Chapter Forty Four

Tension

ELSA

Elsa couldn't help but entertain the thoughts that swam in and out of her head which was feeling a little foggy from lack of sleep. Even at breakfast, with the Insurgents and the Warriors broken off into smaller circles around small tables chatting loudly over a simple meal of bread, fish and eggs, she still couldn't seem to drown out the thoughts that screamed at her in her mind.

"You almost kissed him." One voice hissed at her. It'd repeated itself over and over again like a broken record since the night before when Elsa had leaned in and had caught herself in time. "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," she mumbled to herself with her mouth full of fish.

"What?"

Elsa blinked and looked up to see Holli looking at her with her head slightly cocked.

"You say something, Frost?" Jade asked.

"No, no." Elsa shook her head and swallowed. She hadn't realised that she had spoken aloud. This thing was really getting to her, reducing her to nothing more than a helpless romantic, and she hated it.

"You look tired." Will said in concern. "Did you sleep well?"

"I bet she slept well with our newest Insurgent." Jade snickered. "An initiation eh?"

"What? No, no, no!" Elsa protested, her eyes growing wide.

The idea of her having more to do with the mercenary than she had let on had became a rumour and it had spread like wildfire, apparently. All the Warriors were now acutely aware that she had a special connection with Janus, their former enemy, and had each formed their own conclusions as to how deep that connection went.

It didn't help that she couldn't just outright deny it. On some level, even though they were doing so in jest, it was the truth to some extent. There was something between her and Janus, only she hadn't figured it out completely yet.

And that was what had caused her sleepy disposition at breakfast. After escaping from Janus' room, she had spent a good while sitting on her thin mattress hugging her knees in the privacy of one of the rooms and trying to convince herself that she had only tried to kiss him because of the heat and tenderness of the moment.

After all, he had just opened up about himself to her, which was extremely rare by the stoic mercenary's standards. She'd felt like she had finally gotten through to Janus, and had been feeling triumphant. At least that's what she'd convinced herself of. How true that was, she didn't know. That moment in the room where their lips had almost touched was fuzzy and the memories a messy blur, much to her annoyance.

After that, it had been nearly impossible for her to nod off, even though she tried. With the various thoughts dancing around in her mind, she simply could not and had spent most of the night tossing and turning. And now at breakfast, her dishevelled, untidy appearance seemed to speak volumes.

Her usually neat and groomed hair was looking more like Anna's when she just woke up, and she hadn't really bothered to fix her hair just yet. The best she had done as a quick remedy was to brush it in haste and to leave it down without tying it into a braid just yet. Maybe she would settle it later…

"Elsa? Hello?"

She blinked and found that Tracy was waving a hand inches in front of her face. Elsa looked at her and batted her hand away crossly.

"What is it?"

"I said, so did you have a good time with your Janus last night?" Tracy snorted.

"I left him alone to recover." Elsa answered. That was true, wasn't it? "What do you think I would've done with a man who was trying to heal from a broken back?"

"Aww, she's blushing." Jade sniggered. "Look at her cheeks."

Elsa's hands immediately flew to her cheeks and covered them. She scowled at Jade and Tracy. Together, those two were unstoppable mischief. It was a wonder she'd put up with them both up till now.

"Look, we're just friends, alright?" Elsa said. "I spared him down at the docks, he saved me from being shot down, and then I saved him for execution. It's just a professional courtesy." She herself knew it was a weak explanation.

"Yeah, keep lying to yourself." Jade laughed.

"Come on, you really expect us to believe that?" Tracy snorted again. "Coz I don't think you believe it yourself."

Elsa rolled her eyes and glanced at the others for support. Deirdre just shrugged her shoulders, and Will continued tucking into his breakfast, while Holli looked hesitant.

"Jokes aside and all," Holli said softly. "Maybe you should sort out your feelings for him, whatever they are."

"So now you're a doctor, and a therapist too." Elsa mumbled under her breath. But she knew that Holli was right. She needed to get her head on straight, especially since there was a mission coming up in the later part of the morning.

She shovelled the last bit of fish and eggs into her mouth and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Jade asked.

"I'm just going to check on Janus." Elsa braced herself. "To make sure he's recovered."

She darted out of the room, trying to escape the laughter from the two obnoxious girls that were burning in her ears. Elsa found the room where she had left Janus in and hesitated outside, holding in her breath. She found that her mind had gone blank, as if it were wiped clean by someone, and she didn't know what to say to him once she walked through that door.

Panicking a little, she gripped at the hem of her dress and ran a hand through her still unkempt hair. She tried to smooth it out a little. It wouldn't do for Janus to see her in such a dishevelled state. What would he think of her? And then she caught herself. A desire to impress him? Really? What had she resorted to?

And then the memory of the kiss flooded back in, washing away the prior thoughts about her appearance and filling Elsa with an overwhelming amount of embarrassment. She still couldn't believe what she'd almost done. Nevertheless, she drew in a long breath and squared her shoulders. Knocking on the door, she pushed it open and entering the room before she could change her mind.

Inside, she found Janus already sitting at the side of the bed, half dressed and lacing up his black boots. His upper body was still bare, and she had to blink to keep herself from getting distracted.

She opened her mouth to say something and found that she didn't know what. Standing there for a moment with her mouth gaping slightly, Elsa felt like an idiot.

"Good morning." Janus saved her the embarrassment. "I'm guessing you're here to find out if I'm better."

"Yes." She managed.

He stood up and she winced a little, but he showed no signs of pain. Holli really did work wonders, Elsa mused. She should be stationed in the medic's tent at the rear end of a battlefield. The casualties would be in and out of the tent before the day was over and back on the warfront in no time.

