"Fury is fine," he informed them. Then he turned to the Arendellian. "Elsa I..." he said doubtfully. "I am very sorry. I didn't know this would happen. I was just pretending—"
"It's not your fault," the Arendellian replied, shaking her head.
Elsa knelt next to her sister, who was lying on her back with her head on one side, full of wounds and bruises, and with one of her legs in a totally unnatural position. With trembling hands, she made a pretense of caressing her face, but she didn't dare. Her tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to contain everything she felt inside because she had the feeling that, if she just let it go, her pain would end up splitting her in half. Finally, unable to help herself, she pounced on her sister's body and hugged her tightly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Elsa felt a strong blow to her head and almost lost consciousness. Anna, raging with pain, had risen so fast that the heads of the two sisters had collided with force.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Anna said, sitting on the floor while she put a hand to her head.
"Anna!"
Elsa, ignoring her own pain, brought her down again with a new hug.
"Elsa? What are you doing here? Wait ... where are we? Oh my god! My leg! My leg! What happened to my leg?!"
Hiccup and Astrid, on the verge of tears, smiled happily when they saw the two sisters finally reunited.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Elsa said over and over again.
"Come on, Elsa. Ow! It hurts!"
"I'm sorry I left you alone in command of the kingdom," her sister continued. "I'm sorry you felt pressured that way. Please, forgive me."
"The voice..." Anna seemed to understand suddenly. "What happened?"
Elsa squeezed her tighter, unable to speak.
"Ouch! Seriously, is no one going to take me to the doctor? I need a doctor! My leg hurts a lot!"
"Well..." Hiccup said, lifting his pants. "It could be worse!"
Anna stared at that metal leg for a moment, completely absorbed.
"Okay, seriously. I want to see a doctor now! Please, I don't want to wear one of those... Don't be offended, complete stranger, but it's not my style."
They all laughed heartily and, at last, Elsa broke away from her sister still shaking.
"Yes, let's go," she said to Anna without letting go of his hand. "We will have time to talk and fix things."
The following days were a real madness, with the kingdom turned upside down, but little by little the people who had been controlled by the spirit were regaining their day-to-day life. The spirits returned to the forest with the Northuldra, and the rest of the spirits that the shadow had controlled were finally set free. Some of them wanted to stay in the magical forest, where the Northuldra welcomed them with open arms. Others, on the other hand, decided to return to their places of origin. The spirit of life, in gratitude for its release, ensured that no one died from injuries sustained in combat before leaving, so there was no loss to mourn.
Anna's leg, which was broken in several places, was repositioned and she needed to lay in bed for a long time. She and Elsa spent many days together, both recovering from everything that happened. Also, they had plenty of time to talk about the kingdom, about the spirit, and about their relationship. Astrid and Hiccup, like the dragons, were also accommodated in the castle. They all deserved and needed a long rest, and now that Elsa had returned the realm to normal temperature, the cold was no longer a danger to the dragons despite still being winter.
Hiccup and Toothless took long flights together, trying again and again a new prosthesis that the Viking had designed for his friend. Astrid was happy to see Hiccup and Toothless together again, but she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She also wanted to fly with Storm again. Fury, guessing her thoughts, approached her and, after giving her an affectionate touch with her nose, offered her back.
"You sure?"
Fury nodded.
"Okay... let's show those two how to fly."
The dragon gave a defiant roar and took off at full speed after Toothless.
"Wait, what?" Anna said suddenly. "Hans wasn't evil?"
It was night and they were all in the living room of the castle, illuminated by the light of the lamps. Elsa, Kristoff, and Anna lounged on a couch, Hiccup and Astrid shared an armchair, and Olaf and Sven were sitting on the floor near the fireplace. The only ones not present were the dragons, who had gone out for a night walk.
"Well, we can't be sure of that..." Elsa replied. "What is certain is that the shadow took over him taking advantage of his lust for power, so nothing that happened was actually his fault."
"Oh, wow..."
"Yeah... that same face put his brother when we told him," Astrid laughed.
"And there is more," Elsa continued. "The spirit is the one that has been sabotaging the crops and causing trouble, both in Arendelle and in the enchanted forest. It has been pressing us more and more until it was able to take control."
Anna shrugged a little.
"C'me on, don't think about it anymore," Kristoff told her, wrapping his arms around her. "This has taught us what to improve, and we're already working on it. I promise you, if we argue, we won't part without first arranging it. I'll never leave your side again."
"Well said!" Olaf applauded.
Anna snuggled into her husband's arms, feeling comforted.
"There's something I can't quite understand," Hiccup said. "Why did tears hurt the spirit?"
"It's just a theory," Elsa replied, "but I think it wasn't because of the tears themselves, but because of the feelings. From what it told me, I would say that it is the spirit of weakness, and I think it used the hollows of the heart to gain control; gaps that could be filled with feelings like love or forgiveness. Therefore, if the feeling was strong enough, it was capable of damaging it."
"And that's why you were able to hurt it without weapons!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Exactly... But, as I say, it's just a theory."
The silence fell in the room, a pleasant and warm silence, the kind in which one simply enjoyed the company without needing anything else.
Hiccup felt a little nudge next to him, and as he turned his head he saw Astrid nodding at him.
"Yeah, of course..."
The Viking cleared his throat.
"Well... we've been talking about it, and while we're really comfortable here, we think it's time to get back to our obligations."
"What? Already? But we just met each other!" Anna protested.
"We'd like to stay longer, really," Astrid said softly, "but our people await us."
