After careful consideration, I have discovered that this will be the second to last chapter and this story will be complete!
Oh my. What will happen? Who will win? And at what cost.
Well there's only one way to find out.
On with the show.
Chapter 17: Ignis Rexia (part 2)
Drake grasped the handle of his sword with a double handed grip, as his mind went back to the basics on sword fighting. If he had his way, he wouldn't use a sword at all. Not that he didn't like them, but he just prefered a more hand to hand approach over actual weapons. Still he knew how to use one effectively, he just never imagined he'd have to use it against one of his friends. With a few spins of her trident, Arabella slammed her weapon into his own, the pair pushing with all the might against each other.
"We're still friends right?" She asked hesitantly.
He grinned. "Depends on how hard you hit me." In one swift motion, he had dropped to the ground, kicked her legs out from underneath her and had her pinned to the ground with the blade against her throat. The crowd cheered again, giving her the rage needed to kick him off and into one of the spinning monoliths that surrounded them. He had learned that if he bounced off of them then he would be thrown around like a rag doll and break every bone in his body. This time he made sure to keep himself pinned to the spinning slab of rock by stabbing his sword into the stone. Once the stone completed one revolution, he released himself, launching headfirst at Arabella.
She rolled to the side, getting to her feet in time to lift her trident and block a downward strike of his sword.
"Do you think they've found Belly yet?" She groaned.
Drake shook his head. "I have no idea, but until then-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she pushed his sword away, going for another strike only for him to block it, "Keep making this look good."
Before they could continue, the timer on the glowing orb had dropped to zero.
Arabella slammed the end of her trident into the ground so it stuck upright. "Now we can give these people what they really came here to see." Without returning to her respective marker, her gauntlet began to glow a violet red, consuming her in its light.
"Welp." Following her lead, his necklace glowed light blue, both transforming into the draconic beasts they were named for. Once finished transforming They both let out a roar that smothered the cheering from the arena. Drake extended blades from the metal gauntlets on his arms while she grabbed her trident.
"Shall we?" She hissed.
Drake curled his reptilian lip, baring his razor teeth. "Let's." With both of them beating their mighty wings they crashed into each other, creating a shockwave that shook the arena.
The unlockers proceeded to lose their minds.
—:0:—
Elsa clutched the arms of her chair, leaving her knuckles pale white until the shockwave finally faded. While it was easy to root for Drake when he was against others, now she found it impossible. If Drake won, Arabella lost her sister, if Arabella won, Hans got his army, there wasn't any winning in this situation. What was worse, was that Elsa liked Arabella, even if she did used to date Drake.
Not that I care, we're just friends after all.…
Forcing herself to think of anything she asked aloud, "This duel is way too intense, what do you think Anna? Anna?" She was so focused on the duel she only now realized she was alone in the stands. "Ugh! Anna?!" Elsa stood up, not having to think hard where her head strong sister might be. She was already making her way from the stands when the clashing of battle sounded from the arena, reminding her what was happening.
"I'll be back, Drake." She whispered, "I promise." She remembered that Drake needed support more than anything, and leaving him like this might hurt him, but Anna came first. She just hoped he would understand.
Before she could leave the arena she was met with what appeared to be wisps of black smoke hovering in front of her eyes. She narrowed her brows watching the erratic smoke moving in front of her face like an angry wasp, but stopped inches from her nose.
"What in the—". Without warning, the smoke invaded her body, slipping inside of her through her mouth and nose.
After inhaling the strange smoke, she staggered backwards having to brace herself onto a nearby chair. She could hear a strange buzzing noise followed by an eerie silence. After a moment the sound of the arena slowly returned to her ears.
She began to massage her forehead, pinching her eyes shut from the sudden discomfort in her head. "What on earth was that?"
"Hello darling. Fancy a chat?"
She jolted, looking in all directions for the accent that she knew well, but even in the midst of the screams, she didn't see him anywhere. "Landon? Where are you?"
