Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE PREVIEW PICTURE! IT BELONGS TO Kittykatpaws ON DEVIANTART! I also do not own any of the characters. All I own is the storyline.
Anna effortlessly brushed pelt after pelt aside, shuffling determinedly through Hiccup's fur pile. He seemed to store such a wide variety of odds and ends in there—an unnecessarily large array of carving knives, a few masks, and a small water-filtering device, to name a few—that at this point if Anna came across Ivan V, 13th czar of Russia, she couldn't say she would be surprised.
It felt a bit like snooping, going through Hiccup's belongings mound at length, but Anna had to admit she was curious. And curiosity—or perhaps boredom—had gotten the better of her.
Her hand fell on something thin yet soft and she pulled on it, expecting it to be nothing more than some of Hiccup's clothes. As it slipped out of the fur pile, she was suddenly overtaken with confusion.
Instead of being a simple shirt or pants, it was a long, black cloak, seeming to be made of a fabric not nearly thick enough to keep anyone warm from the cold. It was clearly meant to be worn over something else.
What's it for? she wondered. Besides making you look exceedingly creepy and like some sort of Grim Reaper wannabe, the cloak didn't seem to have much point.
The crunch of paws on the snow outside caused her to jump, rapidly shoving the furs, cloak, and other items back into something that vaguely resembled an orderly pile.
In a ritual that had become all too familiar, the black dragon stepped into the cave, dragging a hefty piece of prey. Today, it happened to be a reindeer.
Anna tried not to think about Sven.
The dragon set the reindeer down without looking at her, and slipped silently out of the cave. Anna selected the sharpest carving knife she could find. She wasn't always awake when Hiccup brought their breakfast in, but when she was, she tried to help by starting the skinning before he got back. He had been more than happy to teach her.
He seemed to much prefer that she do it, she had noticed.
Sighing, she crawled across to the furry fallen deer and set to work.
"You haven't eaten much."
Anna shot Hiccup a concerned look. He was leaning up against the cave wall, empty meatstick pushed out in front of him. He had picked and scraped at the one stick, just barely managing to clear it by the time Anna had scarfed down three helpings. Now he had apparently decided he was done, drumming his fingers absentmindedly on the cave floor and waiting for her to finish.
"I wasn't that hungry," he said, shrugging.
She gave him a puzzled look. "But you were hunting all morning! Aren't you kind of worn out from that?"
"Eh." He shrugged again. "Doesn't work too much of an appetite, honestly."
"Hey, no need to starve yourself," she teased.
"The meat's mostly for you. I don't need to eat all that much."
Come to think of it, she was the one who ended up clearing most of the meat he brought in. She hadn't paid much mind until now, but Hiccup had never been a big eater.
It was kind of odd, considering his condition.
"But…if your stomach gets bigger as a dragon, don't you need to eat more?" she ventured, helping herself to another stick of venison.
"Of course not," he said, his voice growing a slight edge. He seemed slightly insulted by the question.
"Sorry. Um…sorry," she quickly backtracked. "I guess it doesn't work like that. I was just wondering why you didn't eat much. You don't have to tell me," she added.
Hiccup sighed, looking at her with a defeated expression.
"Well, I really don't like eating meat," he admitted.
"You don't?" Anna paused mid-chew to eye him in surprise.
"No." He shook his head. "I mean…back in Berk, I never really thought about it. My dad would give me a leg of mutton, I would eat it. It was just food. But actually out hunting for myself and having to kill things…" He shuddered.
"They get this…this look of helpless terror in their eyes right before I kill them. I hate seeing that…being the one to do that to something. And eating something I used to see alive…it makes me kind of sick." He sucked in his breath. "I hate killing. That's why I try to hunt as little as I can. I mean, I have to to survive, especially with all the plants dying this time of year, but I've gotten used to getting by on not very much meat."
"Oh." Anna nodded, eyes filling with sudden understanding. "I'm so sorry you have to…have to do that."
"Ah." He shrugged, forcing a smile. "I'm pretty used to it. It's just life."
"Well, you definitely don't have to eat any more. I'll finish it off so it doesn't go to waste."
She ate the last of the meatstick and reached for the next, watching Hiccup sadly as he started to fiddle with his own empty stick.
I wish there was some way to get him something else to eat.
With a jolt, Anna suddenly remembered something. Glancing over at the fur pile, an idea slowly began to form.
"Hey Hiccup…you know what today is?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. "I haven't kept track of the days of the week in 3 years, if that's what you're insinuating."
"No, I just remembered," she said. "It's November 15th. It's Arendelle's Winter Market!"
The Winter Market was, for all intents and purposes, Arendelle's last major market of the year before the long cold season set in. Everyone scrounged up whatever goods they had and sold them before they went bad in winter storage as the last of the harvest season came to a close.
