few seconds, staring at those hollow eyes his helmet offers. With how low his voice was, she couldn't quite decipher any sort of sarcasm, though most likely he still disagrees with her. Without much else to say about the situation, she nods her head once more and offers her hand towards Ennrk so that they may be on their way. However to her surprise, Onyx crouches so that he would be head level with the young boy and offers him a white bottle; where he got the bottle from confuses her quite a bit since it's too big to fit in any of his pouches.
"Drink this," he tells the boy. "After doing so, I need you to stay behind this wagon, and do not move."
Ennrk took a few moments to study the wagon and once again Elsa recognizes the dreadful look in the boy's eyes. It's no hard feat to realize that the wagon with the makeshift cage built on it was the obvious mode of transportation used for him and his family. Large, sturdy, and made to be dragged by a horse, Elsa cringes at just how many innocent people were hauled off with it.
"You're not thinking of leaving him out here alone?" of course keeping her voice low was hard with such a question.
"Your plan of bringing the boy inside is not a better idea."
"I didn't say I enjoyed the idea however—"
"However he is safer out here."
Elsa wanted to argue some more but she knows that they are wasting time. Taking a deep breath, she turns to face Ennrk who already started drinking whatever Onyx gave him. To her shock, the liquid somehow affected her vision and the boy vanishes in plain sight.
"How?" Elsa asks but Onyx hardly acknowledges her.
"Do not move. We will return shortly."
The fact that he was talking to Ennrk as if he was there concludes that whatever he drank made him invisible to Elsa's eyes. Once again more things to comprehend that she isn't quite sure she will be able to at the given moment. Turning her attention to Onyx, he gives her a gesture and makes his way inside the cave with Elsa following close behind him.
"Stay low," he tells her as he lowers himself as they take their first steps inside. Though the moment they start going deeper, he grabs her wrist, which nearly causes her to gasp.
"What are you—?"
Before Elsa can finish her whisper, black smoke starts to engulf Onyx from head to toe, rendering him like a shadow, fitting for the darker confines inside the cave. In the dark, he almost seems invisible, which was most likely his means of keeping himself concealed as he watched Elsa's skirmish with the three slavers earlier. While the image of Onyx merging with the darkness is a baffling sight, what's even more surprising is that Elsa herself is surrounded by the same magic. The act of holding her wrist distributed whatever strange enchantment he is able to summon.
"Close to me."
Onyx tells her in a much lower tone of voice and she merely nods, deciding that the cold feeling of his magic is beneficial for this endeavor. Leading her by hand, the two take slow and tedious steps, trekking forward, getting deeper into the cave. It doesn't take long until Elsa starts hearing sounds of what are obviously voices, laughter, and some odd howling in the distance. Light also starts to pierce through and not too long after, Elsa manages to catch a sight of a man made structure inside the cave and a bonfire with three figures around it, having a good time, completely oblivious of their companion's death outside the cave. They seem to be too lost in their own conversation that they don't notice as the two get closer and closer. Then out of nowhere Onyx pulls her abruptly to the cave wall, causing her to stumble and almost letting out a gasp. If it weren't for Onyx's cold metal hand covering her mouth the three probably would have been clued in to their presence; maybe. Onyx did pull her behind a wall that would shield them from plain sight.
"Stay."
The word barely registered in Elsa's ears with how low he said it. Still a bit shocked from the sudden movement, she nods behind his grip. Taking his hand away slowly after her response, Elsa takes a deep breath and watches as Onyx backs away with cautious steps. As the distance grows between them, the cold foreign feeling that was surrounding her suddenly vanishes and she quickly realizes that she is no longer 'protected' by his strange magic. Strange magic indeed as she finds herself unable to even hear him stepping or even see him. The darkness of the cave surely helps and it's not until she carefully peaks her head behind the wall that she could almost make out a shadow moving, though she has to try really hard to even notice a slight movement. With her heart pounding, she can almost feel her powers wanting to emerge from the anticipation of what is about to happen.
"… You won't believe it!"
"I do believe it you idiot! I was there!"
