AN: Hello, and welcome back. Since I am not very off from my aim of updating at least once per month, I'll just sum up that my silence has been because uni has kept me pretty busy. I have not forgotten any of you. and to the few that has remained since I first published this story, I thank you for sticking around this far.

Without further delay, review responses:

Dream Dragoness: Because I am a mean writer who loves to toy with the minds and hearts of my readers as a sadistic hobby that I have to try to give me some meaningfullness to my life. But, alas, life is meaningless, and so this effort is futile. I'm just kidding; I actually don't plan most of the cliffhangers in my story. They just sort of happen.

LunarCatNinja: Should it? Maybe, maybe not. They have turned the first stone in a road full of them. But I will not wither your optimist :P

Kilo8: See Dream Dragoness' review as to why this cliffhanger is there... Just kidding. I know my chapters have gotten short lately, but it's both because the few times I tried to make them longer they didn't seem to end in a cohesive way, and maybe, just maybe, it is possible that I'm trying not to run dry of content while my writing has pretty much been of a word a day.

Gap Filler Fella: She has let go of one fear. She still has a whole world of them to let go. Let's see how that will play out.

OechsnerC: Anytime. I apologise if I made you wait too much. I hope the wait was worth it.

V01dsw0rd: Will he? DUM DUM DUM. And sorry if it was a little short. I had to choose of either making it longer and lose my precious cliffhanger, or keep it short and keep y'all biting your nails

Noctus Fury: Oh but it did start to go wrong. She told him not because she wanted to, but because her fear of losing him became greater than her fear of how he'd react. And that'll play a crucial part in how they handle her powers from now onwards.

Hm. I wonder where mc arno, thearizona and KE12 are.

Without further ado:

"It's because I have ice powers…"

For a moment Hiccup just blinked, then blinked again, then blinked once more. Even though Windwalker forewarned him, it still took time to digest the information he just received. Had he been anyone else, they either would have laughed at the farfetched idea, or ran away as fast as possible, fearing that the princess had gone mad.

"So, will you leave me? Or call me a freak because of my curse? Or say what I said is an absurd?" Elsa said with sadness dripping from her voice. To Hiccup, it seemed that Elsa was expecting this kind of reaction from him.

She had decided to only tell him about her powers because her fear of seeing Hiccup leaving because she didn't trust him or because she mistreated him moments ago without a reasonable explanation was too much to bear. Elsa honestly thought that she wouldn't be able to lose another person in her life, especially considering how at ease she felt when with him.

It took quite a few seconds for Hiccup to come back to reality. He looked at Elsa and pitied at how sad and afraid the girl looked. He had the odd feeling that she wasn't much different from him and Windwalker, so he decided to hear her story.

"No, I won't do any of these things. I'd just like to hear your story," he told her, soothing her fears. Being surprised was an understatement to how Elsa felt that moment, considering any of the things she said was what she feared, and expected, of how people would react.

"Well… since you already know about my powers, I believe there's no need to keep it secret anymore," she conceded, before sharply inhaling so she wouldn't get carried away by her own life story.

"As far as I know, I was born with these powers. So they are a part of me, you could say. When my parents and I found out about them, they had been afraid of it at first, but then quickly supported me, even encouraging the use of it, as long as it didn't harm anyone. The only thing they wanted from me was to keep it secret from the palace staff, since they were unsure of how would they react." Most of it she knew because of her mother, since she couldn't remember her 'baby years', as everyone else couldn't.

"That happened until Anna was born. They told to control my powers since babies could easily be affected by the cold. I did so, until one night I heard her crying. I went to Anna's room and tried to call them, but they didn't appear. I was only three that time, so I couldn't do much. I tried soothing her in every way I could. Until I made a snowflake." She smiled remembering that memory.

"She was awed at it and calmed down. Later Mama told me they had seen that scene, and it was because of this that they never complained when Anna I and played with my powers. Ever since Anna could talk and walk, she would follow her 'big sister' as she used to say." The past tense didn't go unnoticed by Hiccup, nor did the slight faltered expression on Elsa's face that moment.

"We used to play at night in the hall. She always loved playing in the winter, and would often ask me to fill the hall with the snow. We played snowball fights; we built our own snowman, and many other things. She always has been energetic and full of live, always getting us in trouble with Nanny or our parents."