Well…not that you couldn't buy food after that. It was just trickier.
"Okay…" He looked at her skeptically, seeming completely at a loss as to where she was going with this.
"It's always super crowded," she explained. "No one really gives anyone buying stuff from there a second look. So I could just duck in there and get us some real food to eat!" She started to stand up, and Hiccup followed.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. Wait just a second," he snapped, giving her an incredulous look. "Great Odin's ghost, have you gone completely off your rocker?! Have you conveniently forgotten the hordes of people back there who apparently want your head on a pike? I mean…you really think they're not going to recognize the princess?!"
"Well, see, I thought of that," she said, smirking. "That's why I'm going to wear…" She started to rapidly shuffle through the fur pile, searching for the feel of thin fabric.
"That's why I'm going to wear…uh…" She continued searching, still not having much luck.
"That's why I'm going to wear this!" She finally found the fabric and yanked out the black cloak, grinning triumphantly. "And also…uh…" She went back to searching.
"This!" After a few seconds, she pulled out a mask. It was one of the uglier ones, with a long nose and cheeks with hideous bright pink blush, but Anna waved it around anyway in order to prove her point.
Hiccup's annoyed expression faded, giving way to a mildly impressed one.
"Not bad," he conceded.
"No one will ever know it's me!" she said, sticking her chest out proudly. "And lucky for us, I had some money with me the day I got chased by that mob. Took it out in case I wanted to stop and buy something on the way back to the castle."
She went over to their pile of laundry and shuffled through it, finding the dress she had been wearing the day of the incident. Feeling through it, her hand fell on something hard and she pulled out a handful of gold coins.
"There it is! Dresses with pockets are the best."
"Isn't somebody going to recognize your voice?" Hiccup asked dubiously.
"Aw, come one!" Anna snorted. "Lots of people have voices that sound the same. They're not going to suspect anything. I promise," she added when he still looked uncertain.
Hiccup let out a long sigh. "Are you sure about this? It looks kind of weird, some person in a black cloak and a creepy mask walking around buying stuff. And I'd hate myself if something happened to you…"
"Don't you use these things to go into town anyway?" she asked, holding up the cloak.
He looked slightly stricken by the question, but nodded. "Well…sure, sometimes. It covers up the worst of my scales, and I can finish it off with a mask if something's wrong with my face. It's a nice way of seeing what's going on in civilization when you get tired of the forest. Not that I ever have any money to buy things and call attention to myself," he added.
"Have you tried moving in someplace and getting a job?" Anna asked.
He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, a few times…but I gave up after a while. No one tends to want me to work for them once they see me growing a tail, or something similar."
Anna regarded him sympathetically, but he seemed eager to change the subject.
"Anyway. Are you honestly sure no one will get suspicious?"
Anna shrugged. "I might turn a few heads, but I like I said, these markets are so crowded that no one really pays much attention to anyone else. And I've seen people there in cloaks before. It's not that unusual."
Hiccup let out another sigh, cracking a small smile. "Well…all right. I guess I could go for some actual people food. Dragon food gets pretty old."
"I thought so," Anna replied beaming. "How long has it been?"
"Too long," he said dryly.
"Okay!" Anna effortlessly slipped the black cloak over her clothes, pulling the hood down briefly to fit the mask onto her face and slip the string over the back of her head. She started to bound out the door when Hiccup came up behind her, gently grabbing her arm.
"Anna, wait, just…" He took a deep breath. "For the love of the gods, lie low. Don't do anything that could get you noticed. It's going to be a disaster if people figure out who you are."
"I know," she replied evenly, giving him a reassuring smile that she soon after realized was completely concealed by the mask. "I'll be fine. I'll be back in a few hours, okay? Don't get into a bunch of trouble while I'm gone," she added teasingly.
"I'll try my best," he said, smirking. He rested his hand on her arm just a second longer before pulling it away.
As she strode out of the cave, she felt his concerned green eyes boring into her back, watching her until she was completely out of sight.
"Morning…uh…"
The seafood vendor looked over Anna, seeming to try and determine her gender. It was proving to be very difficult.
"Morning, ma'am," he said finally. Anna imagined her short stature is what gave her away. "What can I get you today?"
"Just some shrimp, please," she said cheerfully.
She wasn't sure if shrimp was a type of meat Hiccup didn't like eating—shrimp didn't seem very sentient, after all—but in any case, she had a craving for it herself.
"Cooked?" the vendor asked. Anna nodded. Save us some trouble.
He scooped up a couple massive handfuls of shrimp from a bucket by his feet and tossed them onto a grill with a loud sizzle.
"Interesting mask you've got there," he commented.
Anna's stomach started to squirm, and she instantly regretted letting the vendor cook the shrimp.
"Oh…yeah…uh…I'm part of a traveling theatre troupe!" she improvised quickly. Nice, Anna! she praised herself briefly. Good save!