A roar of laughter echoes from all three as they stand around the fire, cackling, sharing stories, and obnoxiously laughing while the shadow that is Onyx draws closer. Another joke omits from the loudest one and before he can burst out in laughter, Onyx takes him by the head, pulling him back, stretching and exposing his throat and with a quick cut, Onyx ends his life in seconds. As blood cascades on the floor, before his companions even have the moment to blink and react, Onyx moves by hurling the small blade he used from his first kill. The tallest one receives the said blade right between his eyes. His appalled expression is the last thing he manages before falling on the ground. The third has his hand on his weapon, but Onyx is already upon him. He is too quick to be seen and even quicker at striking the last man down. Whatever he used, the man fell, lifeless, and joining his two companions in death. While her view wasn't very clear, Elsa saw it all. During the whole ordeal, she watched as Onyx once again demonstrated another set of skill he possesses: the ability to perform quick and multiple murders.
"You should join the fun," a raspy voice emerges from the other end of the cave, casually walking down the man made stairs. "That former guard is—"
If it wasn't the sight of Onyx, it's the sight of his dead companions that causes the new comer to gawk for a few seconds before reaching for his weapon. Reacting as fast as she can, Elsa jumps out of her cover and hurls her ice powers towards the reptilian figure. Though by the time she was able to even summon her magic, Onyx had already shot the man with his crossbow; the bolt sticking out on the side of his head as he falls on the ground, leaving Elsa's frost to hit the shelving, resulting to whatever was on the said shelves flying everywhere in a heap of mess, causing a ruckus both audibly and visually. Onyx's reaction is a stern and very rigid body language; his hollow eyes glaring right at her (or so it seems) and Elsa can feel herself slightly shrinking away from what she had just caused.
"Sorry…"
She manages to say but Onyx responds by once again giving her the 'hush' gesture, only this time there was definitely a sense of annoyance within him. With a signal, Onyx moves forward, walking up the wooden ramp, avoiding the mess, moving with as much haste but caution as he can. Taking a deep breath, Elsa treads along, trying her best to ignore the dead bodies that are now surrounding the bonfire. Having spent just a mere second looking that direction, she fights every urge to gag, and the process becomes harder as she finds herself in a position where she has to step over the last person that Onyx shot. Avoiding the body is a hard task with it being right in the middle of the path, and what makes it even worse is that her clothing does not exactly aid her in the act of haste and stealth, thus making the process of just following Onyx an awkward task. With her cloak dragging behind her, it finally catches a few items that were once on the shelves that Elsa struck. The sound they make causes Elsa to flinch and once again whatever clandestine method they were trying to abide by must be compromised by now especially if there were more assailants deeper in the cave. Though there are more sounds reverberating within the cave that are more prominent than the ruckus she is causing. Elsa quickly deciphers the sound as more laughter accompanied by screams of agony… a tormenting sound that reminds her of Ennrk's battered body, his discolored face, and malnourished look. Somehow, the dead bodies left behind by Onyx doesn't seem to bother her as much.
"You scream like a woman," the laughter is now becoming recognizable words to Elsa as she and Onyx draws closer. "You put that much shame in front of your wife and daughter?"
With what those words imply, Elsa puts more urgency in her steps, caring less and less about the sound she is dragging behind her. When one of the plates makes too much noise, Onyx immediately grabs her by the wrist once again and pulls her, hastening their trek through the makeshift dining area (one with an oddly placed weapons rack in the corner) and finally stepping back to more 'natural cave grounds'.
"Are you sure none of you heard what I heard?" someone, most likely one of the captors utter out.
By now Elsa is once again coated with Onyx's magic. Their scurrying through the cave isn't making one bit of sound, which makes the groaning and the sobbing sounds of what most likely are from the prisoners echo even louder in Elsa's ears. Though it's safe to say with the words one of the captors said signifies that Elsa made more than enough noise to compromise the intent of keeping their presence a secret.
"I'm telling you, it was just your imagination."
"Ulaat!"
Onyx leads Elsa to another man made area and towards the ledge where they remain crouching behind a poorly made wooden frame. With careful hands, Onyx grasps his crossbow, while his eyes peeking through the small cracks on the wood.
"Ulaat!"
