Okay guys, here's chapter 13.
If you're wondering, the scene in the prologue is still far because it didn't happen in Corona and the story's setting is still in the kingdom of Corona. We still have a good chunk of story to tell before we get to the duke. Think of these chapters (before the scene in the prologue) as a flashback to the events that happened before that night.
We get a heroic Azin x Elsa scene in this chapter, as well as, an inside look on Azin's past with Maria.
Let the games begin.
.
.
Elsa saw Azin standing a few feet away from where she was standing. He was tossing and catching a snowball in his hand and he was smiling; his usual happy smile. Elsa instantly felt better when he saw his smile; he wasn't mad.
"I've been thinking that our first snow ball fight was a little unfair" Azin said casually, still tossing the snowball in the air.
"Why is that?"
"You could use your powers to make a snow ball out of thin air" Azin pointed out with a shrug "while I couldn't do anything to give me an advantage"
"What are you-" Elsa didn't finish, she was cut off by Azin's snowball. The snowball actually hit her right in the face. She wiped off the snow and she saw one laughing Azin that was practically rolling on the floor.
"Two can play at that game" Elsa said and immediately threw a snowball right at him.
Everybody, including Elsa, gasped as they say Azin's hands glow yellow and a stone pillar suddenly form from thin air. The sight wasn't something that anyone could miss; the ground in front of Azin glowed yellow before a stone pillar appeared.
"You're going to have to do better than that" Azin called from behind his stone pillar.
Everybody's mouths were still agape in amazement, but Elsa's was in disbelief. She couldn't believe that Azin had revealed his powers just like that.
Everybody took a snowball to their faces, courtesy of one laughing Azin.
"At this rate, you'll be eating snowballs all day" Azin said through his fits of laughter.
Elsa figured out what he was doing; he was using the snowball fight as a cover up for his powers. She decided to play along with his plan. She formed a much bigger snowball in her hands it was about the same size as Olaf. She let it hover over her head for a second before; she threw it at the unsuspecting Azin who was still laughing. Azin was bombarded by the snowball and he was covered in snow. He heard Elsa's laughter, as well as, the rest of her friends.
Azin's head popped up and she saw Elsa extending her hand towards him. He grabbed it and Elsa pulled him up. The two were still laughing.
"I guess I should have seen that coming" Azin said, while brushing off the rest of the snow.
"Yes you should"
Before Azin could realize it Maximus and Pascal came from out of nowhere and took away Elsa from where she was standing. Maximus dropped her behind a (crudely) made snow wall. Behind it he saw Kristoff and Eugene laughing triumphantly.
"HAHAHAHAHA" Eugene said in his best evil villain voice "You cannot win without your precious snow queen"
"You can't defeat us" Kristoff said in the same voice. "We have your precious queen as our prisoner, We won't release her"
"This means WAR" Azin said in his best heroic voice. "Fear not my queen I shall save you"
Elsa could still see Azin and he just smiled at how he was acting; he wasn't trying to be romantic anymore, he was just being playful and slightly sweet. She was going to play along with this new Azin.
She could see that they didn't have a proper snow wall, so she helped both side by conjuring a small ice fortress that was big enough for all of them. She was going to play along with their little play. She looked at him from the wall of their ice fortress.
"Alas" Elsa said in her best damsel in distress voice "I shall wait for you my Hero, please save me from their clutches" she was even acting like a damsel in distress. Elsa's actions made Azin laugh. Elsa was barely able to contain her laughter as well.
Azin went inside the ice fortress, when Elsa walked to the make-shift dungeon. Inside Azin was planning with Rapunzel and Anna.
"Okay, so we need to get Elsa out first" Azin said with a grin.
"Can we do that?" Rapunzel asked
"We can do it, we just need to distract them" Anna cheered.
"Okay here's the plan you distract them by throwing snowballs and I'll rescue Elsa" Azin said.
"We need a little more fire power if we're going to draw their attention" Rapunzel said.
"No problem" Azin said and a yellow glow emanated from his hands stone and gravel was swirling around them. He made two stone golems that were standing right next to Anna and Rapunzel. "These will follow all your movements and actions"
Anna and Rapunzel experimented with the golems at first before grinning and hitting their palms with their fists.