Deciding to keep running with the idea, she let out an embarrassed laugh. "Our director was like 'go to the market as your character!' As, you know, a training exercise. We're supposed to stay in-character at all times."
The vendor raised his eyebrows. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"Uh…" She shuffled her feet uncomfortably for a second. "…the Grim Reaper."
He grabbed a spatula and flipped the shrimp roughly over before giving her a somewhat critical look. "Where's your scythe?"
"Oh…uh…" Shit, I really did not think this through. "My director was worried if I carried my prop around, the guards would actually come after me. Some of the props look so real!" She forced a laugh again.
"Hm." The seafood vendor grunted, still seeming displeased.
"You need to work on your characterization," he said gruffly. "I don't think the Grim Reaper would be nearly as cheerful. Or…awkward."
Despite the utter fallacy of her life as a traveling actress, Anna couldn't help but sag a bit at the comment.
"Yeah," she said, forcing a laugh. "My director keeps telling me the same thing."
"You'd do well to listen to him," he grunted, muttering "amateurs!" under his breath as he used a knife to scrape the shrimp off of the grill and into a cloth. As he wrapped up the cloth and tied the ends, Anna slid him a couple of coins.
"Come see our show!" she said, giving him a friendly wave as she took the cloth and scampered away. Luckily he didn't try to gather any details on the imaginary show, but instead grumbled about how "no one knows how to build a good character these days."
She slipped the tied cloth into the picnic basket she had bought, already quite heavy with several apples, a pound of cranberries, an exotic-looking cheese wheel, a large quiche, a bottle of milk, and an impressive selection of Belgian chocolate. Sliding the basket onto her arm, she got in line for a bread vendor who was incredibly busy, but whose cart smelled like nothing short of euphoria itself.
Once she got to the front, the vendor seemed to do a double take at her mask, but didn't comment. "What can I get for you today?"
"Two baguettes, please!"
The vendor started, a look of alarm flashing across his face. "You sound like the princess!"
Anna whole body stiffened, her blood freezing into ice. Nevertheless, she forced a laugh.
"Oh, uh…yeah, I've been getting that all day! My director says I should use the fact that we're voice twins to talk her into coming to our show. See, I'm in a traveling theater troupe and we were all supposed to go to the market as our characters as an acting exercise—"
The vendor cut her off, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't you hear, though? The princess is gone!"
Shit, didn't think of that. Anna wanted to smack herself.
"Oh? What happened?" She did her very best to feign surprise.
"She went ballistic the other day, and one of the palace servants revealed she was actually an evil enchantress!" the vendor explained, fetching two thick loaves of bread. "The whole kingdom's still in shock from it. She'd probably have destroyed the kingdom with her magic fire if a brave group of souls hadn't had the courage to drive her out before she gained full control over whatever hellfire she was spurting out."
Anna hoped that the black cloak hid her shaking.
"Oh no," she whispered. "My uh…my troupe and I have only been here a couple days, so we didn't know. That sounds terrifying! Is everyone all right?"
"Yes, no one was hurt, thank god," the vendor huffed, handing her her bread. "Mind you, though, it was a close call. You and your troupe should all watch your backs while you're here. No one knows where she ran off to."
"I'll make sure we do," Anna answered seriously. "I'm glad no one was hurt."
As she slipped the baguettes into her basket, a sudden thought occurred to her.
"Wait. If the princess is gone, then who's on the throne?"
The vendor opened his mouth to answer when Anna was abruptly shouldered out of the way by a hefty woman with a sagging chin and a scowl etched deep into her face, bulky glittering handbag hanging off of her arm. "Yer holding up the line!" she growled.
The vendor shot Anna an apologetic look as she was nudged away. The big woman started to loudly give her order as the vendor turned his attention to her, and Anna's opportunity was gone.
So who took over after I left?
Shrugging, Anna started back through the marketplace to the path that led to the forest. Her basket had grown so heavy that if she added much more food, it would threaten to pull her arm off.
Wait.
A sudden image crossed her mind as she reached the end of the marketplace. Something sitting neatly at her bedside, as familiar a sight to her when she woke up in the morning as her bedside lamp and tall, triangular window.
She glanced past the bustling market and sharp-roofed buildings to the towering castle across the water. After a moment's hesitation, she started toward it.
I won't be long.
Keeping her head down and her cloak pulled as far down over her mask as she could, Anna shuffled back through the marketplace and slinked across the castle bridge. The gates open as usual, she crept into the courtyard and hastily checked around for anyone before making a run for the castle door and quickly shutting herself inside.
Sliding behind a statue as a couple of guards walked by, Anna smirked to herself. Very helpful to remember when the front guards' lunch breaks were, she thought.