The people they came to deal with are just over the ledge and Elsa cringes as one of them shouts again. Her heart beating faster than normal with the thought of only a few wooden boards to keep hers and Onyx's presence out of sight; that and of course Onyx's strange magic.
"What is that pond-scum doing?"
The sound of sobbing immediately redirects the attention of the captors towards their prisoners, which in turn gives Onyx what he needs to make his first move. Elsa nods as he points to her then to the ground, an obvious silent signal of 'stay put'. It's not exactly what she wants to do, but at the same time, she already saw what he was capable of when he dealt with things silently and alone. Though the constant sobbing of what seems to be a woman and a child keeps piercing her ears and so the moment Onyx makes his slow trek towards the stairs, she herself peeks through the small cracks to get some kind of view. Despite how tiny the cracks are they give enough space to allow Elsa to catch the sight of a woman barely clothed with dirt-ridden rags encased in a cage. A cage so low to the ground that the dark skinned woman is forced to double over, her chest touching her knees in an uncomfortable position. Her hands grasping the bars of her prison as her attention seems to be directed ahead of her. Another cage not too far away from her holds a little girl, no more than four. If Elsa is to guess, she is Ennrk's sister that he spoke of. The sight of someone like her inside a small rusty cage and barely clothed is dejecting beyond what Elsa's mind can grasp.
"No more left in this one."
"P-please… don't.." the woman cries while reaching out with her trembling hands, "don't hurt… him… anymore…."
"I don't think that's possible," accompanying the voice, a cringing sound of bone hitting bone echoes which forces Elsa's attention towards the sound. "I think we have beaten him dead, woman."
A low and desperate groan omits from a naked man hanging on his wrist by chains. Despite the man's head sagging low, Elsa can make out the blood dripping profusely from his swollen and morbid looking face. The woman in the cage lets out a sound of relief despite her obviously wanting to cry some more.
"Marrying a city guard who made it a habit to poke into someone else's business," another voice joins in, "that's just bad luck, lady. Now your whole entire family is suffering thanks to your husband's stupidity."
A third person joins the taunting, tapping into the little girl's cage causing her to shriek in fear, "just so happens this one's older brother followed his father's footsteps. Bet you Norlar and the others are on their way to drag that one back here."
"Yeah! And we'll teach that boy some lesson that his parents never taught him!"
To Elsa, the mocking from the kidnappers weren't the ones that truly affected her. From her view point, watching the woman crying helplessly as they said those words, the little girl who is cowering, the man who is obviously beaten half to death… Ennrk's plight as he ran to her arms… those are the things that keeps hammering her head. What horrifying things has this family endured throughout their captivity? The torture of having to see one's loved one beaten, ridiculed, and mocked. The fact that the children had to watch their parents degraded to mere playthings for these peoples' sadistic sense of entertainment. They have no qualms in taking pleasure with the suffering of others and the fact that one of them is using the little girl's cage to lean one of his feet as he stands there laughing—These are the things that Elsa abhors and fears; the ones that she hasn't personally seen but only heard of. And the fact that they are in front of her now… clenching her fists as tightly as her rage would let her, Elsa's powers erupts in concurrence with her emotion.
"Stop!"
Elsa yells as she stands up and let loose a wave of frost, hitting the one standing on the little girl's cage. He flies across, hitting the wall in a painful snarl and almost immediately the others react, weapons drawn and arrows fly. It's not her instincts that saved her from the arrows but her powers. They form yet another barrier of thick ice, shielding her properly, giving her the safety she needed before crouching down for cover. Eventually the ice shatters but at least she's somewhat out of harm's way.
"So much for discretion," of course Onyx's tone would be laced with annoyance. "I suppose this is also how you deal with this kind of situations in Arendelle? It's quite efficient, if you were not concerned about the hostages."
There were plenty of things that are running through Elsa's mind to truly concoct some kind of response. The truth is, Arendelle did have its problems, but she was never truly exposed to it. Dealing with things hands on wasn't exactly what she did. Though one thing remains clear is that she cares about the welfare of the captives, her reaction is a testament of that despite the result saying otherwise.
"He's dead!"
Beyond the frantic cries of the woman and the little girl, an angry slaver yells the fact that Elsa didn't want to hear. Instinctively, she looks at her trembling hands as if the blood would actually be smeared in her palms.