"Ready"
.
Naturally, Azin waited for the two guys to become completely engrained with defending their fortress before he stealthily went to the other side's Ice fortress. It wasn't too hard to get in.
Deja vu huh? His voice said.
This reminded Azin so much of the time that he had to break into a castle to save… Azin shook away the thought; this was no time to start thinking about his past. He crept into Elsa's cell and opened it. They smiled at each other.
"My queen" Azin said with bow; laughing
"My hero" Elsa said with a curtsy.
"Shall we make our great escape and lead our side to victory?"
"After you, good sir"
Maximus just happened to look down and he saw Elsa coming out of her cell. Maximus neighed loudly. Azin winced at what was going to happen.
"Prison break!"
Azin swept Elsa off her feet and carried her with his arms. Elsa grabbed onto his neck for support. He was dodging and shielding snowballs as he weaved closer to the fortress wall. The others were right behind him, so he couldn't turn around to find another way down. The wall was three man heights from the ground.
I've jumped higher walls than this. Azin thought.
"Hang on, Elsa" Azin said before running to the walls edge and jumping off the fortress. Everybody stopped to gasp. In mid-air, Azin conjured up to two small stone platforms on his feet that made him float in the air. It was like he was wearing Hermes' sandals. There was a trail of stone and gravel from the platforms as well. He looked back at them with a triumphant grin on his face.
When the others recovered from their shock and amazement they immediately started bombarding Azin with snowballs. He tried to dodge and shield all of them, but his mobility was much lower when he was in the air. Being unable to dodge all of the snowballs, he and Elsa crashed onto the snow. They were both laughing and they were tearing up from all the laughter.
"Capture them, once we have Azin and Elsa, we can't lose" Eugene yelled and Maximus started charging towards them with Kristoff on his back.
"Never!" Azin exclaimed through his fits of laughter, he went to Elsa and placed her hands around his neck "hold on tight, my queen" before he took to the air with the stone platforms on his foot. Elsa was partly scared, but mostly ecstatic. They were floating four man heights as Azin conjured two stone hands that was roughly the size of Maximus. The stone hands were following his movements and levitated in the air. He grabbed a handful of snow and made it into a ball. The stone hands were now holding a giant ball of snow that was twice as large as Maximus.
Azin raised his own hands up and the stone hands followed.
"Retreat!" Kristoff yelled as Maximus was retreating back to their fortress at high speed.
Azin threw the giant snowball at their fortress and the whole thing was immediately filled with snow. A white flag popped out of the snow and their side cheered.
Azin brought down Elsa and she was still laughing.
"You okay?" Azin asked through his fits of laughter.
"I've never been better" Elsa said. "That was amazing, I never knew that you could use your powers like that" Elsa said panting from all her laughter. Azin laughed.
"You were Amazing as well; conjuring up those two ice fortresses"
"Don't think that just because you can use your powers you can beat me in a snowball fight" Elsa said in a mock stern voice.
"We'll see about that" Azin said playfully. He suddenly gazed at the castle courtyard and the two ice fortresses. "You sure know how to have a snowball fight"
"Me? What about you? Jumping off the fortress, making us float in mid-air and making those stone hands" Elsa said as-a-matter-factly. They were still sitting outside their fortress.
"I used my powers and so did you." Azin pointed out with a shrug. "So, we're even"
"Point taken" the two laughed together.
"We could use some help here" A voice came and they could tell that it was from Kristoff. Anna was the first one to sprint towards the direction of the voice followed by the rest of them. Kristoff's legs were the only parts that they could see.
Kristoff's head popped and everybody laughed.
.
Afterwards, they went inside for some hot chocolate. It was actually night fall now. They were currently retelling their favorite parts of the snowball fight (After an intense interrogation for Azin). The giant snowball was the first and coming in second was Elsa taking a snowball right to the face.
"Sorry, Elsa" Azin said from his place by the window.
"I'm gonna get you back" Elsa said and flashed him a devilish grin, which made Azin gulp. Everybody roared in laughter.
