AN: First of all, I would like to thank you all for following the story and leaving reviews, it's truly wonderful, and sometimes can help me address some mistakes I make.
Now with that said I will address the last two reviews, in particular by saying that this will not be a retelling of Frozen. There will be surely some Points of Contact with the original Frozen, but surely this story will head in a completely different direction, yet maintaining a couple of passages from the original Frozen, though it is not the target of the story. Concerning capitalization, I will proceed to re-read and fix all the chapters posted and this one as well, so thank you for letting me know that! And now here it is Chapter 9, as usual, hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9 – Prelude
"Why would you do that?!". No one had ever seen Hiccup this mad, especially Astrid.
She tried to find an excuse but could not bring herself to say anything out loud, instead she ended up mumbling something indistinguishable as she held her arms together.
"What was that?", he enquired ominously, not willing to let anything go.
"I said we could just stab her if she causes us more troubles", she answered honestly with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You know what? I'm going to ignore that". He decided sternly.
"What do we do now?" a shy Fishlegs asked, raising a shaky finger. Hiccup simply glared at him, mad at everyone, although he did raise a good point, as he himself was figuring out what to do now.
The snowstorm seemed to have ended the moment the woman loose conscience, yet it was still all covered in snow around them, and neither the temperature seemed to have been kinder.
"She's gonna wake up eventually…", Snotlout insisted nervously, afraid more of the unconscious woman than Hiccup. He had been giving nonstop glances to the almost motionless body, as if she were to arise any time.
I know, I know, I know! He didn't need to be reminded of that.
"Yeah, and she'll be pissed!" Tuffnut chimed in, chocking back a grin.
Is… he having fun? I'm going to murder him one day. Focus now Hiccup! Ruffnut decided to blurt out something along with her brother, but Hiccup was deep in his thoughts. Oh, my Gods… Snotlout is right… she will wake up, and soon. We need to… What's Ruffnut…? I can't focus with all this fuss!
"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, for the love of Gods, will you two be quiet for a moment?!", he blurted out half angry. Gladly to him the twins zipped it for a few seconds, leaving him more room to think.
"Snotlout is right, she will wake up soon, we need a backup plan". He looked around until his eyes landed on Fishlegs.
"Fishlegs!", he yelled, and his bulky friend let out a high-pitched screech for an answer, scared to be suddenly called so energetically.
"Do you have anything to knock her out again if she suddenly wakes up? That possibly doesn't involve stabbing her?!", he asked without mincing words.
"I… I can get a tranquilizer, but I only know the ones that are good for dragons", he empathized the word Dragons as he bumped his thumbs together nervously.
"Anything that wouldn't knock out a whole dragon, risking a heart attack?!".
"uhh, I don't think so".
"What about something for a Terrible Terror?".
"It's still a dragon".
"Well, that will do it, I don't care. Go get it", he dismissed quickly.
"But Hiccup, I don't know what can happen to anything…", he tried to explain, but was only met with a silent glare. "And I'll go get it" He agreed, not needing any more words.
"Ah! So now you can sedate her whenever you want, but if I do it it's all Astrid what are you doing? Astrid you can't just sedate people!". She raised her hands pretending to surrender to his friend's logic.
"It's not like you left us much of a choice, did you?", he glared at her intensively, until she lowered her gaze.
"So, what do we do now?", Astrid spoke for the first time in a while, and for once there was no anger in her voice, only genuine concern. Hiccup didn't even bother to turn his head to look at her.
"Now we wait".
And so, they waited. For a moment hiccup fell into a trance as he watched the steady, sometimes labored breathing of the blonde girl who now rested in the middle of their camp, wondering over and over what he could have done differently and what he must now do. And slowly but surely his head grew heavy, until he found support within the palm of his hands with his elbows firmly planted on his legs, supporting the full weight of his head.
"Anna?", a shaky voice spoke.
"AHHHHH Hiccup!", Snotlout yelled while pointing at the platinum blonde girl. Hiccup bolted upright, surprised and frightened by the sudden yell.
A pair of deep, frightened blue eyes immediately searched for the source of the scream, trying to regain lucidity. Hiccup had to intervene quickly to deter a disaster.
