Week 3 of quarantine….
Chapter 15: Just Friends?
"What are you trying to say?"
Elsa's eyes were planted on the ground, as if it was an old friend that could somehow provide comfort for the growing ache in her heart.
Biting her bottom lip, she tried to stop its trembling. "I… we can't do this. You were moments away from dying and it was my fault."
"Really? And here I thought I was being thrashed by a golem."
She jerked her eyes from the floor to glare at him. "Don't insult me, you know what I mean."
"Yeah I do." he seethed, "You're blaming yourself for what's happened to me, but you seem to forget that it's been MY choice to put MY life on the line for your kingdom."
"Has it been for my kingdom? Or for me?" Her question caught him off guard. "Because I can tell you right now, I am NOT worth it."
"That is not true!" He ran his hand through his hair, trying to pull in his emotions to be as calm as he could be. "Is that what you want me to say? Okay, fine. I'm crazy about you and I wanted to prove myself and further flex my muscles for even a chance that a QUEEN would have any interest in a lowly knight like myself." He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Is this… what you want?"
Her throat tightened, making it difficult to speak. Was this really what she wanted? "Yes. I don't think we should pursue anything romantic between us." Falling back on her training, she stiffened her back and squared her shoulders. "As queen, I do not believe it would be appropriate, but I would like to remain friends."
His eye twitched before forcing a smile. "I'd like that." If things weren't uncomfortable between them before, it certainly was now. "Well I should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow and all that." He bowed at the waist. "Good night, your majesty."
She mirrored his movements by bowing at the waist. "Goodnight… Drake." Keeping her head down, she slipped into her room, ignoring her sister's worried stare, and threw herself onto her bed.
Anna followed her sister to her bed. "Elsa? What happened? Is everything okay?"
Elsa grabbed a pillow and held it close to her chest. "No, but I don't want to talk about it."
Anna took a step towards her sister. "Elsa come on, you can't—" she stepped back when thick walls of ice erected themselves around Elsa's bed, effectively cutting them off from each other. Elsa curled into herself when Anna began pounding on the walls. It was muffled, but she could still hear her cries. "Elsa please! Don't shut me out again!"
"Anna," the other voice was Kristoff leading his girlfriend away, "I think, this time, it's okay for Elsa to want to be alone." Elsa could hear Anna protesting, but her voice got smaller and smaller till it vanished.
She didn't want to shut Anna out, she just wanted to be alone, and yet she wanted someone to hold her. It's for the best, now he won't die because of me. She placed her face into her pillow, ignoring the falling snow around her, and her tears. She had felt loneliness before, but this was different. Was this… heartbreak?
—:0:—
This wasn't new for her, after all Arabella would often have to use her feminine wiles whenever she was on a mission. While she technically wasn't given an assignment, she wanted to prove that she was "team Arendelle" and the best way to do that was to find out what Hans wanted from Dirgelaff.
One of her best skills? Getting information from men.
She knew her invitation wouldn't go ignored, especially with the stipulation that he had to bring champagne, but there were other steps to ensure that this would work. She wore a modest thin strapped, knee-length dress, and bare feet. She wanted to be fancy and casual, but not too much of either or he'd be suspicious, which was also why she also wore her hair in its usual ponytail.
She stood by the fireplace, aimlessly watching the flames dance, but was focused more on listening for her employer. Something about the Arendellians, apparently brought the best out in people, it worked for Drake, and it was slowly working for her. Now the idea of just taking jobs for money from just anyone was revolting to her. When this was all over she'd have to find another means to support herself and her sister.
Her ears twitched as the door opened.
Showtime.
She leaned against the fireplace, not seductively, but in a way that showed mild annoyance. Flashing a dazzling smile, and the champagne bottle, Hans approached her at the fireplace.
"I was delighted when you asked to celebrate your victory, and yet puzzled." He said. "I was under the impression you weren't fond of my company."
He had cornered her against the hearth of the fireplace, causing her to look up into his green, cold eyes. "I'm not." She grabbed the bottle from him. "I'm fond of this." She shoved him aside, went to her room serving tray for some glasses, making sure to brush her leg against him as she walked past. "Also I wanted to put your mind at ease."
He took a seat at one of the high backed leather chairs in front of the fireplace. "What do you mean?"