"You've made a horrible mistake!"
"Whoever you are, you're dead!"
Shaking the thought of previous action, Elsa prepares to fire again, hoping this time the result isn't anything like before. But she pauses immediately seeing the situation change for the worse.
"Come out," one of them, the man clad in full armor, is now upon the badly beaten man with his blade pointing at the prisoner's throat. "You do as I say and at least they won't have to see this right now."
Without hesitation, Elsa retracts her powers and admonishes herself for her stupidity. In her mind, she has no choice but to comply with their demands. If she can give the prisoners a moment of solace, perhaps this is the only way. Letting out a 'tsk', Elsa prepares to reveal herself, but something amidst the air causes her to stop. An eerie sensation causes a shiver down her spine and the origin of the said feeling is coming from Onyx's direction who is still crouched down not too far away from her. While he exudes nothing odd gesture wise, the energy emanating from him causes every light available in the cave to dim momentarily; the bonfire, the small flames in the lanterns and torches, every single one of them flickers and the shadows seems to shift ominously. The chills Elsa feels ascends to dread as the sight of a figure in black appears standing over Onyx.
"My Listener," the voice was that of a man but it echoes like a ghost from the grave, "my blade is yours."
A spectral of a man donning a full black robe with some kind of blade in his left hand; the sight of him alone is more than enough to make Elsa weary of his presence. Though the moment he turns his head towards Elsa, she gasps at what she sees: a face scarred, burned, mauled, and tortured beyond recognition of a human face. At one moment she sees just that, a disfigured face but then it shifts into a skeleton with decaying flesh, then to a normal looking man with an ominous grin and hollow black eyes. Every bit of Elsa's instinct tells her to run away as the hooded ghost stares at her for far too long, but Onyx's small hand gesture sends the spectral off; he vanishes within the darkness and in no time it's apparent where he has gone off to. The cave darkens once more for a moment, but the moment is all what was needed and the screams of both captors and their hostage starts to echo within the cave. Uncertain and dreading what could be happening, Elsa stands up only to find Onyx gripping her wrist and pulling her down, keeping her eyes away from what is happening over the ledge. She tries to pull away and get free from his hand but no avail. When the darkness lifts completely, he releases her, sending her to stumble back.
"What… what have you done?!"
Onyx doesn't reply, but the sound of sobbing answers for him. Standing up and looking down, Elsa sees a horrific sight of four men slaughtered, three lying on a pool of blood, one in cased in a cocoon of spiked ice. While that image is enough to make her want to throw up, the fact that the prisoners are alive despite horribly traumatized by whatever the specter did is more than enough to give her some relief. At least the figure in black didn't harm the already damaged family.
"Listener."
The specter is now standing in front of Onyx, bowing his head with his hands clasped together in front of him. Onyx, who is now standing himself, reciprocates the gesture.
"Lucien," Onyx states as he performs his action of nodding his head.
"She has been waiting for a long time for you to listen again."
"Your deed is done. Go back to the void."
While Elsa heard the words, the meaning behind them are lost in translation for the simple fact that the presence of the specter brought an undeniable ambiance of evil. The feeling multiplies when he looks pass Onyx and his hollow eyes are now staring at Elsa. Again she gets the shifting image of a tortured face to the insidious grinning expression.
"The Dread Father works through me," he says while his gaze remains on Elsa. "And his work has just begun. Hail Sithis."
The words linger even after he vanishes in a blink of an eye within the confines of shadows and strange magic. For a minute or two, Elsa stands behind Onyx unable to utter a word or force a movement. It's not until the woman below starts trying to speak to her husband chained to the wall that Elsa reacts. Running past Onyx, she makes her way down to do what they came to do: to save Ennrk's family. Whatever means they went about it was obviously going to be bloodier, brutal, and something that would do justice for what was done to the young boy and his family.