"It's ok!", he moved closer, one hand up in the air soothingly. For the first time, for the first time truly, the woman in front of her seemed to be calm and observing. She stood up a little bit from the ground leaning on her elbows. She winced in pain as she did so, reaching slowly for her shoulder.
"No one here wants to hurt you, ok?", he reassured here, before lowering to his knees, bringing his eyes to her own level. For a moment he was lost in deep blue eyes. She side glanced the black dragon trotting a little further away.
"Who… and the dragons?", she asked unsure. He could see the confusion in her eyes, along with something else he couldn't quite place. But surely, he was extremely glad that she seemed to be much calmer than before.
That is something.
"They are our friends, nothing more", he smiled warmly at her. For some reason he couldn't look away from those blue eyes, blue as the ice.
"I'm really sorry about that", he motioned for her bandaged shoulder and leg.
"What happened?". She looked at them confused. Initially, she was met with silence
"Well… Some of us are kind of, short tempered". He glanced at someone behind the wounded woman. "But it's ok, I think we fixed you pretty good", he tried to sport a half smile. He could see her processing all this new information. "We kind of sedated you, not on purpose, but it's ok now, we did put some bandages and herbs to ease the discomfort though".
"You did what…?", she hinted at a bit of rage in her words, but remained calm. Instead, she looked around and her eyes locked on the one person she figured Hiccup was referring to earlier on. Her eyes narrowed as the other woman held her gaze.
"You need to understand, it was almost like we lost you there for a moment, when the storm was picking up", he spoke up as she turned her head and looked back at him. Suddenly memory seemed to reconnect in the woman for her eyes widened and as she tried to sit up, she looked at her hands.
"I remember". She spoke softly and sadly. She closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I can't control this storm. Perhaps it was best if you had killed me instead", she kept her eyes closed, yet one single tear managed to escape her lids.
"Woah, no!" Hiccup exclaimed surprised by the sudden outburst of emotion. He quickly closed the gap between the two of them and kneeled right in front of her. She must have felt his presence for she tried to shrink away from him.
Slowly he raised his hand trying to wipe away the tear from her cheek.
"No, don't touch me!", she cried out, scaring a bit Hiccup as he quickly withdrew his hand.
"I'm sorry you seem to think it that way, but I see the good in you".
"What good is that if it's suffocated by all this darkness?", she opened her eyes.
"I don't know how to stop this winter", she almost whispered as she looked at her hands sadly.
For a moment Hiccup was tempted to grab her hand, yet decided against it for the time being. Glancing up he noticed Astrid who looked at him grimly with crossed arms. He bit his lip several times, unsure of what to say.
"How about we start all over?", he decided to change strategy.
"Hi, I'm Hiccup, and you are?". He smiled to the woman.
He waited in silence for an answer. He remained still, for a moment he was afraid she would not talk to him anymore, until finally.
"Elsa".
"My name is Elsa", she repeated a bit louder, with the tiniest of smiles. Encouraged by this small success Hiccup tried to push it a bit further.
"You live here in the forest, Elsa?", he looked around as to help make his point. He didn't want to bring her power up, not yet.
"No" She stated, before her features turned dark "I guess I do now".
Hiccup looked up and noticed Astrid shoving away Snotlout and the others from the clearing, giving room to them, before slowly approaching Hiccup from the side. Elsa must have noticed it too for she glanced at her, but there was no anger in her eyes. Only sadness.
"I had a home… once", she kept talking, as the other blonde girl now kneeled next to hiccup, and the three of them sat quietly in the clearing.
"And a family", she continued.
"What happened to them?", Astrid asked, trying her best to be nice. Again, the Snow Queen briefly closed her eyes.
"You want to know about my power I guess?", she asked, willing to change argument, willing to forget.
"No need if you don't want", Hiccup spoke this time.
"It's ok, I think I owe it to you, and really, there isn't much to say". She looked at the two of them, a bit uneasy, before fidgeting with her fingers.
"I was born with it. I don't know why I was given this magic". She looked straight at the boy.
"What I do know is that they are deeply rooted in me, anchored to my emotions. And for as long as I can remember, I have always managed to keep them imprisoned far away, far from everyone, far from the world".