She filled two glasses and handed one to him before taking a seat opposite him. She Crossed her bare legs in an exaggerated fashion to make sure his eyes were on them. A ploy that had worked judging from the movement of his Adam's apple as he swallowed. So far so good.
"Tomorrow's duel with Drake. I wanted to assure you that our history won't influence the outcome."
He smirked. "Good. I was hoping you two being former lovers wouldn't sway tomorrow's game."
She began shaking her foot when she noticed his attention wavering. "We were together, sure, but never like that."
His brow quirked in amusement. "Is that so? So you're unspoiled?"
She leaned forward, giving a soft squeeze of her breasts to push forward her cleavage. "Well I wouldn't say that."
He leaned closer to her and held up his glass. "Well then here's to tomorrow's game." After clicking glasses and taking sips, he asked, "he's proven tough to beat, what do you think your chances are?"
She leaned back, noticing his slight disappointment at the change of view. "We've always been equal in battle, but I've always been a better fighter, while his higher marks came from book smarts."
"But will you win? Can you promise me that?"
She groaned at losing control of theconversation. She snickered, flipping her hair over her shoulder to expose the flesh of her neck. "Sorry. I Can't promise anything. Even Dirgelaff's attempts to kill him have failed, do you think I'd do any better?"
His smile wavered. "What makes you say he's trying to kill him?"
"Well it's pretty obvious, I mean my last test was a joke compared to his." She took another drink. "I'm surprised you care so much. If Dirgelaff had his way, Drake would be dead and Elsa would be his, why do you care if that happens?"
"What Dirgelaff wants means nothing to me, it's what I want, and how he'll help me achieve it that matters."
Time to bring this home. She leaned forward once again. "And what is it that you want, Prince Hans?"
He leaned closer, bringing them only a breath apart. "An army. An army that will bring this world to my feet." Her heart stopped for a moment. She wasn't expecting that. "If you win then Dirgelaff will grant me the army I want, or if Drake dies and Elsa is his, I still get my army."
All pretence aside, she examined the prince and found no signs of deceit or bluffing. He was being truthful. Her "mission" complete, she dropped her vivacious act. "Well if you think I'm going to help you for a case full of money, then you can forget it. I'm out."
She moved to stand but he grabbed a hold of her wrist. "No, I don't think so—". In one motion, she broke his hold then with her gloved hand, grabbed him by his throat and slammed him against the back of the chair.
"I can kill you now and not feel the slightest bit of regret. In fact," she began to tighten her grip on his throat.
He kicked his legs and twisted but her hold on his neck was solid. "Right… pocket." If she was going to kill him she might as well indulge him. She reached into his pocket, and removed a small hand woven, red colored bracelet. Her blood chilled as she examined it further, particularly the part that had the name "Arabella", threaded into it.
"Look...familiar?" He coughed after she had released him. "It should… it's twin… is on your ankle."
Her attention was drawn to her right ankle, where there was a matching bracelet with the name, "Annabelle" in its stitching.
—:0:—
Morning
He was amazed he was able to get to sleep, even with his heart being shredded to pieces he was still able to find solace in a dreamless sleep. He felt as if he had just shut his eyes before a pounding at his door shook him from his rest. To his chagrin he had slept through the night and was now morning. One of those "sleep went way to fast" deals.
At least I'm not waking up in another shit hole, so there's that. The hammering on his door continued, making him curious as to who it might be at this hour. It was too erratic to be Bernard, or Kristoff and too forceful to be Elsa. He stuffed his face into his pillow. That means it can only be one person.
"Drake it's Anna! We need to talk!" Of course. He grumbled, getting up from his bed in nothing but his pajama pants and necklaces, and opened the door for the princess. The door had barely opened when Anna let herself in, brushing past him without noticing that he wasn't properly clothed. "What did you do to Elsa?"
"Good morning princess, why don't you come in."
"Don't change the subj—oh wow." He shut the door, aware that she was giving him the "up and down" with her eyes.
"You know They have these new things called 'photographs' that last a lot longer."
She shook her head. "Don't change the subject, I'm trying to be mad at you… but it would be easier if you had a shirt on." He rolled his eyes and grabbed one of his shirts off the floor, amongst his other piles of clothes, and threw it on. "Okay now what happened with Elsa? I swear if you hurt her, I'll turn you into a wallet!"