"Oh sure you guys can laugh you weren't the one who was buried by a giant snowball" Eugene said sourly from his place sitting by the fire.
"honey…" Rapunzel approached her husband affectionately
"Don't you honey me, you targeted me on purpose"
"No we didn't, you just happened to be easier to hit"
Eugene gave an exasperated huff.
"Tell me why did I come back to save you" Eugene said with a growing smile on his face
"Because you love me" Rapunzel wrapped in a tight hug. Eugene sighed before he wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her softly and quickly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Anna (not so subtly) cuddle Kristoff near the fire. He soon realized that he was the odd man out; he sure wasn't going to let Elsa think badly about him again. Deep down inside, he wanted nothing more than just to hold her close and near the fire, but friends don't do that. He was about to think of an excuse to leave the room, when he saw someone hiding in the tree.
Azin sighed.
"I'm going to go get some fresh air" Azin said to Elsa with a friendly smile. He saw Elsa do a double-take before regaining her composure.
"Sure" Elsa said and Azin could tell that she was forcing her smile. Azin walked out of the room and he could've sworn that he saw a tear drop down from Elsa's eye.
.
Azin was walking towards the castle courtyard. Once he was there, he stood there in the middle of the garden; the garden where he took Elsa. He waited there for nearly 2 minutes and he crossed his arms and began to tap his foot impatiently.
"Are you gonna come out or am I gonna have to make that tree fall first" Azin was taken aback by how harsh the words sounded.
Surely enough, Maria dropped down from the tree that was directly in front of him. She looked at him with a look that said what do you want now?
"What are you doing here?" Azin said with the same harsh tone.
"You're not even going to greet me hello?" Maria said as she pouted her lips. Azin just raised his eyebrow at her.
"What are you doing here?" Azin repeated with a harsher tone. He didn't know why he was so irritable. Usually he'd play games with Maria.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friends?" Maria said with the same pout. Azin was definitely losing patience with Maria. Azin snarled at her.
"Are you provoking me?" Maria said seductively. "That's not like you or have you decided to come back to me"
"WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. HERE." Azin said with a more forceful tone that was oozing with venom. Maria winced at his words both; partly from the tone mostly from the way he acted.
"I just came here to enjoy the show that's all" Maria said casually. "Aren't you going to ask me how I got here?" Maria asked a little disappointed.
"How much did you see?" Azin said with narrowed eyes and a harsh tone. He was still crossing his arms and tapping his foot. He wasn't curious about how she got in here, with the guards being so "vigilant" and "alert"; this was no surprise.
"Not much, I saw you have a snowball fight and then you went inside" Maria said honestly. "Nice touch with the platforms by the way" Maria commented with a smile. Azin didn't move a muscle. He had no time to talk to Maria. He heard what he needed to hear. He turned sharply on his heels and started walking away from her.
"Aren't you going to ask me what I've been up to" Maria called after him, but he made no response. "The queen reminds me a little bit of myself." Azin stopped dead in his tracks. Azin looked at her with narrow eyes.
"You still remember, right?" Maria asked casually maintaining her smile. "How you saved me from that fortress and how you single-handedly fought the army of guards." Maria smiled at the memory.
Azin did remember that memory, but he wasn't going to let Maria know that.
"We were so in love back then" Maria said with a dreamy glint in her eyes "I can't believe you replaced my love so quickly" Maria said and Azin noted that her voice slightly broke.
Is she crying? No this is all a trap. Azin thought.
"You can't replace something that never existed" Azin said evenly.
"Don't pretend that you never cared or at least worry about me before" Maria said desperately trying to make a point. "Jayce told me everything" Maria said, while looking distantly at the window.
Azin raised an eyebrow at her, but she was pleased that she got his attention. Azin honestly didn't know why she was bringing this up.
"When I was captured three years ago, Jayce decided that it was too risky to come back for me." Maria said distantly "He said that it was better to leave one member behind, than to risk the whole gang; he said that he could find someone to take my place and everybody agreed" Maria said and her voice subtly broke.
"Are you gonna talk all night because I'm really sleepy" Azin said impatiently, but Maria was still serious and she was still looking distantly at the window.