The good thing about having spent so many of the lonely hours of her childhood exploring every last chamber and learning every last detail of the mazing hallways of the castle is that Anna knew exactly what statues she could safely hide behind and exactly what rooms she could slip into unnoticed. Not that that made her heart pound any less when she heard someone approaching and had to use her cloak to melt away into the shadows, or slip into the nearest nook or cranny.
The basket, she found, was the hardest part to sneak around, being a bulky nuisance to conceal under her cloak. Nonetheless, she was able to slip through a series of passageways and up the flight of stairs with little incident and only a couple of close calls.
At last, Anna came to her bedroom door. Casting a cautious glance either way and seeing no one, she hastily cracked open the door and weaseled through, quietly closing it behind her.
She let out a long breath. Looking around, she felt herself overcome with a strange feeling. It was odd, being back in a place that had been so familiar to her all her life after being gone for so long. Everything seemed almost alien—the painted closet doors, the tall window, even the lavish bed that, until recently, she had spent half of her entire life asleep in.
She briefly wondered how Hiccup would feel, standing in a bedroom like this again.
Her gaze fell on a leather-bound journal on her bedside table, sealed with a dark pink ribbon. It was a birthday gift from Gerda a couple years ago. She had written in it quite a bit at first, but after she and her sister had grown back together, she had had little reason to.
Anna picked it up, untying the ribbon and thumbing through the tiny portion of the journal she had written in. Plenty of empty pages in the back to draw.
Grinning, she opened the picnic basket and slipped it inside, along with several of the pens and pencils she kept beside it (she always liked having a large variety of writing utensils to choose from). Opening her drawer, she grabbed her purse and transferred all the change she could find in it to the basket.
If she wanted to get Hiccup "real" food on any sort of regular basis, she couldn't very well have all her money sitting upstairs in her room. She was heading for the door when her eyes strayed to a picture on the wall.
It wasn't anything new, having been hung above her dresser for a solid 8 months. In fact, she had become accustomed to seeing it across the room as soon as she woke up in the morning. However, seeing it now sent a jolting realization through her.
There she was, sitting on Sven, next to her Kristoff, Olaf, and…
Elsa.
She stumbled backwards, blinking in shock. How could she have forgotten?
Elsa could be back.
She had to be, right? It had been three and a half weeks. What kind of diplomatic negotiations took nearly a month?
Never mind the fact that she hasn't come looking for me yet…
Anna shook the thought from her head. Who knew what Victoria could have told Elsa about her disappearance?
If Elsa's back, everything will be okay. She'll fix all this and get people to like me again and help me with my powers and then Hiccup can come live in the castle with us and can eat as much real actual people food as he wants and she can get people here to see Hiccup's not evil or scary or anything and then people will like him and he won't be sad or lonely anymore and—
Her thoughts were racing almost as fast as her feet, which were now taking her down corridors and around corners to the throne room as quick as they could go.
When she finally burst into the throne room, she could feel her entire world crumble out from under her. It was as if someone had slipped an enormous metal magnet around her neck and fastened it there, having no intention of moving it.
Sprawled across the throne in the most undignified way possible was Victoria, her dark hair hanging in a glossy curtain around her head and her violet eyes fixed on a ruby-studded gold tiara that she was boredly twirling in her hands. A tiara that, Anna realized with a sinking feeling, had once belonged to her.
Victoria's bored expression turned to confusion as her gaze went from the tiara to the figure standing dramatically in the doorway.
"Who the hell are you?" she snapped. "And what are you doing in my castle?"
Anna bristled furiously. Before she could think better of it, she stormed toward Victoria, huffing with rage.
"Your castle?" she snarled. "Where's Elsa?"
A look that was almost stunned flashed across Victoria's face, but it was quickly replaced by a derisive sneer.
"Look, I don't know who the hell you are or how you got into the castle, but Her Majesty Queen Elsa is off on important diplomatic business. It would seem the negotiations she was summoned to down south are much more complicated than was originally suspected, so she will be gone indefinitely."
Anna's face fell slightly before hardening back into a furious scowl. "What…that's…no queen is gone that long! You're lying!" She took another step toward the throne. "What have you done with her?" she hissed.
Anna expected the maidservant to crack a smug, gloating grin, or maybe look angry at being found out. Perhaps sneer at her if the accusation turned out not to be true. Instead, Victoria looked downright insulted.
"What—I would never—I haven't done a damn thing!" she spat. "I'm simply filling in for Queen Elsa while she's away. That's all."
"But why you?" Anna growled, struggling to keep her voice calm. "Why not…the princess? Why did they choose a maidservant to—"
How would a stranger in a cloak and mask know Victoria was a servant? Anna shut her mouth, fearing she had said too much.
Apparently she had. Victoria tensed, relaxed pose melting away as she sat up and started to loom over Anna. The redhead hastily backed away.