"It had to be done," she tells herself as she takes a momentary gander at the body impaled by a handful of ice shards, "it had to be done…"
As Elsa steps over the body of the man clad in full metal armor, she notices the details of his death all too well. The throat was cut with fine efficiency, which allowed passing to be quick and agonizing. The other two ran into a few more cuts in the areas of their body that were not protected by the meager armor they wore, but the killing blow remained the same. Despite Elsa feeling some sort of solace that they are no longer alive, the uneasy truce between cold-blooded murder and justice still festers within her. To her companion however, this was a norm but to her… to save innocent lives means to take a few more? Of course in tight situations, it must be done. The answer is simple enough and she had to keep answering the questions for herself to not mind the fact that she just committed murder more than once in a small amount of time. She had to keep answering those questions because as of right now, she is having a hard time with the idea that her only means to get home may lie in the hands of someone who has every ability and mindset to performing the heinous deed of taking another life without any remorse.
"Thank… the Divines," the woman cries out to Elsa, taking her out of her thoughts immediately. "Please… help Trasl..."
The man named Trasl lets out a slight groan. The chains holding him rattling as he attempts to lift his head but obviously the torture he suffered are taking their toll.
"Gawking at them doesn't help," Onyx tells her as he is now upon the cage of the child. "Free him from those chains and I'll get these two out."
Not minding the offensive way he demanded, Elsa goes on to freeing the man using her powers to freeze the chains to the point of becoming brittle and break. Eventually she manages to do the job and she catches Trasl, his weight causing Elsa to ease the both of them to the ground where she is horrified at the view of his bloody and swollen face. The duration of torture must have lasted for a few hours and he would need initial care otherwise he is in great danger. Before long, the woman is freed from her cage and she runs to her husband's side. Her cries are resonating with both relief and dread. Her trembling form are now encased with him, and the sight is more than enough to evoke small tears from Elsa as she slowly backs away and let the moment just be theirs.
"Give this to them," turning to face him as he speaks, Elsa is gets a sight of something she didn't expect. "We will leave as soon as possible."
Elsa can barely focus on the two red bottles that Onyx is handing her since the sight of the little girl leaning on him as he crouches down is something of a paradigm shift. Like a toddler clutching her bottle, she drinks the red bottle comfortably as she leans her head on Onyx's lap not bothered by the armor pressed up on her face.
"The man suffers," he snaps at her causing her to shake off her gaze. "Do something useful and hand this to them."
Without so much as a second later those words left his lips, Elsa takes the bottles and glares at him. On a normal basis such words are fit for an upheaval of a response; The Queen of Arendelle doesn't take condescending statements kindly but the situation dictates her compliance. Turning away and heading to the Trasl and his wife, Elsa hands them the bottle and watches painfully as the woman tries her best to give the contents to Trasl. Luckily he has enough strength to get a few gulps in which in turn the woman utters gratitude to some strange name before continuing the strenuous process of making sure he gets his fill of what Elsa assumes is some kind of remedy in the form of liquid.
"Thank you…" the woman tells her as she slowly wraps her arms around her husband. "Thank the Divines for you… whoever you are…"
Elsa nods, smiling as enthusiastically as she can. She knows she can't take all the credit, so she slowly turns her head towards Onyx who is still aiding the little girl in a strange parental way. A man who kills with no remorse, summons beings to further aid him in his quest for blood, and then this. There are plenty of things to be taken in… partially she wonders if this act annoys him or is truly something that is natural to him. With a helmet like that catching a glimpse of how he truly feels through facial expression is impossible. In the mean time, the moment is all that needs to be deciphered. At least he has some kind of heart is all Elsa can tell herself.
The wagon definitely suffices as a means of transportation for a family of four and this time, it's much friendlier. While far from comforting, at least there are no bars to close them in. Also the destination won't be to a certain cave that would lead to torture and humiliation. For this, Elsa can smile and despite Trasl still unconscious, at least it's comforting to know that he is resting easier than he has been compared to the last few hours. Frost, who is now pulling the wagon, keeps a steady and slow pace, which of course helps with the comfort level.
"He is resting easy," Elsa pulls her cloak over the man, using it as a blanket to cover him. "You should all do the same and rest."
"We will rest when we are inside the walls of Solitude," Ritya states with as much courage as she can while holding her little daughter. "I will stay as alert as I can in case Trasl needs further healing attention."
