Third person POV
The royal guards stood on their posts by the pier. Soon, the Queen of Arendelle herself joined to watch their ally approach. Slowly but surely, the fleet of three Corona ships made their way into the fjord and into the bay.
A guard on a tower next to the gate of the bay communicated with the sailor on the leading ship's crow's nest, signalling them to settle their boats on the empty spots where the royalties were ready to welcome them. Thus, they did.
One nervous person among the royalties was one who wouldn't necessarily admit being one, Hiccup. He made sure that his collar was tidy, though it was slightly choking him. The Berkian nervously gulped, not wanting to make a bad initial impression.
"So how many crates of fur did you and Elsa order?" Anna asked her lover.
To help himself remember, Hiccup scratched his hair. "Uhh… we settled with the same number we requested on our previous order. Can't remember how many. Sorry."
Anna sighed, wishing he had an accurate answer. "It's alright."
"So… what is she like?" Hiccup asked Anna.
"Appearance wise? Or personality wise?" Anna asked back.
Hiccup shrugged. "Both."
"The last time we met, she had short brown hair. I remember that she was supposed to be blond, but there's a very interesting story behind that. She might tell you sometime," Anna replied. She cracked her knuckles and curled a big smile on her lips. "She's kind of like me if I'm being honest. We connect so well."
The thought of the similar personality made Hiccup snort. "Oh wow, two Anna's in the same place."
The leading ship of the fleet finally came to a stop right before the presence of Anna herself. Informally, the Corona sailors waved their hands from onboard, which was warmly returned by everybody.
Once a plank of wood was secured to bridge the dock and the ship's deck, Corona guards stepped down the plank. Not long after, a short figure dressed in a cloak stepped down. The eyes of the figure immediately locked with Anna's. Consumed in a longing feeling, Queen Anna rushed to welcome her cousin.
"Rapunzel!"
"Anna!"
The Queen of Corona and the Queen of Arendelle crashed into each other's arms. In the process, Rapunzel's hood was lifted off, revealing the same brown hair that Anna described to Hiccup and a face distinctively related to Anna. Similar nose, similar eye shape, but still different enough to be distinguished.
While the two queens were enjoying each other's embrace, a man with a peculiar goatee stepped down along some Corona guards. He merely watched the two queens in front of him with a smile.
"Welcome back, Punz," Anna greeted, pulling away from the hug. While doing so, he noticed the man behind her cousin. "Ah, Eugene. Hi! Welcome!"
"Hello, Queen Anna," Eugene greeted. Anna proceeded to give him a hug as well, which Eugene returned warmly.
Anna was about to break a small talk. However, it didn't take long for Anna to learn that everybody was fighting against the cold. "Shall we get going? You can unload the fur later once it's a tad warmer."
The Corona couple nodded to the offer. With that, they followed Anna's lead but only to stop before passing Hiccup.
"Ah, this is my boyfriend, Hiccup. Hiccup, Rapunzel and Eugene." Anna gestured to the Viking. Inevitably, Hiccup blushed at the word 'boyfriend'.
"Ohh, nice to meet you," Rapunzel extended an arm and had a handshake with him. Her eyes did a brief scan of the so-called Anna's boyfriend before her. "I like your beard."
"Now come on, Blondie," Eugene cut in and took Hiccup's arm to shake. "This is the real deal," He remarked while caressing his goatee and showing off his perfectly lined teeth.
'Blondie?' Hiccup asked himself mentally. "I believe it is, sir."
"See? Even the guy himself agrees," Eugene childishly added. The remark was only scoffed by Rapunzel.
Everyone proceeded to walk in a formation mainly to protect the royalties from all sides. Arendellian guards lining up on Anna's side, and Corona guards on Rapunzel's. Despite the very cold air, the cousins never ceased to talk to each other, erupting laughter every now and then. However, the same thing could not be found between Eugene and Hiccup. Eugene did not seem to care whatsoever, as his eyes were preoccupied by the alien village buildings around him and the villagers watching them march to the castle.
Trying to break the ice, Hiccup proceeded with a curious question, "So why did you call her Blondie?"