The next second Victoria had dived off of the throne, flying toward Anna with her hands outstretched. Wasting no time contemplating the lady-in-waiting's motives, Anna sprinted toward the nearest exit. Unfortunately Victoria was faster, grabbing her and slamming her up against the wall just as she was about to reach the door.
Victoria's hands moved with disturbing precision, reaching into Anna's hood and ripping her mask off before the princess of Arendelle could process what was happening.
"I knew it," she whispered, smirking triumphantly. "You stupid bitch. Did you really think I wouldn't recognize your voice?"
Her fingers fastened around Anna's gloved hands tighter than shackles, knocking the picnic basket out of her hands and thrusting her wrists forcefully up above her head. Anna let out a cry of pain as her hands made hard contact with the wooden wall behind her.
"Who let you on the throne?" Anna fumed, not even bothering to hide her contempt anymore.
"Oh, Anna…" Victoria clicked her tongue. "Don't you know? The people of Arendelle hardly seem too choosy about who rules them on the many occasions where their queen and princess have run off and left them. After all, they barely put up a fuss when a random prince from Nowheresville was left in charge when you went running after Elsa up the North Mountain. Isn't that right?"
Anna made a face, cringing at the memory. Nonetheless, she held Victoria's gaze with a scowl.
"That was different," she hissed. "You…you're not even royalty! You're just some random nobody who popped out of nowhere and started working in the castle. Why would anyone let you be this…" Anna's pinned hands squirmed around in an attempt to gesture wildly. "This surrogate queen? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Oh, royalty!" Victoria laughed disdainfully. "Is that what this is about, Anna dear? Well, no one in this whole wretched kingdom seemed to so much as bat an eyelid when they were headed toward having a lowly ice harvester as their next prince. I don't think you realize how much these people don't give a damn about who's sitting on their throne. A power vacuum opens up, and someone needs to fill it. Besides…" Her mouth widened into a large smirk. "This kingdom thinks I'm a hero, Anna! I'm the one who drove the demon princess and her hellfire away and saved the town, after all. Who else would they put in charge of them?"
As Anna looked over Victoria's searing eyes and her smug, mocking grin, she suddenly realized that this had been the maidservant's plan all along. Get her to turn on herself, drive her out, fill in the hole left behind. Despite the sinking feeling in her chest, she smirked right back.
"You think you're so clever, but there's one thing you didn't think of. What are you going to do when Elsa gets back?"
To her dismay, Victoria's pleased expression didn't falter in the slightest. "That isn't for you to worry about, now is it? Your slaughtered body will be rotting in the forest by then." She gave Anna the same smug, apologetic smile that she had seen so many times, the smile that could only be remedied with a fist to the face.
Anna thrashed furiously against Victoria's hold. "If you do anything to her…"
Victoria snorted. "What are you going to do? Set me on fire? Make your already-resentful subjects hate you even more?"
"I'll ruin you!" she spat, struggling even harder.
Victoria curled her lip. "I'd like to see you try." She inspected Anna as she tried to wriggle free in the same manner as a scientist looking over a particularly interesting specimen.
"I must say, though, this is a plot twist," she said. "I hardly thought I'd be seeing you here alive any time soon. I was sure the elements or that enormous dragon were going to dispose of you."
Hiccup? Anna barely held back a laugh. Victoria thought Hiccup was going to eat her?
"But I suppose…" Her voice dropped, a menacing smile crawling across her face. "If nature won't kill you, I'll have to do all the dirty work myself."
Anna's eyes widened. "You wouldn't," she breathed. "Not in here…"
"Wouldn't I?" Victoria's smile widened. "No one's going to come running in to save you. All the servants you grew up with think you're a bloodthirsty witch now, always hiding behind a baby face so no one suspected anything. It's amazing what bending the truth a little can do!"
"You little—"
Anna kept glaring daggers at Victoria, her struggling intensifying. Her heart started to pound. It was beyond her how Victoria was planning on murdering her, but it couldn't be pretty.
Victoria leaned in until she was right next to Anna's ear.
"Even if you did get out Anna, no one would believe you. No one would take your side. When they come in here and see you lying cut up on the ground, they're going to flock around the valiant hero who saved them all from you. Three cheers, the fire witch is dead!"
Fire…
A sudden idea occurred to Anna.
No, shit. Why did I not think to try this before? Too overrun with panic, I guess…
She closed her eyes, letting all the heat in her body flood to her hands. Although her fingertips burned, nothing penetrated the thick silk gloves. She tried for several seconds with no success.
Damn, no wonder Elsa used these things. Nothing can get through them!
She looked down, and another idea started to form. Balancing herself against the wall and lifting a leg up, she sent her foot crashing right into Victoria's groin.