Anna sighed in defeat. She understood the responsibility of leadership and she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
"When are you leaving?" Asked Olaf.
The Vikings looked at each other.
"Tomorrow morning..." Astrid replied.
"Oh... wow..." Elsa couldn't hide her disappointment.
"We thought it was best to say it with little time, to avoid a long goodbye..." Hiccup said.
"In that case..." said Anna, "let's party tonight! What do you think if we start with a mime session? Hiccup, you start!"
"What? Me? But I don't even know how to read this," he protested as he tried to decipher the paper Olaf was giving him.
"I feel you... I still remember when I couldn't read or write. All that frustration... But don't worry, Hiccup! I will help you! Come closer. What you have to represent is..."
Games and laughter flooded Arendelle's castle that night, where its inhabitants, permanent and passengers, enjoyed the company and friendship they had forged.
"Do you have everything?" Elsa asked Astrid significantly.
It was daylight and the Vikings and the dragons were finishing their preparations outside the castle, accompanied by the entire town of Arendelle.
"Yeah, relax."
The Viking opened her coat a little to show her the small dark bottle that rested in one of her inner pockets.
"Fine... fine..."
Elsa didn't really know what to do or what to say.
"C'me here..." Astrid told him.
The Viking gave her a long hug and the Arendellian couldn't stop some tears from rolling down her cheeks.
"Take good care of yourselves," Elsa finally said, pulling away from her and taking her hands.
"You too."
"All right! We're ready!" Hiccup exclaimed after finishing tightening a strap on Toothless's chair.
"Time to go, I'm afraid," Astrid told Elsa.
She nodded and couldn't help but squeeze her hands with bright eyes. Astrid understood without the need for words how much she felt that woman.
"You'll find someone and be happy, I promise you."
Elsa gave a laugh in the middle of crying, and they hugged each other again, for the last time.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Hiccup said theatrically, reaching out to them. "You're not trying to steal my wife from me again, are you?"
"Shut up, idiot!" Astrid elbowed him in the ribs so hard she knocked him to the ground, barely breathing.
Despite this, they both laughed heartily and Elsa wished that one day she could find someone with whom she could laugh like that, with whom she shared such complicity and such a love as great as the one she saw in that Viking couple. With a stab of pain, she made up her mind that she must forget the Viking.
After a long and emotional goodbye, Hiccup and Astrid mounted Toothless and Fury, and they took off in the middle of promises of return and goodbyes, cheers, and broken hearts. Elsa and Astrid gave each other one last look, a silent last sentimental goodbye, and the dragons sped off.
Olaf, staring at them as they walked away, sighed.
"Bye, Hiccup..." he said seriously. "Hopefully one day you learn to read and write. Although, anyway I wouldn't know where to send the letters... The world is too big!"
Elsa put an arm around his shoulder, comforting him.
"Come on... let's go back to the castle. I think there is some ice cream cake left."
The snowman was encouraged by the idea of that delicacy and they headed for the castle. Elsa still turned around once more time to watch the Vikings. Then, she took a deep breath, let out the air slowly, and followed the others, turning her back on those two little dots that had practically disappeared on the horizon.
It didn't take long to leave behind that cold kingdom that had given them so many headaches, as well as so many joys, to lose themselves again in the immensity of the ocean.
As before, they made small stops on the boulders that they encountered on the way to regain strength, happy at the idea of finally returning home. The dragons seemed very clear about where they should go, so the Vikings just let themselves go, enjoying the flight.
They were only interrupted when, mid-journey, they found themselves completely surrounded by water, with no land in sight.
"Is it okay here?" Astrid asked Hiccup.
"That seems perfect to me."
Then the Viking took the small bottle out of her coat and, waving goodbye between giggles, dropped it into the water.
They stood there watching the bottle slowly sink into the depths of the abyss.
"Hopefully no one will be able to find it here," Astrid commented.
"That would really be bad luck!"
Even so, they still stayed a few more minutes before resuming their trip in case they saw anything out of the ordinary.
It was already dusk when the dragons reached the Viking town, where all the inhabitants went to receive their leaders, surprised to see them on the back of the dragons.
"Well, Bud..." Hiccup said to Toothless, putting their heads together. "Goodbye time."
The dragon returned the fondling gesture eagerly.
"Take good care of yourself and remember that we're here for whatever you need."
The dragon threw itself on him trying to embrace him with its short legs amid the laughter and the complaints of the Viking.
Astrid and Fury watched the scene with amusement.
"They're like kids..."
The dragon rested her huge head on Astrid's shoulder.
"I'm gonna miss you a lot too."
The Viking hugged her and they both enjoyed that moment as they had never imagined.
"Give Stormfly a big hug for me, please," Astrid said as they pulled away. "And tell her that I miss her so much."
The dragon gave her an affectionate blow with her head. Then the Vikings released the dragons from their mount chairs, and after another quick hug, Astrid and Hiccup, holding hands, watched as their friends took flight and were lost in the darkness of the already growing night.
When it began to get cold, both went to the tavern ready to devour a succulent dinner with their friends. There, amid laughter and stumbling of food, the village chiefs recounted their adventures for the enjoyment of those present.
"Looks like you guys had a good honeymoon," Hiccup's mother told them.
Her hands searched under the table until they met, intertwining their fingers. They had flown to a distant realm, fought an all-out war against forces they didn't even understand to help their friends, new and old alike, and they had finally returned home much more united than before.
The Vikings looked into each other's eyes.
"The best of all."