He went back to his bed and sat at the edge of it. "I thought you would have talked to Elsa about it last night. You two being thick as thieves and all that."
She shuffled her shoulders with her arms crossed. "Yeah well… she didn't want to talk last night. After she talked to you she came to bed, threw up some ice walls, and shut us out."
He seemed a bit surprised by this. "So she was...erm, that upset?"
"Yeah she was upset! What did—"
"I didn't do anything!" He lightly shouted, but it was to get her attention and not anger. He sighed, his head and shoulders drooping in sorrow. "Elsa and I just decided, mutually, that we didn't want to pursue any sort of romantic relationship between us."
Anna scrunched her face comically and started flailing her arms. "What? But...she… you… you two… wait what?! But I thought you two really liked each other. Elsa likes you."
He perked up slightly. "Sh-she does?"
"Yeah of course she—Wait, you said it was mutual right? How come you don't want to be in a relationship with her?"
He shrugged. "Poor timing I guess."
She opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. "Well I guess I can see that, with the whole death tournament and all." She sat on the bed beside him. "But… still."
Her head jerked in different directions, muttering as she tried to figure things out. "Can I tell you something?" He asked. She stopped her mumbling for a second allowing him to speak. "You, Elsa, and even Kristoff, were the first friends I ever made outside of Kuarlong and it felt nice when you guys needed me again. I heard stories about these tournaments, but I just figured that if my father wasn't taking any potential threat seriously, then I shouldn't either."
She couldn't help but laugh. "So what? You thought you were just gonna be playing checkers or something?"
He smiled. "No, nothing like that, but I suppose I didn't treat this as seriously as I should have. Full honesty, I joined this tournament to help my new friends, whatever way I could."
She nodded. "And you and Elsa?"
His face flushed, but it didn't seem like he noticed. "I may have had a sliiiiiiiiight crush on Elsa after we first met, but I only saw her as this mythical, celebrity-like deity. Like the Greek goddesses or something, nothing I was to serious about."
"Well I wouldn't say she's goddess territory, but I get what you're saying." She scooted closer with a small playful smile. "So if it was just a little crush, what changed?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not really sure. I guess Just spending time with her, getting to know her a bit more, and all of you really, and… I don't know I just found myself falling for her." As much as Anna was upset, she could stop the "awe's" squealing from her mouth. "But Elsa doesn't want anything more."
Anna was able to pick out the minute twitches of his face that signaled heartbreak. She may not have been an expert about love, but she knew when someone hurt from it.
"No. No, I refuse to believe that." She got to her feet and took his hand, "come on, we're gonna talk to Elsa and straighten this out." She might have had a better chance at moving a boulder. She grabbed his arm with both hands and began pulling.
"Anna, no. If Elsa doesn't want a relationship with me, I don't want to MAKE her—"
"We're not making her, we're just pushing her in the right direction. Yours."
He chuckled. "Anna—"
"—Drake," she took on a more serious tone, "maybe you two are meant to be together, maybe you're not, I don't know. All I know is that Elsa has been the bubbliest, happiest, teenagery, fun—"
He got to his feet and took his arm back. "Okay, okay, I get it."
"Sorry. She's happy because of you, that's my point so let's go."
"Ho—hold on. Can I at least get dressed?"
"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, good idea. Gotta look good." She looked him up and down again. "On second thought you might as well take the shirt off." He rolled his eyes again, just as more knocking came at his door.
He went to his door, muttering a "now what?" as he passed Anna. For the second time that morning, he wasn't expecting who was there.
Tall, Dark and charming, Landon looked him over before his dark eyes flitted to Anna. "Working your way through the family I see."
"Hilarious," Drake deadpanned while Anna began stumbling over her words to correct him, "what do you want?"
Landon stepped to the side, revealing a distressed Arabella.
Indifference became worry. "Ari? What's wrong?"
With trembling fingers she showed him a bracelet with her name on it. "Hans and Dirgelaff. They have Belly."
—:0:—
Elsa traced mindlessly on her violet pillow with her finger. Not only did it take a while for her to get to sleep, but she wound up waking up early the next morning, eyes red and sore from crying until she fell asleep. With the ice walls still up, she could make out the hustle and bustle of someone moving about, but she didn't bother to figure out who it was or what they were doing.