Victoria let out a screech of pain, loosening her grip on Anna just enough for her to pry free. As Victoria clutched at her nether regions, Anna quickly snatched the picnic basket off of the ground and rammed it against the brunette's head with as much force as she could muster.
The lady-in-waiting let out a surprised yelp, staring at Anna in brief shock before her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed onto the ground. Not hesitating to celebrate her relatively easy victory, Anna streaked toward the door.
All through the castle and out into the market, she walked quickly and kept her head low, pulling her hood as far down as she could to conceal her face. Her feet moved swiftly, but she was careful not to make it quite swift enough to arouse any suspicion. Although she had a few close calls with guards in the castle and was sure she got a few leering looks in the market, no one stopped her as she briskly made her way through the kingdom and onto the back roads.
She didn't let herself slow down until she reached the edge of the woods.
"I'm back!"
Anna sauntered into the cave, although her confident posture was hurt somewhat by the incredibly heavy picnic basket continually threatening to remove her arm. Despite the ever-growing pain in her fingers and the constant slump of her entire body toward the cave floor, she did her best to put on a cheery smile.
"You are?" Hiccup looked up from where he had been absentmindedly fiddling with a stick on the floor, green eyes fixing eagerly on the heavy basket. "Did you—"
"YES!" Before he could finish, she pounded the basket down with a heavy thump and pulled out a blanket. Tossing aside the now-unneeded mask nestled in the top of the basket, Anna spread the blanket over the cave floor and started to set the food items down on it one-by-one. "So we've got some freshly-picked apples, some nice cranberries—right in season, you know!—a full quiche, this fancy-looking cheese which had some long and hard-to-pronounce name that I've already completely forgotten, some shrimp—I don't know if you want those because it's meat but I thought you might feel less guilty eating that than a deer—some milk, some freshly-baked baguettes, aaaaaanddddd…"
She drew out the last word, grinning like an idiot.
"CHOCOLATE!" She scooped up all of the Belgian chocolates and thrust them up into the air, sending them raining down all across the picnic blanket (and some outside of it, which Anna hastily snatched up and put onto the blanket before god-knows-what forest germs got on them).
"Oh my gods…" Hiccup was looking at the feast like it was the single most astonishing phenomenon he had ever laid eyes on. "I just…this is just…"
Anna's grin widened. "That's not even the best part."
She reached into the picnic basket and pulled out the leather-bound journal, pencils and pens piled on top, and handed it to Hiccup. "This is for you."
"Is this…" He ran his fingers over the binding, eyes growing wider and wider in disbelief as he began to thumb through the pages. She watches as he rapidly scanned the blank pages, a slow smile creeping onto his face.
"Now you can have somewhere to draw all you want!" she said, watching him eagerly with her legs folded under her and her hands on her knees.
After flipping excitedly through the entire end of the journal, he eventually got back to the beginning. He paused to read a page, his expression slowly shifting to confusion and then a frown. Anna snatched the journal away, her entire face burning in embarrassment.
"Hey, don't read those!"
"Where did you get this?" he asked suddenly.
Anna fidgeted uncomfortably, suddenly aware that he would not be too pleased with the answer.
"It's…mine," she explained slowly. "I snuck up to my room and—"
He gave her an incredulous look. "You went into the castle?!" he huffed. "What—why would you do that?"
"Oh, I wasn't in there very long, just long enough to get—"
He spluttered wildly, glaring at her. "Great Odin's ghost, have you lost your mind?" he hissed. "What happened to 'lying low?'"
"I was lying low!" she argued. "I just snuck in there long enough to get the journal, and then I left!"
Best not to mention the bit with Victoria for now.
"You can't just—" He started to gesture wildly. "You can't just gallivant in where the person who wants you the most dead is just hanging out. Not to mention that's where she'll be expecting you to come back."
Anna didn't say anything.
"Just…" he let out an exasperated sigh. "Good gods, you can't call attention to yourself like that! You really think some mysterious figure sneaking through the castle and stealing the princess's stuff isn't going to seem suspicious at all? I mean, what if someone had seen you?"
Anna awkwardly chewed on her lip in response.
"Oh…oh no." His eyes widened in horror. "Someone did see you."
"I…thought Elsa might be back by now, so I went to check the throne room, but Victoria was in there, and she…uh…recognized my voice…and…"
He responded by looking even more horrified, hands tensing and pressing hard into the ground behind him. "Oh gods…what happened?"
"Well, she made some vague threats and tried to grapple me against the wall, but I smashed her over the head with this thing and knocked her out!" Anna gestured at the picnic basket, grinning in an attempt to diffuse the tension. "She didn't stand a chance against me!"
Hiccup didn't look as impressed as she hoped. "Oh gods," he muttered. He looked away, face etched with worry. "She knows you're alive now."
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter," Anna said quickly. "She'll probably just leave me to the elements again."