"I'll have to thank Holli for that." Janus said as he pulled on a dark grey shirt and began zipping up his usual black jacket which served as a layer of protection for the mercenary. Apparently he had cleaned the blood off his clothes as best as he could.

"You shouldn't be up and about so soon. Your body still needs time to heal fully."

"I don't like lying down." He said. "You don't happen to have a spare mask lying around somewhere, do you?"

She was a little amused by the question. "I'm afraid not."

"I need a new mask. Kane still has my old one."

"You don't need a mask."

Janus shook his head. "You don't understand."

"Why? Because you have a big scar on your cheek?"

He dropped his eyes. Obviously that meant a yes.

"You don't have to hide your face," Elsa said gently. "No one's going to judge you for that."

"Still, I'll like to have a mask. It helps me focus." He bent and a cracking sound could be audibly heard.

"Careful." Elsa said anxiously, wincing a little.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Janus straightened up. "Just a little sore."

"Still, I would prefer if you'd lie down and rest."

"Why?" Janus had a slight gleam in his eye, a far cry from the sorry state he'd been in the previous night. "So you can try to kiss me again?"

Elsa bristled and stiffened. She could feel her body grow numb as she tried to figure out what to say. But her mind was annoyingly blank.

"Y-you knew?" she finally whispered. He'd been putting on his gloves while patiently waiting for her to say something.

Janus nodded. "My back was broken, but my other senses were still working fine."

"I'm sorry." She spluttered.

"Why?"

"It was a mistake." Elsa could feel her cheeks grow hotter by the second and she was tempted to cool them down with the palms of her hands. "I shouldn't have tried something stupid like that."

Janus cocked his head slightly. "It wasn't stupid."

"I felt so embarrassed." Elsa dropped her eyes. "I'd never done something impulsive like that before."

"And that was your first attempt at kissing someone?"

Elsa felt something flip flop in her stomach as Janus inched closer to her.

"Yes."

"It wasn't a bad one." Janus said quietly, coming to a stop before her. He gently ran one hand through her still messy hair. His other hand rested on Elsa's chin, lifting it so that her eyes met his.

She gazed up into his narrow brown eyes, which seemed to spell out the solidified, undeniable truth: that he had feelings for her too.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've never kissed anyone before either." Janus said in his low, soothing baritone voice. "I'm just as new to this as you are. But I'm…I'm willing to try."

"Try what?" she asked coyly, unsure of where this previously hidden confidence was coming from It was like there was a hidden well inside her which she had not been privy to up till this point.

"This." With his hand still gently on her chin, he bent over slightly so that they were more or less level. He was a tall man, and the fact that Elsa was tall too made it easier.

She tiptoed slightly and lifted her head to meet him, her mind swirling about as all other thoughts and fear were cast aside for the moment. All that was in front of her was the man she'd yearned for, and the person who'd unknowingly won her heart more than a year ago. This instance was all that existed in the world. Her world.

As she closed her eyes and drew in closer to him, she could feel his warm breath against her face. This was it. This was no longer impulse, but a mutual agreement to enjoy this very moment.

"Elsa!"

With cat-like reflexes, Elsa jerked herself backward and out of the close proximity she had been sharing with Janus. And just in time too.

The door flew open a second later, and Tracy made her presence known. "Good, I thought I'd find you in here." She hesitated and bristled. "Wait," she glanced back and forth between Elsa and Janus. "Were you two in the middle of something steamy? Did I interrupt?"

"What are you doing here?" Elsa couldn't help but snap. "What's going on?"

"Melody's back." Tracy blurted out, and her eyes seemed to be laughing at Elsa, or maybe it was simply her wild imagination.

"What?" Elsa stared at her wide-eyed. "Here? In the base?"

"Yeah, she just showed up out of nowhere. Now come on!" Tracy hastened towards the door and beckoned to her before vanishing out of sight.

Elsa glanced at Janus. "I'm sorry, I have to-"

"It's okay," Janus said reassuringly as he walked back towards the bedside. "Go, I'll catch up with you."

Elsa took one last look at him before turning to run out of the room after Tracy. She and Janus would just have to pick up where they left off later. Jogging down the hall, Elsa caught up with Tracy.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something intimate." Tracy grinned, slowing down her pace a fraction.

Elsa scowled at her. "Can we focus here? You said Melody's back?"

"Yeah, Jade came to tell me, and asked me to help fetch you." Tracy explained as they turned the corner in the direction of the makeshift war room. "Jade said she appeared out of nowhere as if she had been using magic or something, which isn't possible, coz Melody's a regular human."

"Was anyone else with her?" Elsa asked hopefully. "Anna? Maui?"

"Not from what I heard. It's just her."

Elsa's spirits dampened a little. A part of her had hoped that maybe Anna was here too. They were in need of a much-delayed reunion. The last time they'd seen each other was back in Arendelle before they'd split into their separate teams to infiltrate Denmark.

But if Melody was back, then that meant that Anna and Maui were okay, right? Elsa and Tracy hastily walked down the stairs towards the common hall where Melody had apparently made her appearance.

They were greeted by the sight of a great many insurgents gathering around in something resembling an odd-shaped circle, with Deirdre, Jade, Will and - as Tracy had said - Melody, in the middle.

She looked refreshed, with a renewed sense of purpose on her face, with her gaze focused and composed. In her hand was a gleaming new bow which looked rather fancy, though Elsa herself didn't really know anything about archery. It looked modern, as if from another time period. All in all, she looked like she was ready to take on the entire army of the Imperial Horde single handedly, and it was a reassuring sight to Elsa's eyes.