"Ma, you are not well enough to use magicka. Please rest and let the Dragonborn and Elsa take care of us."
Both Elsa and Ritya give Ennrk their attention as he said those words. The boy is sitting on one end of the wagon looking over towards Onyx as the Dragonborn leads Frost by foot. One can tell that Ennrk has a slight smile to his face despite the depleted condition he is in.
"I never thought it would be him," instead of answering her son's statement, she changes the subject.
"I told you Ma! He is a hero!"
The same confidence in the boy's words is unwavering. Glancing at the little girl who seems to be fast asleep in her mother's arms and back at Ennrk who has all the optimism in the world because of Onyx's "heroism", Elsa is reminded of Anna.
"Please, rest Ennrk."
Of course those words won't put the boy to calmness, as Ritya would prefer. Clearly the idea of Onyx as a hero is far too embellishing for Ritya and Elsa can feel it every time Ennrk praises him. Though Elsa can't truly disagree with Ritya since the only reason he ended up rescuing the family is because of her. If Elsa hadn't decided to meddle in the slavers' affair, what would have been the fate of this family?
"You all have suffered a great deal," Elsa tells them in a comforting tone, "so it would be behoove for all of you to try to get as much rest as you can. I'll be close by to check up on you."
With a reluctant nod of approval from Ritya, Elsa eases herself off the moving wagon, using some of her powers to make sure she lands on her feet. Treading with haste, Elsa walks to Onyx's side, finding herself studying his helmet; the only reference of a 'facial feature' that she has of him.
"The boy is clever," he tells her without so much as giving her attention, "daring, risky, and clever."
His gaze seems to be directed to his left and Elsa discovers why. A group of horses roaming free is what keeps his attention, which strikes a curious chord within Elsa. When he speaks again, she gets the answer to her curiosity.
"On his way to escape, he must've released their horses in hopes of not being caught by them," as Onyx points that out, Elsa is able to recognize the riding gear still adorning each horse, "He must've thought he was going to gain enough distance."
"He would've died if we didn't save him."
"Maybe. Or he would've been sold to slavery after being taught a lesson for insubordination."
"And you would have had no qualms with that?"
Onyx tugs on Frost's reign before looking back towards the family. Elsa herself turns to look and is relieved to see that Ennrk somehow managed to calm himself and sleep. Ritya is out of sight thanks to the wagon's stature, but Elsa can only surmise that she herself is sleeping.
"You seem to have an impeccable skill of wanting to delve into the 'could have's' don't you?" Onyx's gaze is now back on the road ahead of them.
"I'm just curious as to how a man with so much power lack any sort of obligation to people who obviously needed his help."
"When you discover who Alduin is, please have the audacity to swallow your words for me, Elsa?"
"Ennrk sees you as a hero, Onyx. Even after telling him blatantly that you aren't one, he still thinks of you highly."
"What about you?" the question throws Elsa off that she almost missed a step. "Do you see me as such?"
It was sarcasm and Elsa heard the chuckle underneath the abhorrent helmet that covers his face. It takes a few seconds for her to come up with an answer since a question such as that doesn't deserve any acknowledgement with that kind of tone. But she gives him one anyway.
"You could have ignored Ennrk, but you didn't. You could have let those men who brought me here just … take me to wherever they intended to—do whatever they wanted to, instead you helped me. I can't necessarily call you a hero, but there is something in you that is worth some praise, regardless of how you do things and what vile things you summon to do your bidding."
The man in black robe that Onyx summoned still sends shivers down Elsa's spine with just the mere thought of him.
"Someone amongst your kidnappers shot at me, I retaliated. If it wasn't for him, they probably would have taken you wherever 'somewhere' was."
Elsa glares at Onyx as they keep walking. Of course he doesn't give her the respect to even stare at her direction, instead he keeps his gaze forward. There is no reason to this man and there is no reason for her to care about his words. But something about him, the way he is adamant about helping her conflicts with his seemingly apathetic attitude. Looking away and down, Elsa takes a deep breath before speaking again.
"I won't thank anyone, dead or alive who has had a hand at kidnapping me. But I will extend my gratitude to you, regardless of your intent."