"Inside your mind, so best not to talk aloud lest people think you're going off your rocker."
She began to rub her eyes in an attempt to make sense of this odd sensation. "In my head? What—how?"
"We can play twenty questions later. Right now if you'd be so kind as to offer us your assistance in the lower levels. It would be much appreciated."
It took a moment for Elsa to finally catch on to what he was asking. "Lower levels? Wait?! Is Anna with you?!"
"Yes she is, and we have Arabella's sister, but it will all be for not if you don't get down here and ice blast these Bernard's away."
Elsa took off from the arena, hurriedly crossing the bridge back to the tower. "How are you in my head? Was that smoke you?"
"It's just a mild form of possession. Don't worry you still have control of your body, this was just the best way we could contact you."
When she entered the tower, her steps began to slow as her mind tried to process what he was telling her. "Possession? What do you mean possession?"
"Having, owning or controlling something else. But don't worry, it's MILD possession. Had you been possessed by any lesser demons then you'd probably be vomiting iron spikes, head spinning and all that."
As Elsa robotically entered the moving box, the horror of what he was implying was slowly starting to sink in. Demon? Possession? She was being possessed by a demon? "D-Demon? Like from hell?"
"Yes, yes, yes, fire and brimstone and all that, are we gonna keep doing these silly questions?"
"They're not silly to me, you're the one in MY head! A serious invasion of privacy mind you." She looked over the buttons on the moving box. "What level am I going to?"
"Negative two," she pressed the corresponding button, "and don't worry, I'm doing my best to keep my attention off the juicer bits in your mind, but it's difficult." There was a pause. "My, my, the things you want to do with the dragon boy—"
"—Get out of my head now!"
"—something about the helpless princess being ravaged by the dragon—"
"—I said OUT!" She was met with silence, not just from him, but also from the battle underway when the doors to the moving box opened. Cracking her eyes, the Bernard's, Raptor, Kristoff, Anna and Olaf had all paused, and were now just staring blankly at her. She let out a nervous laugh before quickly slamming her foot onto the ground. The resulting icy shockwave froze everyone's feet to the ground, including her family and the Raptor.
She saw Anna sigh with relief after giving the Bernard she was wrestling with another smack to the face. Olaf was on top of his head, using one of his own arms to smack the Bernard. "Elsa to the rescue!"
Elsa moved through the madness, her ice further creeping up the Bernard's to trap them, while releasing the others.
"Anna are you okay?" She wrapped her sister in a hug, who muttered an "I'm fine" into her shoulder. "Okay good." She suddenly grabbed Anna by the ear and twisted, "now what were you thinking?!"
Anna squirmed in her sister's tight grip. "I was just coming to help Kristoff! But he had already saved the day."
Elsa looked behind her. Kristoff had his hands on the shoulders of a young girl, a girl who's blue eyes gazed at her with "awe". "Y-your her? The snow queen?" Elsa was almost positive she saw her smile at her, like she was actually excited to see her. She grabbed the corners of her dress and curtsied. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot of stories."
"Yes indeed. The snow queen herself!" Landon strolled from behind a corner, drenched in blood and appearing as if he had just awoken from a nap.
"Elsa freeze him!" Kristoff's command was so sharp and sudden that she reflexively stopped Landon by freezing his feet to the ground like the Bernard's.
Looking down at his frozen legs Landon glared at Kristoff before glaring at Elsa with red flickering in his eyes. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Elsa, we can't trust him." Kristoff said definitively.
"That's right. He took me from my home."
Elsa looked at the girl and Kristoff then back at Landon. "We don't have time for this!" He snarled, "We have to get that girl topside before that duel ends and it's too late."
Kristoff took Elsa by the arm. "Elsa we don't need him. It's difficult to explain, but he nearly got me and Annabelle killed."
"It's true," Raptor added, "had I not been here they would have surely perished."
Elsa examined the two before looking at Anna and Olaf, who had taken her hand. He seemed that he didn't want to add to the tension, but hesitantly nodded in agreement with the others. Elsa glared with a literal icy stare at Landon. "This is true isn't it?"