Light knocking on the walls drew her attention, and judging from the lightness of the tapping, it had to be Olaf.
"Elsa?" I was right, "can I come in?"
She took a few breath's, before flicking her wrist to create a small door. Olaf shuffled into her makeshift igloo and hoisted himself onto her bed.
"Good morning Olaf," she greeted with a small tired voice, "did you sleep well?"
He rocked back and forth as if uncomfortable about what he was going to say. "I slept well, but I was mostly worried about you. Anna said you were sad."
Elsa did her best to hide her wet and red eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"Okay, I'll talk about it then." She was about to protest, but he had already started. "Did Drake do something mean to you?"
She shook her head. "No, no, no. Drake didn't do anything. He's a good man, it's just… well… we shouldn't be together."
He seemed confused. "Why? Do you not like him? Does he not like you? Does he smell? Kinda like Kristoff does? What do dragons smell like? Is it because he can't ice skate?"
She lifted her eyes to meet his curious ones. "Yes I like him, and I'm fairly certain he likes me. It's just ever since we've gotten closer, Dirgelaff has been trying to kill him. If we're not together romantically, Dirgelaff won't want to kill him. It's the right thing to do to save him."
He tapped his chin with his finger. "If it's the right thing to do, then why are you so sad? I mean you've been so happy lately, and if something, or someone, makes you happy shouldn't you be around that something or someone?"
She got up into a seated position. "It's not that simple Olaf. It's because I care about him that we have to remain just friends."
Olaf studied her closely, still not seeming convinced. "Will you be happy just being friends?"
Elsa felt her heart begin to tear into more pieces, but forced a smile. "Yes Olaf. I would love to be friends with him still."
He still didn't seem convinced, but stood up and put his arms around her. "If that's what will make you happy, then I'm happy for you." She returned his hug, grateful for his snowy touch, but couldn't bring herself to actually believe what she was saying. She knew it was right in her brain, but her heart wasn't in it.
"Elsa?" Kristoff poked his head into the igloo, "we have some breakfast out here if you're hungry?"
Feeling a slight grumble in her stomach she waved her hands to vanish the walls. "Breakfast sounds lovely." Olaf slipped off of her bed, Elsa following the sweet aroma of food to the nearby table. Once she sat down she finally noticed that Anna wasn't there.
Knowing the answer, she asked with a heavy sigh, "Where did Anna go?"
Kristoff swallowed and gave a nervous smile. "To go talk to Drake."
"Of course." She started stabbing at her eggs with her fork. "I'm going to have to talk with her as soon as she gets back."
"Well, you know Anna—"
"—I know, I know, but this isn't any of her business. It's between me and Drake and I believe we handled it quite well." Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Olaf and Kristoff share a nervous look. "I saw that."
She nearly choked on her food when the doors burst open. Her sister and Drake stormed her room, accompanied by Arabella and Landon. Elsa was ready to give her sister a piece of her mind, but seeing how distrurbed they were made her quickly rethink it. Instead she got into panic mode and got to her feet.
"Anna? Drake? What's wrong? What's happening?"
Anna ran to her sister, out of earshot of Arabella. "Things have gotten way, way worse. Hans kidnapped Arabella's sister."
Elsa's eyes widened. "Wh-what? Why?"
"To ensure compliance obviously." Landon droned. He had positioned himself against the wall with his arms folded and head down. His usual charm and confidence was replaced with apathy.
"Also we now know what Hans is wishing for." Said Drake who had been clenching and unclenching his fists as soon as he walked in. "An army. To conquer the known world."
The oxygen had officially been sucked clean from the room, instead replaced with shuddered breathing, mouths on the floor and an inability to move.
Elsa made some odd noises with her throat as her brain tried to process what she had just been told. "A-an army?"
"It gets worse." Arabella whimpered. Elsa noticed that she was gripping a red woven bracelet with her name on it. "If Drake dies, Hans gets his army, since he's helping Dirgelaff break Elsa. If I lose in our duel today, he will kill my sister."
"Either way," Elsa leaned against the table to steady herself, "Hans has Set this up that he wins."