Eugene immediately turned to him. "Oh, Old habits die hard. There's a very… long and complex story behind it. But if we put it simply, she was born a blondie due to a magical flower and now she's a brunette because we had it cut."
The supposedly simple version of the story did not make any sense in Hiccup's head, no matter how hard he tried to process it. "She had a haircut and dyed her hair brown?"
"No, no, pal," Eugene denied, giving a pat to Hiccup's shoulder. "When she cut her hair, the hair turned brown."
Hiccup finally got it. "Oh. So, why did it turn brown after cutting it?"
"It just did. She also lost her magical power to heal after it was cut," Eugene nonchalantly replied. Hiccup on the other hand was pretty chalant.
"W-What—"
Hiccup was cut short when he suddenly collapsed on the ground. Everyone halted on their ground to find that Hiccup's prosthetic leg had somehow broken. A coil had made it out of the prosthetic, no longer connecting the base of the leg and the metal 'foot'.
"You okay pal?" Eugene helped him stand up. "Huh, I never noticed your peg leg there."
"Yeah. Thanks," Hiccup replied and dusted off the snow on his outfit. Anna approached her lover in concern.
"How about you hop on one of the horses?" Anna suggested.
Hiccup shook his head, having another idea in his head. "I'll have it fixed really quick at the barn. And I promise you it's not me running away again."
Anna had a good look in his eyes to catch any hint of a lie. "Alright. Take Mikkel's horse." Anna eyed one of her guards on a horse, and he approached Hiccup. "I'll see you at the castle."
Mikkel hopped off the horse and let Hiccup hop on. "Alright. See you."
With that, Hiccup left the party and headed into the woods dividing the Olson's barn and the village. Zigzagging through the snowy trees, he was welcomed by the sight of the barn right away.
He stopped before the large raildoor of the barn, hopped off (and landed terribly), and banged the door. "Hiccup here. Someone let me in."
The door opened and Valka turned out to be the one who opened it. "Son? Why did you return?"
Hiccup gestured at his broken prosthetic. "This…" He entered the barn with the horse and let the animal roam around for the time being. "I need a chisel, a hammer, and any small coil I can fit in this."
"Alright," Valka replied and went to search for the tools her son requested.
It didn't take long for them to collect the necessities to fix Hiccup's prosthetic. The Viking brought everything to a small workshop at the corner of the barn where a candle was ready to help him work.
Valka, not having anything to do, sat next to her son and watched him work in silence.
"Oh yeah, mom…" Hiccup started. "I'm not going to sleep here for a while… Anna wants me by her side."
The mother scoffed. "It was about time."
The son gave her a look. "Really now?"
Valka let out a chuckle. "I can understand why you'd prefer spending the nights here after what happened. I truly do. I don't blame you for spending more time with us than with her. If anything, as a mother, I'm quite happy to have my son nearby."
Hiccup stopped working briefly to lock his gaze onto her mother's.
"However…" Valka broke the silence. "I think staying by your lover's side will help, too."
Hiccup returned his attention back to his prosthetic. "I know…"
"We all are broken people, Hiccup. Not just you. The Arendellian sisters are broken too, I believe, after witnessing what befell upon our people" Valka remarked. Her remark made Hiccup gasp slightly. "We have been close allies for the past two decades anyway, despite our absence when the dragon raids were at their peak."
Hiccup stopped his work after he managed to squeeze the coil into his prosthetic only to stare at it.
"Share the pain, son," Valka planted a kiss on her son's hair. "It might never leave, but sharing it will certainly ease it. Share it to us, to Elsa, and to Anna…"
A tear managed to escape Hiccup's green eyes despite his attempt to hold it. Quickly, he wiped it off.
Hiccup faced his mother and smiled. "Thank you, mom. I will."
The mother and the son shared a tight hug. After several seconds, Hiccup pulled away and tested his work on the prosthetic. He walked around, sprinted briefly, hopped here and there, and eventually concluded that everything was okay with his peg leg.
"Alright mom, I'll be leaving for now."
The mother merely nodded as she stood up to open the rail door. Right away, a harsh blow of cold wind entered the room. Apparently, a blizzard had stirred up without the two knowing.
"See you! Be careful!" Valka waved at his son who hopped on his horse and commanded it to gallop into the blizzard.