He remained passive as if knowing his silver tongue wasn't going to get him out of this. "Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you do it now. Your, not-boyfriend may not have much time."
Elsa narrowed her eyes trying to disguise her mounting worry. "Are they going to kill him?"
He only chuckled. "Worse."
She spun towards the moving box, but not before covering the newly learned demon in solid ice.
—:0:—
"As interesting as this duel between these beasts has become, let's offer another challenge for them to overcome."
The dragons paused when the monoliths disappeared back into the ground leaving the arena now bare.
"Well this can't be good." The ground beneath them shook as a circular slab of stone was cut from the ground and began to rise into the air, carrying the two with them. Arabella looked down at the now floating ground. "Is this supposed to be challenging or something?" With comedic timing the round slab began to spin vertically.
Drake dug his claws into the rock to keep himself from falling off. "This challenging enough for you?"
"Works for me!" Drake looked up in time to see Arabella plant her taloned feet into his face to knock him off the spinning slab. With his wings extended he pulled himself back up towards her. He took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of blue white fire. She clawed her way to the opposite side of the slab, using it as cover from his attack. Anticipating her maneuver, he swooped beneath the rock and intercepted her by whipping his tail across her face. Both of them had dug their claws to the underside of the rock, battling with each other with kicks and their tails until the rock slowly rotated into an upright position.
She charged, blasting him with violet fire to his face to blind him before swinging her trident at him. He blocked her breath with his wing, but wasn't able to stop the sharp point of her trident from scraping against his shoulder. He grabbed it with his other hand and followed through by pushing against her back and slamming her to the ground. The slab had rotated again, putting them beneath it and dropping them to the ground.
Wings beating they took to the air, shooting at each other with their fire, lighting the sky in blue and purple flames.
He was about to launch another attack before being suddenly blasted with a red hot blaze. Strangely, he only saw the flames, but didn't feel them. He shook off the strange occurrence, but now found himself struggling to see. Why was he seeing, but not feeling, Fire?
He started clawing at the flames flashing before his eyes, spinning erratically in mid air and losing altitude.
"What's… going—" He slapped his claws over his ears when thunderous screams of agony erupted around him. Screaming that wasn't coming from the crowd.
He felt something smash into him, probably Arabella, and sent him crashing through the rotating slab of rock. He slammed into the ground head first, but it didn't stop the screams or the sight of the scorching flames. With his senses being overwhelmed, he wasn't able to protect himself from the falling rocks of the slab.
Pain radiating through his body and his mind, he fought to lift the rocks off of him, but it was proving to be a daunting task. "What's… happening to me?" He felt his energy being drained as the cries and fire continued to engulf him. Not seeing any other options, he felt he had no choice, but to change back. Fortunately, once he was human again the visions and screams had stopped.
—:0:—
Arabella hurriedly began moving the rocks off of Drake's back, praying that he was still alive. What had happened up there? One second they were battling it out, and the next he started freaking out in mid air. She was confused, but saw her chance and took it, now she was regretting her decision.
"Drake!" She clawed more of the debris off of him. "Say something! Are you okay?" She saw that he was back in human form and breathing erratically. Once enough of the debris had been cleared, He took a deep inhale and began to heal his body with his dragon powers.
"What happened up there?" She followed his lead and transformed back to her human figure. "You just started flipping out?"
Drake shook his head, unable to give her an adequate explanation. Before she could continue to dig him out a glowing orb floated in front of her, an orb showing Dirgelaff's face.
He examined the damage before smirking. "Well this is not how I imagined the duel would have went. Be a dear, Arabella, and finish off your opponent."
Her eyes widened before looking down at Drake who was… smiling? He glanced up at her and winked and after a moment, it slowly began to dawn on her why Drake was pushing for an Ignis Rexia.