Kristoff, having thought of something, ran to the serving tray that came with breakfast and grabbed a note written for Drake. "The last trial starts at noon at island three."
"That only gives us three hours to come up with a plan." Drake was already making his way to the door, "If we want to know where Annabelle is, I say we beat it out of Hans."
Anna threw her hand into the air. "I second that!" With that, they both went for the door with bloodlust in their eyes.
"Easy pussycats," Landon blocked their passage to the door, "if any harm comes to Hans, Annabelle dies." All eyes were on Arabella who nodded in the affirmative. "You see, they've thought two moves ahead, something you seem to have a difficult time doing."
Drake curled his lip in offense. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. "You can't just run into battle like a raging bull, you have to have strategy, especially when it comes to Dirgelaff, who has been three steps ahead of you this whole time. You've been playing his games, you want to get ahead, you need to be six moves ahead. Analyze EVERY angle and be prepared for every outcome. You play like you've been playing, without any regard to your own life and you'll lose, painfully."
"That's what knights do," Drake responded with his chest out, "selflessly risking our lives for others."
"Noble," he deadpanned, "but it's not just your life anymore is it?" Before Drake had a chance to argue, he suddenly became aware of everyone in the room, and a few that weren't.
Drake sighed, threw up his hands and started pacing. "Alright then. What do you think we should do?"
Landon folded his arms. "Now what fun would that be if I just gave you the answer?" His eyes landed on something in the corner of the room that had remained untouched since they got there. Landon nodded to the dust covered chess board. "Do you play chess?"
Drake shook his head. "I have a basic idea."
"I know how to play." Elsa moves across the room to the board. "I'm guessing that in your analogy, Dirgelaff is the king?"
Landon remained passive. "What do you think?"
Arabella knocked over a nearby chair. "We don't have time for this! We have to find Belly!"
"And we will," his tone was casual without any sense of alarm, "I'd rather see if the knight's brains extend beyond the book learning."
While Arabella and Landon bickered back and forth Elsa and Drake examined the chess board.
"So if Dirgelaff isn't the King," Elsa wondered, "who is?"
Drake shook his head. "Dirgelaff is all powerful right?" He picked up the queen piece. "Just like the queen?" He waved his finger at the other pieces, "the other pieces are meant to protect the king, so if that's the case then that would make—"
"—Annabelle the king—"
"—If we find her and set her free—"
"—it's checkmate!"
"We got it!" All bickering and speaking stopped..
"If we find Annabelle then Dirgelaff loses his leverage." Drake stated confidently.
Landon wore a knowing smile, but the others didn't seem convinced. "Where would she be? The dungeons?" Kristoff asked.
Elsa looked back at the chessboard and the other pieces set up. "No, she'd be somewhere more guarded. The tunnels Landon found maybe?"
"That's to many 'if's'," Arabella worried, "and not enough concrete answers."
"It's the best we got," said Drake, "we still have a few hours so I say we get to the tunnels, search them, and then go from there."
Landon stepped forward. "Agreed, but I think it should just be mountain man, Olaf and myself. Smaller numbers and all that."
"Wait what? Why him/me?" Anna and Kristoff asked.
"Everyone involved with the upcoming trial should stay close. Elsa, Anna, Arabella and Drake. I doubt Dirgelaff would care if you two showed up."
"Besides," Drake added, "it's not that we don't trust Landon, it's just that I really don't trust Landon."
The dark man put his hand over his chest in mock offense. "Awe Drake I'm hurt… you're right, but I'm hurt." He turned his attention to the snowman. "Olaf my friend, You and I have something to discuss." Landon took Olaf aside as Anna and Kristoff began speaking to each other in hushed tones. Arabella sat with her face in her hands and her bracelet clutched tight.
This just left Elsa and Drake.
"Thanks for that Elsa." He said to her. "I'm not much of a chess player."
She nodded, keeping her eyes away from him. "My father taught me, and don't worry, Anna was never good at it either."
They shared a laugh. "See. We can be friends huh?" He gave her a playful, light jab on her arm. "Pal."
"You bet, erm, buddy." She returned with a jab to his shoulder. Wow that's solid. "Just friends."
"Are you serious?" Landon's thick British accent almost seemed disgusted. "'Just friends'?"
"Yes," Elsa coughed. "Just friends. We can be friends."