I never saw her like this before. Azin thought.
"Except You" Maria looked at him distantly; she was looking in his direction, but she wasn't looking at him. "When they all agreed with the plan you, as Jayce put it, snapped at them" Maria smiled in his direction. "You said that leaving me behind was the most ridiculous thing you ever heard and that you were going to save me with or without their help" Maria smiled, showing her teeth.
"Naturally, they didn't stop you, not that I blame them, you weren't exactly...approachable or willing to listen to reason at the time" Maria said and smirked at his direction. "Then you stormed the fortress with nothing, but your powers and your tomahawks."
"Your point is?" Azin asked tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.
"My point is that if you never really cared about me before" Maria looked at him straight in the eyes and smiled. "Then you would have just left me for dead in that dungeon"
Azin was dumbfounded, but he looked at her seriously. It was true that Azin cared for Maria before, but he kept his distance from her; he made sure that he wouldn't fall for her. He believed that falling for her was the greatest mistake that he could make. Did he care about her? Yes. Did he risk everything for her? Yes. Did he fall in love with her? Azin knew that he shouldn't.
"You can't deny the fact that you actually cared about me Azin" Maria told him with a childish smile.
"You were my comrade, nothing more and I'm sure you know that I don't leave my comrades behind" Azin said seriously "Are you actually implying that, out of all the members in our gang, I would be the one who's stupid enough to fall for you?" Azin said it like it was the most ridiculous idea that he ever heard.
"What exactly are you trying to say; that no one is stupid enough to fall in love with me?" Maria was offended by his statement.
"All I'm saying is that compared to the others, I know you the best, so I know what makes you special; what makes you different from the others" Azin said as-a-matter-factly. "I've seen you do it plenty of times before, you get your victim to fall for you, then you'll sucker punch them, when they least expect it"
Maria was clapping and looking at him like he was a small child that was ranting about something he clearly knew nothing about; fond.
"So are you suggesting that I am incapable of falling in love?" Maria summarized his point. Maria crossed her arms.
"I'm suggesting that no mortal has fallen in, what they thought, was love with you and lived to tell the tale" Azin clarified his point. Then he started walking again; leaving her there in the garden.
"And I'm guessing that the queen isn't like me" Maria said seriously. Azin looked at her and she was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, while her hands were on her hips. Azin smirked at her because she just hit the nail on the head.
"I wouldn't be here, otherwise" Azin said with a smirk. "She calls it sincerity and honesty Maria; maybe you should try it some time." And with that said, Azin turned his back and went straight into the castle.
.
When he arrived in the room, they have all fallen asleep. Anna was cuddling next to Kristoff and Rapunzel was cuddling next to Eugene. He spotted Elsa from her spot in by the table. She was sleeping as well.
Azin approached her sleeping figure and he gently brushed away a stray lock of hair from her face and how he loved that face. He was staring at her sleeping figure; letting his mind wander.
She was easily the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She wasn't just beautiful, but she was sincere, she was caring and she was kind, unlike Maria. He was still staring at her sleeping figure she covered her with a blanket and he watched as a contented smile spread across her lips.
"Azin"
Azin barely heard the inaudible whisper, but he knew that the voice belonged to Elsa. He felt happier than he should have when he heard her say his name. He stroked her hair; preparing himself for what he was planning to do.
"if only you knew, how much I care about you; how much I love you" Azin said in sad whisper.
Azin brushed a soft kiss to her forehead.
This was the only way he could let Elsa feel how much he loved her. He couldn't do this to Elsa because she might distrust him again. He watched her sleeping figure for little while longer, before he sat beside her and rested his head on the table; facing her
"Good night, Elsa"
.
.
Like I said before, I am revealing Azin's past in subtle amounts, but I haven't told you everything, yet. Now you know a little bit about Azin and Maria's past together. I didn't realize it at the time that I wrote this story, but I'm actually centering these first few chapters on Azin's past. It's essential for you readers to know about his past, trust me. Don't worry we'll get to the climax soon enough.
I'm gonna start writing the climax after I piece together Azin's past. In layman's terms, we have a good chunk of story left to tell.
Skullcandyklive-until next time.