"When I began studying to be a future Queen, it didn't stop us from playing. Sometimes I tried to avoid that we would get into trouble, but it didn't work every time. Even though our parents would be slightly frustrated whenever we, or even her alone, did some mischief, they have never been mad, not even when the maids passed half a day cleaning a soaked hall without ever knowing how we had let it so damp."

"It was all perfect until I was eight. It had been a night where the 'sky was awake' as she said. She convinced me to go out and play, and at the hall we went. It was all perfect until I slipped on the ice and…" Elsa stopped, fighting back the tears that threatened to slip through her eyes as the memory came vividly to her.

Hiccup saw the distress and pain Elsa had while remembering this particular memory. He wanted to go there and comfort her, but knew that unfortunately she didn't like physical contact, or even proximity. He guessed something happened so she would be distant, since it seemed that she and Anna were very close to one another. "You don't need to continue if it's too much for you to handle."

Elsa just closed her eyes and shook her head. His voice was somewhat calming enough to bear that memory. Hiccup noticed the room suddenly feel cold but didn't say anything, as it didn't seem to him that Elsa knew what she was doing. "It's okay, I want to continue. You deserve to know," she said, although the first part seemed to be for herself rather than him.

"So… I ended accidentally hitting Anna in the head with my powers. She was ice cold when Mother and Father found us. He quickly took us to see the trolls so she could be healed. The troll King was able to remove the magic from her head, but unfortunately he also had to remove any memories she had of my powers."

"He also told me that my powers were beautiful but also dangerous, and that if I didn't learn how to control it fear would consume me. When we came back, Father decided to close the gates and reduce the staff, so everyone would be safe while I learned how to control my powers. Since Anna didn't know anymore about my powers, I was moved to another room."

"I started to call isolation what I lived since that night, and I believe Anna and my parents also did. I didn't leave the room, and I was afraid that if I talked to Anna I would end up speaking of my powers. Most of the time Mother would come to continue my tutoring, and Father would come sometimes to help me with my power."

"It took months before I first left my room. Anna thankfully met a friend called Marie in the meantime, though not for long. She suffered an accident and had to go to France to be healed… I was around ten when that happened. It was because of her that I began talking to Anna again, even though a door was between us."

"I had been distant of Mother and Father, afraid to hurt them. He gave me the gloves a while after that incident, as a sort of protection of my powers." She looked down at her hands and rubbed her hands, feeling the soft silk of the gloves. " 'Conceal, don't feel' was the mantra he taught me. It took me a while, but then when Marie was gone Anna was devastated, I ended overcoming my fear of talking to her so I could comfort her. She was already hurt from losing me, and was even more from losing Marie's company. The least I could do was comfort her the best way I could." Hiccup smiled, seeing how Elsa cared about Anna's safety and happiness.

"When I began leaving my room, it was for brief moments. It had been awhile before I would leave and meet Mother. Most of the times, even when Anna found out I was getting out of the room sometimes, I would only leave when the castle was mostly empty. Then there were my first birthday I passed with Anna and Mother since the isolation began."

"We talked and ate inside my room, and I almost felt normal again. That nothing happened when I was eight, or that a door didn't stand between me and Anna. Anna even gave me a pencil kit so I could draw. She thought I'd like it, and as you saw these days, she was right. Unfortunately Father didn't like much the idea when he saw us, and quickly took Anna away. He was afraid that the same incident would happen and acted out of fear." She paused to sight, remembering how the day quickly went from surprising and great to hostile and awful.

"The next birthday though, was much better. I was talking to Anna more, I was even drawing, and my relationship with Mother and Father was not as strained as it had been. That birthday all four of us passed on the dining hall. Anna gave me a pastel kit so I could add more details to my drawings, and Mother and Father gave me a music box." Hiccup wondered how a music box worked and how it looked like, but he decided to restrain his curiosity for the time being.

"The box played a song Marie learned to play on the violin while she was here. Unfortunately a bit of my power was released and created tiny stalactites in my water cup. I went to my room, fearing that they were at risk. Anna was surprisingly understanding, reasoning that celebrating my birthday in the hall had been a huge step for me, so she didn't press on."