Drake nodded. "Yeah! Totally!"
"For sure. Nothing weird—"
"—nothing weird at all."
Landon threw up his head groaning loudly at the ceiling. "Bloody hell, you're not friends, and you'll never BE friends!" They were stunned by his outburst, but he wasn't finished. "You two would be mortal enemies, bent on the destruction of the other before you'll ever be 'just friends'. You'll hate each other, want to kill each other, maybe a quick angry shag once or twice, but in the end, you'll love each other until it kills you both."
He went back to scribbling onto pieces of paper with Olaf, leaving the room, especially Drake and Elsa, were to astonished to speak. "If you turkeys are fine lying to yourselves, that's your prerogative. Personally I hate to see humanity wasted on the stupid."
The pair glanced at each other before quickly looking away. He doesn't know what he's talking about. We can be friends. She caught Drake out of the corner of her eye, seemingly having the same inner monologue.
Can't we?
Another five minutes later and Landon clapped his hands. "Alright mountain man. Chop chop!"
Anna grabbed him by his hands. "Kristoff. You don't have to do this."
He grinned as he grabbed the sides of her face. "I know, I want to do this. Drake is right. I don't trust him either, so I'm gonna go and make sure everything is on the up and up. Plus someone has to watch after Olaf."
"More like I'm watching him!" Olaf bounced. "Now let's go—"
Landon grabbed him by the head to shut his mouth. "Remember, my friend, this is a stealth mission." Olaf furrowed his brows into a "mean face", and saluted. "Let's get the lead out. We're running out of time."
"Coming." Kristoff pulled his girlfriend into one final kiss. "Don't worry. We'll be alright." And the three went off to Dirgelaff's tunnels in an attempt to learn his secrets.
—:0:—
Other than the odd symbols lining the hallway, there didn't seem to be anything unique or different about this level of the tower. Deep at the base of Dirgelaff's home, they wondered from the moving box through a dimly lit corridor, unsettled by an eerie silence. Magic wasn't his thing, neither were people, but at this moment his focus was the person leading the way. With his hands deep into his suit pockets, Landon appeared to not have a care in the world, which only agitated Kristoff even further.
"So you've searched the whole tower?"
"Indeed," was his curt response, "this level was the only one with any kind of high end security. Magical security to clarify."
"Is that what these scribbles are?" Olaf pointed at sigel's decorating the walls.
Landon shrugged them off. "Low level markings. Nothing to get worked up about." They turned a corner revealing two large ominous doors with more symbols etched into the woodwork. Their eyes were automatically drawn to one symbol in particular that seemed to encompass the entire area of the door. "Now this is what we worry about."
"It just looks like more scribbles to me," Olaf examined the door, "but there's no lock though."
"No need. This warding magic keeps anything alive from getting behind those doors."
Kristoff stepped passed him. "Well let's see." Stepping up to the door he tried putting his hand against it only for an unseen force to push him onto his back.
"Did it pass inspection?" Landon stepped over the scowling Kristoff. "Now it is time for our snowy friend to shine. Olaf would you please put a finger on the door."
He shrugged and did as was asked, and unlike Kristoff, managed to touch the door. He pulled his twig hand away and stared at it. "I don't get it. I thought I was alive?"
"Of course you are," Landon reached into his coat pocket, "you're just not flesh and blood. Perhaps I should have been more specific." He knelt to his level handing him papers with different symbols on them and a small knife. "Your mission is to find these symbols on the walls, once you do, all you have to do is simply scrape a piece of the symbol off the wall with this knife."
Olaf looked at the knife and symbols, waiting for more instructions. "That's it? That's all I have to do?"
"That's all you have to do." Landon stood at full height. "Once the sigels have been broken, Kristoff and I will be able to enter the tunnels with no problems. First and foremost you need to scratch up this door."
Olaf looked up at the door looming over them and swallowed. "Just scratch it up?"
"I'll walk you through it." Landon clarified.
Regardless, Olaf found himself rooted in his spot. Kristoff, noticing his hesitation, knelt beside him. "Hey, it's alright, you can do this. Just remember, this is for Elsa."
Olaf nodded repeating, "This is for Elsa. This is for Elsa." He went to the door and with the knife began scratching at the sigel.