"Until one day…", she had to stop as a lump in her throat blocked her words.
"Until one day you couldn't lock them anymore". The young Viking finished for her.
"Yes", she simply admitted.
"And here we are…", Astrid summed it up.
"Can you do the magic?", Hiccup asked out of the blue.
"WHAT?!", both Astrid and Elsa exclaimed in unison.
"You want to see… my powers?" Elsa asked in disbelief as Astrid was grumbling to herself.
"Hiccup…", she admonished her longtime friend.
"I would love to", he confirmed, leaving the two women agape.
"Hiccup!". She scolded him, in vain.
"And you are not afraid of my power?", the blonde girl wanted to make sure
"I know you wouldn't hurt me".
Elsa felt his gaze upon her. It was like that day in the castle all over again. No, it won't be like that anymore. She kept thinking and thinking about it until she finally made up her mind.
"Ok", Elsa whispered.
Astrid was sending daggers to her Viking companion, yet she remained silent. Suddenly Astrid's face lit up as a disembodied light graced upon it. She turned to the source of the light and for a moment she was speechless. There, only a few centimeters from her face, above the open palm of the hand of the ice girl, a luminous sphere seemed to float weightless, as if by magic. A whole series of snowflakes slowly revolved around it. Her gaze was completely lost, captive and captured by her magic.
Her mouth opened wide, yet no words came out, she stared at such marvel that no man or dragon ever witnessed before. Suddenly, with a fluid gesture, Elsa raised her hand, sending the sphere above their heads while a luminous trail followed it. From there, with a small "pof", hundreds of small snowflakes sprouted and slowly fell all around them. And then, just as it arrived, it disappeared into thin air, leaving the world a little darker.
Now two pair of eyes were staring intensely into a single one. And yet, unknown to them, their little show had attracted the attention of more than their gazes, as more people, from a distance, silently scrutinized.
"That was beautiful", Hiccup was the first one to spoke in complete awe, prompting in Elsa a little laugh, which she quickly covered with a hand.
"Thank you", she answered after she composed herself. For a moment she felt truly free.
Dark eyes watched from a distance, hidden by the branches of the trees. A hand covered with cuts and old scars silently moved a branch out of the way to get a better view, and an evil smile slowly made its way onto his lips.
"We got them".
He carefully counted those present, they were all there. "All of them". His eyes narrowed as they locked onto his pray.
We'll need to split them.
"Do we attack them, sir?".
Immediately the enthusiasm for his new discovery was tested by the stupidity of the few men silently rooting around him, waiting for orders. He rolled his eyes annoyed.
"Have you ever been told what a reconnaissance team is?". He gazed at the bulkier man, who stared back blankly.
"No, I mean seriously, why do I even bother?".
"So, we don't attack?", he tried to guess, completely unaware of the sarcasm.
"Oh, dear Gods…", he had to hold back in order not to murder any of them on the spot. Ignoring them he focused back on the newly discovered enemy camp. Finally, he did it, he found Hiccup. Now he had to play his hand carefully, and slowly but surely a plan was starting to form in his mind.
"Are we attacking?", one of the minions in the back whispered to another.
"We are Reconnaining, stupid", the men next to him scolded him in a low voice, trying to sound smart.
"Well, I'm not recondensing", another chimed in.
"I am!".
"You don't even know what that means", the first one interjected.
"Why, do you!?".
"Of course, I'm not a moron like you".
"Oi! Who did you call a moron?", the second guy puffed his chest enraged.
Viggo had to press his eyes and mouth shut not to explode there and then. Thinking back at his plan perhaps he did need to consider a few more variable into account, for once, his men. When a commotion arose behind him finally, he snapped.
"Stop right there or I will skin each one of you alive!", he shouted with bloody eyes.
As he spoke, something caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a sudden glow rising from the camp below them. Turning around he could see an intense light rising high, dancing in the sky above the heads of the riders. His eyes were immediately filled with that light, and for the first time Viggo Grimborn was speechless, stunned by the beauty of what he was seeing with his own eyes.
His expression turned into a grin.
"Marvelous".