She turned her attention to the orb. "You told us that you would observe our traditions of Ignis Rexia, this being the case, the duel is over when one of the knights is forced back into human form. A dragon knight knockout if you will. Death is not necessary."
Speechless. He went completely speechless with his eyes bulging for a moment. The sight of his lip and eye twitching only added to her pleasure. Drake had thought ahead and, once again, was able to best him.
Dirgelaff forced a smile. "Forgive me. When it comes to your traditions I'm a beginner. If you have beaten him, then I must announce you as the winner." The orb vanished and the real Dirgelaff stood up to announce Arabella the victor.
She looked down at Drake, and began to help dig him out until her attention was drawn to the entrance to the arena where The Arendellians and the Raptor had her sister safe and sound.
"Belly!" She looked down at Drake who had grabbed her arm.
"Go. I'm… okay."
She knew he was lying, but seeing Elsa and the others coming towards them, she knew he was in good hands. They passed each other as she ran to her sister and pulled her as close to herself as possible.
"Ari! I was so scared." The young girl sobbed. "They saved me, and him." She pointed at the Raptor who had hung back with Annabelle.
"She was very brave." He smiled.
Arabella pulled her sister close again. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I never meant for any of this to happen to you."
Annabelle pulled away. "Why did someone kidnap me? What did they want with me? You promised I'd always be safe."
Arabella felt her heart break, remembering the promise she made to her baby sister when she had to leave her with that family in England. She cupped her sister's cheeks with both hands. "This is all my fault, and I am so… so sorry."
Before she could explain further, she caught out of the corner of her eye Elsa, Anna and Kristoff helping to guide Drake out of the arena. Drake who was becoming a lot more worse for wear.
"Elsa!" She caught up to them, holding the queen back as the others went across the bridge. "Elsa what's wrong with him?"
Elsa was emitting a very frosty glare when she faced her. "I was hoping you could tell me. He's not just injured, something is wrong with him. His eyes are bloodshot, he's exhausted, what did you do to him?"
Taking offense Arabella lowered her brows. "I didn't do anything. Nothing out of the ordinary for a duel."
The snow queen's expression softened, but was now beginning to worry. "A-are you sure? He's—"
"Arabella!" They recognized Hans coming towards them, his arms outstretched in a congratulatory manner. "We've made it! We've won!"
Arabella glanced at Elsa and motioned for her to leave. As she took off, Arabella went to her sister who was being protected by the Raptor.
"Belly, stay away from them." Arabella met Hans halfway, her eyes black slits, and her teeth sharp. "Stay away from my sister, and me. We're done."
Hans lowered his arms, not at all put off by the fire she was glaring. "Fine by me, but deal's a deal. Meet with Landon and he'll get you the rest of your money?"
Arabella hissed, but he had raised his hands and was already stepping away.
"Ari?" the small voice of her sister sounded right behind her, "What was he talking about?"
Arabella let out a breath, slowly turning around to face her worried sister. "It's something we need to talk about." She took her sister's hand and the three of them headed down the bridge back to the tower.
—:0:—
"We need to leave," Elsa stated firmly. She and the others were quickly coming to their room and already she was going through a mental checklist of what it was she had to do before they left. "Pack your things. We have to get Arendelle ready for war."
"Elsa, Arendelle doesn't have an army." Said Anna. "We have soldiers sure, but not an army."
"Then we'll have to outsource to other kingdoms." Elsa responded.
Kristoff rolled his eyes. "Yeah cuz that worked so well the last time Arendelle asked for help. All those letters sent out and no one answered except some psychopath who likes chess too much."
"You… have me."
Elsa paused slowly turning around to face him and recoiled. The color had drained from his face, and his eyes were bloodshot. Occasionally his head would twitch in different directions as if others were talking to him. Others they couldn't see.
"Drake, what's going on with you? What did Arabella do to you?"
He blinked a few times. "I'm…"
She put her face inches from his, frost discharging from her body to softly cover him. "If you say you're fine, I'll hit you with a snowball so big—". She took a deep breath through the nose, but noticed something troubling. The frost that was on him wasn't melting. "Come on. We need to get out of here."