Kristoff glared at Landon who anxiously kept his eyes on the snowman. "All he has to do is make a little scratch in that, and that's it? The magic is gone?"
Landon shrugged. "Sure magic is powerful, but also fragile and unpredictable. Your snow queen is evidence of that."
Kristoff closed the distance between them, and grabbed him by the hem of his coat. "Listen here. I love Anna with everything I am, and Elsa is like a sister to me and if you do anything—"
Landon had seemed bored with Kristoff until now. His dark eyes met his with a sinister, "Or else what, mountain man?" His stare froze Kristoff in place, a chill shooting down his spine and almost stopping his heart in pure fear, causing him to lose his grip on his coat. He couldn't be sure, but Kristoff could almost see flecks of red dancing in Landon's eyes.
That signature smirk fanned across his face as he brought himself nose to nose with Kristoff. His voice low, in a daring tone. "What could you possibly do to me?"
Kristoff swallowed, but remembering his love for the sisters brought a small flicker of courage back into his chest. "N-never doubt a fool in love."
Landon couldn't help a short laugh as he patted his shoulder. "Good man."
"Done!"
The men examined Olaf's work seeing a small scratch at the bottom of the symbol. Once more Landon approached the door, but this time touched it without any issue. "Phase one is complete." With a gentle push the door creaked open, allowing an opening large enough for Olaf. "Remember you just have to scratch up the ones on the papers I gave you. That's all."
He saluted. "Yes sir!" And he disappeared into the tunnel.
"Good lad." Landon removed a pocket watch to check the time. "Right on schedule."
A few minutes passed and Kristoff had leaned against the wall with his arms folded. "If you don't like Hans and Dirgelaff so much why are you working for them?"
Landon spat. "Neither of which is of my own volition. I'm here because I'm forced too."
Kristoff grew a bit concerned. "Why? What do that have on you?"
There was a small tick in his jaw. "So you and the princess huh? Pray tell how did you manage that? No offense, but you seem to be an interesting mate for a princess. You lack any sort of sophistication or refinement, but I suppose you make up for that in your expertise as a rugged outdoorsman. Still, I'm curious."
Kristoff felt his anger rise. He was used to the looks he would get walking hand in hand with a princess, but no one had ever SAID these things to him. He was insecure enough as it was, and he didn't need this pretentious ass making it worse.
"Our love isn't any of your business." He seethed. "She loves me, and I love her. What do you care anyways?!"
Landon grinned. "Like I told Drelsa, I hate to see humanity wasted on the stupid. A 'pet peeve' of mine, if you will. It's… difficult for me to love, so I live vicariously through others."
Kristoff snorted. "And yet Hans has something you love doesn't he? That's how he controls you?"
Landon's face fell onto that chilling blank stare. "There's only one thing in all of creation that I've ever loved, and fortunately they don't have access to it. No, their control over me is much more complicated than that."
His head jerked to the door. "What? What is it?"
Landon grinned again. "I do believe our boy has succeeded."
Before Kristoff could ask how he knew that, Olaf came bounding through the doors. "I did it!"
"Good work!" Landon pushed the door open a bit further, giving himself and Kristoff enough room to slip through. Upon entering, touches along the walls automatically sparked to life to illuminate the passageway. The light revealed more sigels and wardings as far down as they could see.
"Now what?" Kristoff asked.
"The obvious answer is to search these tunnels so I'll say, plant some daisies." They moved down the corridor slowly, Landon sliding his hand against the wall as if feeling for something specific.
"What are you looking for?"
Landon shrugged. "No idea."
Kristoff huffed. "Well we need some idea! We can't just wander aimlessly, we don't have time!"
Landon spun to face him. "If you're unsatisfied with how I'm doing things, then by all means, take the lead." Kristoff shoulder bumped him as he moved passed, Olaf following close behind. "Do you even have any idea what YOU'RE looking for?"
"I know I want to find it before we trigger some sort of booby trap, or run into anything."
Kristoff felt a sudden chill rush behind him, and Landon's voice whispering, "Well you're right about that," followed by a sharp strike to the back of his head, knocking him out cold.
Olaf leaped backwards shrieking. "What did you do that for?"
Landon adjusted his suit. "Don't worry my friend. This will all make sense when you're older."