"Unfortunately everything changed when I was 12. My powers suddenly had an outburst and froze a part of my room while Mother and Father were there. Since then, everything essentially regressed to the first few months of my isolation. I was too afraid of talking to Anna again and got distant of Mother and Father." At this moment, she had a few tears running through her cheek, though she didn't notice. Both the dragons and Hiccup were listening, paying full attention to her. Sometimes Hiccup and Windwalker would steal a glance at one another while she was talking.

"I began visiting here" –she gestured to the tower- "Whenever I lost control of my powers. I didn't want Mother to see how miserable I was because I couldn't control it. Every time I lose control, I feel getting farther and farther to returning to a normal life with them. And it only pains more to me that was so close to having it before that outburst, that I think if it didn't happen, we would probably be together by now…" she hiccupped a little, the handful of tears falling down her face threatening to turn into a full sobbing, all while not caring that Hiccup was watching her.

Once she evened her breath, and the tears rolling down her cheek became silent again, she finished her story. "The day you crashed I had lost control of my powers. Mother and I were studying the royal lineage, since it's required of a Queen and King to know it. I ended covering the desk full of snow that day, and that's why I was here when you two crashed."

"But since you got here, things got better. I was afraid of telling you of my powers not just because I was afraid of how would you react, but also because here was kind of a safe haven to me. Whenever you would tell your stories, or we would talk about the books or the drawings, all those problems drifted away from my mind," she confessed, the ghost of a smile lingering through her cheeks.

Hiccup smiled, feeling very special. It was somewhat similar to him. The moments he shared with her made him forget about Berk, about leaving and abandoning everything that he had recently won that he always wanted, and, most importantly, it helped him forget his homesickness. It took the pain away of leaving Gobber, and Astrid, and his father.

"So… what you're telling me is that you're basically shut out from everyone because you're different and only have the support of a few people," he summed up. "Doesn't that remind you of someone?" he asked, deciding to shift the focus of the conversation.

"Yeah…" Elsa agreed, "I thought of that when you told me your entire story. Although we have different lives, you could say that we shared somewhat similar situations…" she explained, "Like when you maimed Toothless' tail," she said as an example, though she immediately regretted it.

Hiccup's smile faltered, though it didn't vanish completely. His shift on the focus of the conversation did manage to bring Elsa out of her painful memories, and he would happily remember his painful ones if it kept Elsa from crying again. Especially since he couldn't hug her to comfort her.

"Yeah, I understand," he agreed with her example, and showing to her that he was not upset with her bringing this matter up.

"I wanted so badly to be Anna's big sister and best friend again. But since that outburst I'm too scared to talk to her again," she explained.

"Hey, it's okay. I won't judge you. I understand your motives. I left Berk because I was the only thing keeping Toothless there, so if anything happened to him, it would be sort of my fault," he told her, soothing her in the process. Elsa felt much more relaxed seeing that Hiccup wouldn't judge her actions.

A silence fell between them, and for almost a minute, neither dared to break it. Hiccup was still taking in her story, while Elsa was calming down from remembering seven years of isolation. The silence was broken when Hiccup asked a question: "How old are you? You told me your age when your isolation began and when your powers had an outburst, but you never actually told me your age as of today," he said shyly. Some women back in Berk didn't take well when someone asked their age, so he didn't know if the same applied her.

"Well, I'm 15, soon to be 16. And you? I presume you can't be much older than me, if you actually is," she asked back

"Well" Hiccup said while rubbing the back of his neck. Why he suddenly felt sheepish he didn't know, "I turned 15 while traveling from Berk to here, so yeah, your guess was pretty close," he complimented, although indirectly, Elsa's observational skills.

"Hiccup…" she called after a brief moment of silence. When he looked at her, she continued, "There is something I also need to talk to you," she said, and the boy leaned toward her to give her his full attention. "Mother and Father know I've been visiting this tower, and she already figured out that whatever is here changed slightly my behavior around her. She didn't press me, but I promised I would tell her of you," she explained the situation, a hint of dread laced in her voice.

"So, what should we do?" and silence fell when the question was asked.

Uploaded on November 15th, 2017