"Will she, though?" he snapped, reeling back on her with his eyes flashing. "Clearly that didn't work out very well for her last time. I doubt she'd let you off that easy, if what I heard her saying that night we met is anything to go off of."
Anna hugged herself and looked down, realizing he probably had a point.
If nature won't kill you, I'll have to do all the dirty work myself.
Hiccup muttered angrily to himself, giving her an icy look. "Anna, just…this lady is completely off her rocker, and now she's gonna come after you!"
"But if she does…I mean…we can take her right?" Anna smiled weakly.
He spluttered a bit before finding the words he wanted. "Well, I don't know, maybe, but that's not the point," he huffed. "Just…why would you do that? In what alternate reality is it a good idea to try and sneak into a heavily-armed castle in a suspicious-looking disguise and hope you can just waltz in, casually steal some stuff, and slip out without anyone noticing? I mean oh, what could possibly go wrong in that scenario? Maybe literally everything?"
Anna was suddenly overcome with annoyance, stung by his sharp tone.
"Well, I'm sorry, okay?!" she snapped. "I was doing it for you, you know! I just wanted you to have something to draw in!"
"Just…" He put his hands on his head, letting out a long, exasperate groan. "No, I don't want you taking stupid risks for me! Especially not for me. Do you know how much I would hate myself if you got hurt doing something for me? No, just…"
He glared at her intently, fingers digging into the rocky ground. "I don't care why you're doing it, you can't just go around doing reckless stuff like that. You're going to get yourself killed, Anna!"
She heard a cracking sound, and realized with a jolt that scales were rapidly climbing up his arms, his fingernails starting to elongate into claws and his fingers growing long and jagged. Black crawled across his face as he continued to glower at her, one of his pupils narrowing into a slit.
Anna shrunk away, her eyes widening. "Hiccup…you're…"
When he had mentioned to her that his transformations acted up when he got angry, she had envisioned him exploding into dragon form in a fit of rage, furious screams turning into deafening animalistic bellows as he morphed. For some reason it hadn't processed that Hiccup's quiet, steamy anger with hisses and glares and exasperated sighs would trigger it too.
As soon as he realized what was happening, his eyes widened in fear. He backed up against the cave wall, breathing hard.
"I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's not your fault." She reached out a hand to touch him comfortingly, but he shrunk away. The spreading scales had slowed down, but not stopped completely.
"I didn't even think I was getting that mad," he admitted. "I just started getting so upset over the idea of you doing something to get yourself hurt, and then…"
He took several deep breaths until the scales halted, leaving only one of his eyes turned to a dragon eye.
"I'm sorry," he said again.
"No, I'm sorry," Anna said. "You were right, anyway. It was really careless of me to go in there like that. And I…" She sighed. "I don't want you worrying about me, so I won't do something crazy like that again without at least telling you first. So you can have a shot at talking me out of it." She grinned mischievously.
He frowned. "Anna, this is serious. You run around that town and do stuff to get yourself noticed, someone's going to recognize you and sic a mob on you."
"Fine," Anna huffed. "I won't try getting anything else from the castle. Or go somewhere where people can recognize me. I just…" She glanced at the journal sadly. "I wanted to surprise you…"
His gaze softened and he picked up the journal again, seeming to shrink into himself and take the book with him as he did so.
"Thank you," he said softly. "I'm still not okay with you running all about People-who-want-to-kill-Anna Central to get stuff for me, but…thank you."
"I thought you might want more than just dirt to draw in," she said, laughing nervously.
The slightest smile ghosted over Hiccup's face. "Did you actually knock her over the head with a picnic basket?"
Anna beamed. "Yep! One big smack right to the noggin, and she was out like a light."
Hiccup sniggered briefly before bursting out into full-fledged laughter. Anna inadvertently joined in, trying to add more details but laughing too hard to.
As soon as the laughter died down, he sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Just…please don't ever scare me like that again."
"I won't," she said seriously. "I won't do anything else dangerous. I promise. Unless…uh…" She snickered. "You count, ya know, existing as dangerous, since I could burn myself."
He smirked. "I'll give you a pass on that one."
He started to page through the journal, smile growing broader and broader.
"This…this is amazing," he breathed. "I love it. I love it!"
He started muttering under his breath about all the things he was going to draw, sizing up each page like an architect making a blueprint. Anna sat on her legs and watched him, smiling fondly.
He was adorable.
Wait, what?
Her face grew hot.
Where did that come from?
When he looked up at her, she hoped that her burning cheeks weren't showing in the form of an unwelcome blush.
"I can't imagine what I've done to deserve all this," he said, eyes flitting back and forth between the massive picnic feast and the journal.
"Well, you decided to take me up into a tree and stop a bunch of people from killing me, for a start," she said, grinning.