Once inside the blizzard, Hiccup steered his horse to cross the valley and into the same woods. The woods dividing the village and the barn were not wide by any means, but it was thick enough to block the view of the village on the other side.
Inside the woods, the horse stopped sprinting and merely walked through the trees to not hit any. Hiccup tried his best to keep a grip on the horse, but he was struggling because of the harsh wind.
Suddenly, Hiccup sensed a sting in his nose. It made him sneeze right away.
"Hachoo!"
Hiccup wiped away any snot that he might have been released and returned his attention on getting out of the woods.
"Let's go Mikkel's horse…" Hiccup spoke under his breath, not knowing the horse's name.
The horse walked and walked, for so long that Hiccup suspected that they had gone in the wrong direction. To check, Hiccup flipped open the cap of a compass he wore on his wrist. The harsh wind was only making things harder for him to see the needle.
"W-west… Our path is correct…" Hiccup closed the cap of his compass and looked forward, only to spot a peeking pair of eyes behind a tree.
"WHOA–"
Due to his sudden screaming, the horse jumped briefly. "Whoa! Easy now… easy…"
With a quick rub on the neck, the horse calmed down. Once calmed down, Hiccup looked up ahead once again, but there was nobody.
"Great beard of Odin's…" He patted the horse's neck gently, signalling it to go. "Let's go…"
The horse walked in the same phase. This time, Hiccup tried his best to constantly scan his surroundings. Left, right, rear, front. He would check in that order.
When he looked to his right, a living corpse jumped on him with its mouth ready to bite.
"AHH!"
The contact made Hiccup fall off the horse. The corpse's jaws captured Hiccup's forearm and caused great pain. They may seem blunt but the pressure applied by the corpse was great enough to pierce through Hiccup's leather sleeve.
"GET OFF ME!"
The weight of the corpse pinned Hiccup down. While attempting to break free, Hiccup noticed that the 'attire' of the corpse was… Berkian. It wore a helmet with horns that most likely belonged to its mother. Its flesh was torn apart, very much caused by blades, revealing the bones and veins inside.
As Hiccup continued to struggle, he sensed the corpse' teeth digging deeper into his skin.
"AHH–"
Despite the pain, the Viking prepared his foot to break free. Right when Hiccup was about to kick the corpse off, he discovered that there was nothing on top of him. There was no wound on his forearm. There was nothing at all but the horse staring at him weirdly.
Hiccup processed everything for a brief moment until the cold made him stand up.
"Thanks for not abandoning me…" He spoke to the horse.
'What the Hel was that?'
'Was that real or not?!'
'Am I sick or something?'
Questions after questions kept popping up inside Hiccup's head as he cut through the blizzard towards the castle. Upon reaching the gate, the guards recognized him right away and let him in without letting Hiccup slow down for his convenience.
Right in front of the entrance of the castle, Hiccup hopped off the horse and muttered to himself, "I need to seek for a solution…"
"A what now, sir?"
The Viking turned to the source of the question and found an Arendellian guard about to take the horse away from him. He looked at Hiccup with slight concern.
"Ah, it's nothing. Thanks for taking the horse," Hiccup replied, patting the horse.
"Anytime, sir."
With rush, Hiccup knocked on the large wooden door with the rings on it. A male servant opened from the other side and let the Viking enter. Once the servant recognized who the guest was, he spoke, "Ah, Mr. Haddock. Your Majesty is waiting in the–"
"Sorry, Arne, tell her that I'm in the library!" Hiccup cut Arne's news and left immediately to the library, dusting off snow on his outfit along the way.
'I remember a section in the library named psychology… and another named supernatural… or history… either of these will probably have an answer to this horror!' Hiccup thought to himself.
Only after Hiccup left for quite a distance did Arne the servant murmur, "Um… but that's where Queen Anna is currently at, too."
Sprinting across the halls and up the stairs wore Hiccup out by the time he arrived at the library's door. He took his moment to catch his breath, and while doing so, he caught familiar voices from the other side of the door instead. Chattering.
"Anna? And is that… Cassandra?" Hiccup asked himself, pushing the door open. He was right, both Anna and Cassandra were there by the desks of the library. Not just them, but also the Corona royalties.