She opened the doors to their room. "Oh you've got to be kidding me?" Kristoff growled.
Sitting on a chair, beside the empty fireplace, sipping a cup of tea, was Landon. Without looking at them, he grinned into his cup. "What took you lot so long?" He snapped his fingers, setting a fire in the fireplace. "So how did it go?"
Elsa looked at him with her mouth on the ground. "H-How did you get out of that ice?"
With legs crossed and a pompous grin on his face he leaned back in his chair. "Well, your majesty, you're good, but I'm Landon." He winked at her, but his eyes drifted to the dragon knight and his face fell. "Bloody hell, tell me you didn't lose?"
His bloodshot eyes lazily lifted to meet him. "Go… too—". He fell off of Anna and Kristoff's shoulders, dropping to the ground with a thud and began seizing. While everyone in the room started scrambling, it was Elsa that was at his side in a second, calling his name and cradling his face. As soon as their skin made contact, a small burst of light exploded from his necklace, like a pop. Blue streaks of light crawled from his necklace and into his eyes. He stopped seizing, took a deep breath as if he had forgotten to breathe, and sat up straight, almost hitting Elsa in the nose with his forehead.
Now that he was up, everyone could sort of breathe in relief. "Drake are you okay?" Olaf asked.
He shook his head. "I have no idea. Right now I feel fine, but… I don't know…". He started rubbing his eyes. "I just saw fire. Flames a blood red, and the sounds of screaming." He shuddered with fear. "God the screaming. Just pure agony, sadness—"
"—pain? Torment?" All eyes were on Landon. "The type of cries that tells you that the pain won't be stopping any time soon?"
Drake slowly nodded. "How'd you know?" Landon was quiet, his attention fixed on Drake. His brows narrowed as he got closer to Drake, the palm of his hand extended to rest on Drake's chest. "Uh, what, erm, what are you doing?"
Landon pressed his hand to his chest, his eyes closing, but his eyeballs still twitched beneath his lids. "There's… Something inside of you… something demonic… I think…"
"You think?" Elsa asked.
"It's demonic, but also… not. I'm not quite sure."
"How do you know?" Drake asked.
Landon allowed himself a grin. "Oh right, you don't know. Well I guess the best answer is that it takes one, to know one." He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again Drake was met with two blood red orbs staring back at him.
Drake scrambled back in both surprise and fear, even Elsa cowered away from him. "Get behind me," Elsa felt Drake take her by the arm and gently guide her until she was behind him. "You're a demon?"
Landon got to his feet as the red in his eyes vanished. "Well yeah. I've already been through this with everyone else so the 'wow' factor is gone." He strolled back to his chair by the fireplace. "If someone would like to catch him up, I'll just be here reminiscing about the fact that all my hard work was just tossed out the window."
"Your hard work?" Anna shouted. "What did you do?"
"What haven't I done!?" The area around Landon began to quiver as an unseen force began emanating from his body, A force dark and oppressing that began to reach towards them like tentacles. Kristoff held Anna close and Olaf clung to his leg as Drake made sure Elsa was safe behind him, neither of them knowing what was going to happen. "Ever since Hans made me his bitch I've been trying to stop his scheme of world domination from coming true."
"I thought demons enjoyed darkness and chaos?" Drake wondered aloud.
Landon closed his eyes to banish the red that had returned, and slowly the darkness began to dissipate. "True. However chaos is so messy and uncivilized. I'm more into 'organized chaos'. I know where everything is, how everything operates, everything works like gears in one big messy clock."
"And Hans doesn't care for organized chaos I assume." Elsa poked her head out from behind Drake's shoulder. She didn't need him to protect her, but she wasn't going to push him aside either.
Landon rolled his eyes. "The lad is impatient. He wants power and status, and he doesn't care how he gets it just as long as it's fast. Once he got the invitation to this tournament, and I told him that Dirgelaff was good for his word to grant any wish, all he wanted to do was win and get his army. This, and the fact that I loathe the little bastard, I've been trying to sabotage his plans ever since he enslaved me."