He laughed, shaking his head. "I mean, I didn't know that common human decency made me worthy of a feast fit for Thor himself, but I'm not complaining."
Anna rolled her eyes. "Stop it! I'm your friend, Hiccup, I'm allowed to do nice stuff for you."
He kept gazing at the food, still looking a bit starstruck. For a short while he was lost for words.
"Th—thank you," he stammered again finally. "I didn't think you'd do this much, but I'm really glad you did. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to eating real food again."
"Let's start right now, then!"
She picked up a piece of chocolate off of the picnic blanket and grinned mischievously.
"Hey Hiccup…want some chocolate?"
He looked at her—or maybe it was the piece of chocolate, she wasn't sure—like she had all the stars in the sky.
"That…that sounds amazing."
YOOOOO WELCOME BACK!
Y'all are in for a TREAT because this was honestly one of my absolute favorite chapters to write in the whole story! Like in the first plan/draft, Anna going into town to buy food was just supposed to be a means to an end to tempt her into going into the castle and running into Victoria and such, but then I was like "wait…I can have some fun with this" and thus the most DnD-esque disguise-and-infiltration plan ever was born XD Anna out here rolling nat 20s on her deceive checks and the townspeople of Arendelle crit-failing their insight checks XD
"BAH!" You scream. "THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF ARENDELLE WOULD NEVER BE DUMB ENOUGH TO FALL FOR THIS SCAM!" Ehhhhh, wouldn't they tho? I mean, as Victoria the Vamp astutely pointed out, Anna left a random prince in charge she'd just met the same day and they just went "aight" XD Besides, if basically every superhero ever can keep up a secret identity despite paper-thin disguises, then voices alone must not be enough to pin a person down XD
Since Hiccup didn't have the famous "I don't wanna kill a dragon" epiphany in this timeline, he instead had a "fuck it, I don't wanna kill ANYTHING" epiphany, which I'd like to think had a similar (if not MORE drastic) effect on him. I mean, let's be real—Hiccup may be snarky as all hell, but he's still secretly a softboi who loves animals and nature and connects better with animals than people half the time, which I wanted to preserve even in weredragon form XD In other words…*beats table with fists* VEGETARIAN HICCUP VEGETARIAN HICCUP VEGETARIAN HICCUP
(Or wannabe vegetarian Hiccup anyways!)
Also man do I LOVE writing Victoria's smug ass. She's a piece of shit, but damn, if she's not crafty as all hell. And before you say "How in the hell did Anna knock Victoria out with a picnic basket?" may I remind you this is the same woman who accidentally tossed a metal bust across the room and dislodged a whole-ass tree from the snow to smack a snow giant in the face? Her strength is NO JOKE she could definitely carry a pretty heavy picnic basket with little to no issue! And then ramming it into someone's head and using it to konk them out? With a little adrenaline and Rage Fuel, no problem!
HA, you thought just because Hiccanna is my OTP of OTPs I wasn't going hit them with some INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT? You thought their entire relationship was going to be fluff and happiness and rainbows and wholesome love? You FOOL you IDIOT you ABSOLUTE BUFFOON you—
Lol in all seriousness, I do think that if Hiccup and Anna were to fight over anything, it would be over Anna doing some impulsive dumb shit or otherwise putting herself in harm's way through general recklessness and Hiccup would just LOSE HIS SHIT (I mean…as much as a snarky, understated dude can lose his shit anyways) like "Oh my GOD you IDIOT you could have DIED I was so WORRIED you dumbass" and Anna, while appreciating the concern, naturally gets defensive over the implication that she can't be trusted to make her own choices, however stupid XD But hey, I aim for realism, not just romanticized fluff, so even the most compatible ships I feel like are going to have disagreements and conflict sometimes.
In other news, some irl friends and I started doing a superhero-themed RPG campaign and my character is LITERALLY just the lovechild of Fire!Anna and Weredragon!Hiccup in this fanfic XD The hilarious part is that only one of those friends knows because he knows I'm shameless Hiccanna trash, but the rest have NO IDEA and whenever I make subtle references to Hiccup and Anna being her parents the guy who's in on the meme has to keep from inexplicably laughing his ass off because he KNOWS XD The rest just have no clue and will probably never catch on to the fact that my "bubbly but also snarky and tech-savvy redheaded green-eyed weredragon girl" is in fact just an OC lovechild I made for one of my OTPs XD
Also, just another plea to check out my tumblr, Hiccanna-tidbits, for more Hiccanna content! Which…for some reason is not popping up on the tags page, so you'll have to go directly to my page to see it, apparently :( I mainly make Hiccanna moodboards—there are 4 posted so far and more on the way! Alas, maybe someday they'll show up on the Hiccanna tag.
See y'all next month! Shit's boutta get seriously dark and angsty in a hot sec so BRACE YOURSELVES