If Elsa isn't giving him so much attention, she might've missed his reaction to what she said. While he offered no audible response, his posture slightly shifts and he tilts his head to look at her. It only lasted a few seconds before he is back to staring off into the distance where the night sky is starting to lose some of its aesthetics, thanks to the daylight starting to peek through.
"Follow what I say," Onxy finally responds, "do what I tell you to do and do not attempt anymore asinine acts of justice and we'll make it to Solitude before daylight. Do that, and you'll be alright and will be on your way to your Arendelle sooner than later."
With another tug on Frost's reigns, Onyx quickens his pace leaving Elsa with those last words. There are a myriad of things she wants to yell at him in regards to his aspersions, but after a long few seconds of silence, Elsa decides it's best not to perpetuate the conversation. Instead she continues walking, treading slower than before, keeping herself behind him. There are plenty of things on her mind that can keep her company rather than talking to him. Besides, whether she talks to him or analyze the events of the past day, it matters not. Not a lot of things that has happened bring her any sort of comfort. None of them gives her the infallible feeling of being 'alright'.
Arendelle
Time has become an elusive idea for Anna who has spent her time shedding tears since the disappearance of Elsa. She told Elsa not to go… she told Elsa to decline the Southern Isles' summoning of her but Elsa was more than adamant to fulfill her duties as Queen. Now she is missing along with the rest of the crew that accompanied her. Anna immediately knew that something bad happened and the feeling was only confirmed when Olaf melted rather quickly in front of her. The jovial magical snowman could only say 'Elsa' in his last few moments of solid form before he was a puddle of water. With Anna unable to maintain herself, Kai and Gerda immediately took reigns of the kingdom and sent out as many of Arendelle soldiers to search for their missing Queen and the people in that ship; so far, no news. For what seems like forever, the Princess of Arendelle had locked herself in Elsa's room as if she herself was told to conceal herself behind closed doors.
"Anna?"
If his voice wasn't enough, Kristoff's knock on the door invited Anna to at least lift her head from inside her arms.
"Please, I know you're in there. People are wondering how you've been. They say have faith in Elsa, and we're trying to... me and Sven are here for you, tell us what to do..."
Anna's posture is now turned towards the door. For the first time since seeing Olaf's thawing, Anna finally peeled herself away from being so close to the mirror. While Kristoff had always been by her side since the beginning of the ordeal, it's in this moment that she finally 'hears' his voice and 'feels' his presence when he is on the other side of the door.
"I know this is hard for you, but I promise you, we're going to get through this... When Elsa comes back, you two can build that snow man... and Olaf will be alright."
With tears still streaming down her cheeks, Anna's eyes remains fixated on the door. Despite the gloom ambiance of Elsa's room that Anna had confined herself in for however long, the door seems to have this faint glow to it. It's almost acting like a beacon for her to follow.
"She needs more time." Kristoff looks at Sven as he uses his 'Sven' voice that he associated with the reindeer's big eyes that concur with the words.
"Yeah, you're right buddy," As if actually responding to Sven, Kristoff nods his head and pets him in the head. "Let's go."
It doesn't take more than three steps until the door to Elsa's room opens with Anna stepping out with a distraught and sad face. Eyes puffy and face red from the obvious sign of grieving. Slowly, Anna lifts her head from looking down and finally locks eyes with Kristoff and in that moment, seeing his compassionate and 'innocent' expression, Anna breaks down and runs to him and wraps her small arms around his body. Kristoff immediately responds by hugging her back and embraces her with every bit of comfort he could provide.
"We're right here, Anna," Kristoff speaks over her crying that gradually gets louder and stronger. "We're right here. Just let it out…."
Feeling her body in need of rest, Kristoff eases the two of them down on the ground letting Anna lean all of her weight on his body as she cries hysterically. Letting out a soft and concerned sound, Sven sits down behind Kristoff, letting his friend lean on his husky stature for support. Kristoff concurs with the generosity and uses the reindeer's girth to help him give Anna more comfort by leaning both their weights on him. Throughout this whole movement, Anna barely notices the change of position as she continues to sink into her grief.
"Please…. Be… okay…. Elsa…"
The first few words that Anna has been able to form for days.
To Be Continued.