"And how did a prince from Denmark manage that?" Drake smirked, finding the idea of Landon in someone's servitude rather entertaining.
Landon slowly turned, lowering the lapels of his suit to expose his neck and the brand in the shape of a six sided star. "Somehow, he managed to get ahold of the ring of Solomon. One touch and I belonged to him." Drake couldn't help but snort with laughter. "I'm glad you think this is funny. I for one am not a fan of forced imprisonment."
"Says the guy who got me and Olaf captured." Kristoff muttered under his breath.
Before Drake could ask what he meant, Landon continued. "As soon as he marked me, he would talk for hours and hours about Arendelle and it's snow queen and how he longed for her head on a spike. I was curious, so I wandered into Arendelle to get a look for myself, and not only did I witness her breathtaking icy abilities, but also a Dragon Knight hunting werewolves," he reached for his teacup, "I knew then and there if I wanted to bring Hans and his plans to a halt you were the ones to do it."
Elsa narrowed her eyes, her fingers grazing Drake's arm. "Any particular reason you didn't just ask us for help? We would have."
He shrugged. "Hans ordered me to keep his plans to myself. I literally couldn't say a word, ask for help, spoil it for anyone, nothing. So I had to get creative." He took a sip of his tea. "Which is why I had to kill that kraken and poison your fjord."
Elsa had been paying close attention to what he had been saying, and when those words left his mouth, she felt her blood run cold, then begin to boil. "You?" She slowly walked around Drake towards Landon. "You poisoned my kingdom?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Yup, and sabotaged all your letters for help. I had to make you desperate enough to join this tournament and beat Hans. Believe you me, it was the biggest gamble of my, well, afterlife and in the end, the die still didn't land in my favor."
Elsa's fists were clenched into tight balls, ice crackling dangerously off of her body. "You poisoned MY kingdom? My home?! My people?! People that have died!"
He was dismissive of her growing anger. "Unfortunately they died for nothing considering Drake here—"
Elsa released another wave of ice, the force of which extinguished the fire and pushed him against the mantle. Elongated spikes grew from the ice around her, pointing in all directions but specifically towards him, where her rage was focused.
She spoke through clenched teeth, with pure venom in your usual sweet tone. "You… you hurt people and you don't even care?!"
Landon, no longer amused, used his own power to push against hers. Black mist began to shroud them both, mixing with her ice magic in a freezing display of cold and dark.
"You should be grateful. Had I not done what I had done, you wouldn't have the heads up you have now about Hans." A sickening snear fanned across his lips. "Besides, you're one to talk about 'hurting others' and 'not caring'."
Rage and hatred had been pulsing through her body so furiously that she hadn't heard the shudders and pleading from her own family. A shivering Kristoff was holding Anna as close to himself as possible to keep each other warm. Olaf, though not affected by the growing cold, was more disturbed by the crawling darkness, forcing him to cower beside them. Most disturbing of all was Drake, on his knees, shaking from the cold. Horrified with herself, she quickly attempted to rein in her escaping magic, but her worry and mounting guilt kept her unable to place a firm grasp on it. Drawing them back as much as she could for the moment, she ran to her sister first.
"Anna! I'm so sorry, I didn't…"
Anna shook her head in Kristoff's chest. "Uh h-h-huh. I'm m-m-mad to, but your d-d-d-doing f-f-fine for the b-b-both of us."
"I'm more worried about Drake." Olaf pointed to the dragon knight who was now on the floor, curled up into a quivering ball.
She fell to her knees beside him, her hands seeking to comfort him as they rested on his shoulder. "Drake… I'm so sorry."
He had shut his eyes and was curling further into himself. "I've n-n-n-n-never b-b-bbeen c-c-c-c-cold bef-f-f-fore."