Cassandra seemed to be sharing a hug with the Queen of Corona herself, and they took their time in doing so. The queen's lover was impatiently waiting for his turn which never seemed to arrive.
The sight made the viking puzzled.
Anna, who was merely watching the scene in awe, noticed Hiccup's appearance and approached him. "Hiccup! Can you believe it? Cassandra and Rapunzel were best friends!"
Hiccup breathed a "huhh?" in response, becoming even more confused. "So she lied about being from Therondia?"
Anna took him by the arm and escorted him to join the moment. "No, no… this is before she went to Therondia. She was the… um…"
"Lady-in-waiting," Cassandra added, letting go of Rapunzel. She turned to face both Anna and Hiccup. "I was her lady-in-waiting, though I wanted to be a part of the royal guards. However, being her close assistant did involve drawing my blade out a lot of times," Cassandra sarcastically remarked, crossing her arms. Her remark made the Queen of Corona chuckle in embarrassment.
"It's true," Eugene added. "What an unexpected reunion, cold heart," he smirked.
"Heh. Come here you dog," Cassandra pulled Eugene by the sleeve and crashed herself into his arms. The smirk on Eugene's face turned into a warm smile.
The brief explanation was too brief for Hiccup's liking that he couldn't find himself joining the emotion of the occasion. He was still confused about what was going on.
"Time out," Hiccup spoke up and waved both his hands. "Pardon me, but… I'm still confused."
"I suppose I do owe you two an explanation," Cassandra sheepishly replied, scoffing. She sat down on one of the chairs by the desk and gestured to Hiccup and Anna to sit down. "Come. It will be a long story."
Hiccup's eyes widened at the phrase 'long story', something that he was not anticipating while on the search for an answer to his questions. He desperately tried to find fake reasons to excuse himself mentally, but he needed to be in the library as well. He couldn't find any fast enough.
"So… um, wow, where do we even begin?" Cassandra asked, turning to Rapunzel.
"I guess we can begin from when we first met…" Rapunzel replied, folding her hands together. "Or from when Eugene first met me? Since Hiccup is here, too? Anna, have you ever shared our story with him?"
Anna stuck her bottom lip out. "Umm… not that I remember. Do you, Hicc?"
"I uh…" He tried to remember an occasion in which Anna did so, but his attempt was cut short when he saw a pair of glowing eyes behind Cassandra, deep inside the shadows in the aisle between the tall shelves. His eyes were locked with those mysterious ones, and it immediately drew curiosity from the others.
"Hiccup?" Cassandra asked.
"Cass… behind you…" Hiccup pointed.
She turned around and turned back around with the same puzzled looks. "There's nothing there…"
The mysterious eyes blinked slowly.
"There's someone!-how do you not see it?!" Hiccup stood up abruptly. Once he did so, the eyes of the entity revealed itself as the previous corpse that tried to attack Hiccup.
Right away, Hiccup's entire being was consumed by fear. "AH!" He grabbed Anna by the arm and made her stand up. "ANNA! LET'S GO, IT'S COMING!"
"Hiccup?! What is?!" She resisted his force. The ruckus caused the others to stand up in disbelief.
"The c-corpse! It's c-coming!" Hiccup managed to lift Anna's weight and was about to pick her up. However, he only tripped on his own foot and fell.
"Hiccup, what is wrong with you?!" Anna let go of his grip over her sleeve and looked at him in anger.
The viking stood up to see Cassandra walking out of the aisle between the two shelves behind her seat. "I just checked it, Haddock. There was nothing but books." Cassandra crossed her arms. "Don't play stupid pranks."
Still not buying it, Hiccup stood back on his feet and looked up to the aisle in which the mysterious being was. Or, was supposed to be, as he saw nothing but an empty aisle. Out of nowhere, a tear escaped Hiccup's left eye. "B-but… there was…"
"There was what, pal?" Eugene asked, coming over to Hiccup's side to make him sit. "Calm down, easy now…"
"It was… B-Berkian… it attacked me… in the s-snow…"
Anna's eyes bulged in an instant. She and Cassandra shared a glance, briefly conveying worry.