She ripped her hands away from him, assuming that her touch wasn't helping him. Tears stinging the back of her eyes she turned to Landon. "What's happening to him?"
While her powers were matching her erratic and guilt ridden behaviors, his had already faded back into his body. "I don't know, but whatever it is he needs professional help."
"We need t-t-to get him-m-m b-b-back to Arendelle." Kristoff shivered.
Landon shook his head. "No 'professional' help. Someone that actually knows what's going on and how to help him." He thought for a moment. "He needs to go back to Kuarlong."
Seeing this ray of hope, Elsa's powers began to fade, bringing warmth back into the room and slowing their shaking.
"Okay then, we'll go to Kuarlong, and they'll be able to help him." She said optimistically.
Drake shook his head. "You need t-t-to get to Arendelle."
With the cold beginning to vanish, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf knelt beside him, to help warm him faster.
"We've got to get you better first," said Anna.
"Besides," Kristoff added, "if Hans gets an army I'm sure you'll be able to take them out all by yourself. So getting you better would be a smart idea."
With his shivering starting to subside, Drake pointed at Landon, "Unless he gets more of him." They all looked at Landon, Kristoff mentioning that Landon was stabbed in the chest and acted like he was bitten by a bug.
"Can he do that?" Elsa worried, "Can he get an army of more things like you?"
Landon thought on her question for a second. "Possibly."
As the Arendellians reflected on his cryptic answer, the doors of their room were thrown open. Arabella and Annabelle hurried inside, as the Raptor slammed the door behind them. "Geez, why is it so cold in here?" Annabelle threw her arms around herself as she began to shiver.
Seeing the urgency of the three caused Elsa to ask, "What's going on? What's happening?"
Arabella ushered her sister into the washroom and locked the door. "Don't come out for any reason," she called, "Dirgelaff is coming, and he's pissed."
"No surprise," Raptor stood by the door, keeping his ear pressed against wood, "Drake bested his game again and made it out alive."
Landon motioned to Drake with his cup. "'Alive' being a generous term."
Looking back at him, Drake was starting to warm up, but he was still looking off enough that Arabella was concerned. "What's happening to him?"
"We were hoping you knew," Anna glared, "he was fine until his duel with you."
Arabella snorted, taking offense to her insinuation. "I didn't do anything out of the ordinary for a Ignis Rexia. The only thing that happened was I sliced him on his shoulder, and it wasn't anything to get worried about." She extended her collapsible trident. "See. Nothing weird about it."
Landon flicked his wrist, pulling the trident towards him with an unseen power. He examined it all over, but his attention was drawn to the points. He took a few sniffs, his brows raising in recognition, and his eyes narrowing at Arabella.
"What is it?" She asked.
He scrutinized her as she spoke, her body movements, and her eyes. "You genuinely don't know? Your weapon was tainted with something demonic, once you stabbed, cut, sliced, or whatever, then it was transferred to the dragon boy."
Elsa couldn't help feeling her anger rising again, and yet watching the female knight, who had gone slack jawed and quiet, it was clear that she had no idea what she had done. Her violet eyes dropped to Drake as he struggled to get to his feet.
"I...did that… to him?"
Olaf, who had little interactions with Arabella, took her by the hand. "I don't think it's your fault. You didn't know you hurt him."
She looked down at him and took her hand back. "But it was still—"
"—we'll have to play the blame game later." The Raptor withdrew his sword. "They're coming."
Arabella began breathing raggedly, smoke billowing from her nose and mouth in a rage. "I'm right behind you." She took back her trident. "We'll give you some time to get out of here."
"Wait how are we supposed to get out of here?" Kristoff asked.
"I'll handle that." Landon nodded to Raptor and Arabella, letting them know they could leave the room. Once they were gone his attention was on the others. "I can send you to Kuarlong, one way trip."
Drake braced himself against Kristoff. "How?"
Landon started flourishing his hand until black smoke began dancing over his fingers. "Demon's can transport themselves anywhere they need to. It's a bit tougher doing it for someone else, but it can be done. Little flick of the wrist here, black demon smoke there, and bob's your uncle, you're home."
"Alright perfect!" Anna clapped, "this kinda sounds like fun." She grabbed Kristoff by the arm. "Come on let's go."
Landon closed his fist to vanish the smoke. "What do you think I'm just handing out freebies? No, no, no. I scratch your back, you scratch mine."
Drake scoffed. "Shocker."
"Okay," Olaf removed one of his arms and approached Landon.
Elsa stepped in front of him, meeting Landon face to face. "Fine. What do you want?"
Drake called after her, his voice rising with warning. "Elsa—"
"—the leash around my neck off!" Landon growled, black energy shooting from his body again. "I want Hans' control over me broken!"
Elsa lowered her head. "Fine. How do we do that?"
"It's simple." Said Drake. "Just take the ring off his finger."
"He's correct. Remove the ring, remove the bond."
Kristoff snorted. "Yup. Super easy." Anna smacked him, but his comment was more or less ignored.
"Fine," Elsa stated, "get is to Kuarlong and we'll make sure we set you free."
He slowly approached her with a small shake of his head. "That's not how it works. Either you set me free, within six months, or I take something of yours."
He stood over her now, but Elsa wasn't backing down, even when red started dancing in his eyes. "Alright then. What do you want?"
He smiled. "If I'm not free in six months, I get your soul."
Drake leapt towards her, but stumbled to the ground. "Elsa no!"
She kept her eyes on Landon's as her mind tried to make sense of what he was demanding. "My soul?"
"Indeed. A common requirement for demon deals. Don't worry, if or when it's mine, you won't be condemned to the pit, it'll just keep me warm at night for as long as I exist."
Drake pushed himself towards Landon, but he didn't get far. "Which won't be much longer—"
"—I'll do it."
Her family dropped their mouths to the floor, Anna in particular taking her sister by the arm. "Elsa, think about this for a second."
Elsa faced her sister with determination glowing in her sapphire eyes. "I am, and I know for a fact that each of you wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing for me, and don't try to tell me otherwise."
They fell silent, all except for Drake who had taken her by the hand. "Elsa, please, I'm not worth your soul."
She looked into his hazel eyes, but her resolve hadn't wavered. "I'll be the judge of that. You've already done so much for my kingdom, for my family," her eyes fell, "and for me. Now it's my turn to do something to you."
His grip on her hand tightened. "Elsa please—"
"—Drake, I'm asking you to please trust me," she cupped his face with her hand. "It's going to be okay." He was seconds from pleading again, but she had already turned to Landon. "Deal. How do we do this? Is there a contract? A handshake?"
He snickered as he got closer, Elsa having to crane her neck to meet his lifeless eyes. "Not quite. A deal with me must be sealed with a kiss. And this isn't just me trying to sink my teeth into those full, cherry lips. It's just the rules of the road."
She blushed as she bit her bottom lip, but her resolve was still unwavering. "Fine." He leaned in towards her lips, but she stopped him with her hand. "One last thing." She took Drake's hand again while her other held Anna's. "If he dies, the deal's off."
Landon moved his eyes above his head, thinking carefully about her request. Finally he shrugged. "Fair enough. He dies and our deal is void." With that out of the way, she came closer to him, ready to accept the terms of their deal. Landon placed his hand on the back of her head, gently guiding her until their lips met.
The second person she ever kissed, and it was for signing her soul away. Whatever that meant.
He "mph'd" into her mouth, when he felt frigid ice creeping up his lips and covering the lower half of his face. She pulled away with a satisfied smirk watching him move his hands along the ice covering his mouth.
"Cute." He muffled. "Gather as close together as you can." They did as they were told, all of them now connected by holding hands. "Six months darling. If I'm not free in six months, your soul is mine."
"That won't happen." Drake snarled.
Landon shrugged. "I hope not. Truly I do." He brought his fingers up, ready to snap them. "Oh and, uh, bend your knees."
Snap!
