I've been struck by the Fanfiction Curse v2! My phone broke which is where I do the majority of my writing, in bed and in the middle of the night. A number of reviewers have asked if Drago will be making an appearance. The answer to that question is I don't know as I don't want my story to conflict with HOTD 3.
To Noctus Fury: Thank you for your question and you're right. I have addressed your question a little bit in this chapter as luckily it wasn't anything story shattering.
To Michaelagaloe: Nope, no royal bloodlines. Although it would be technically okay between Elsa and Hiccup since it has been a thousand years. To me it would still feel like incest .
Chapter 10: Quiet Nights part 2
Hiccup sprinted through the forest at a breakneck pace, leaving behind the sound of rustling leaves. With great agility he weaved through the mountain's dense bushes, rocks and overgrown trees. His legs and lungs felt like they were on fire but he couldn't stop. Chasing closely behind him were wolves, hunting their prey as if they hadn't eaten in days. It also didn't help that he was carrying an extra burden. Tucked beneath Hiccup's right arm was a goat. Wide eyed, the young goat strained her head upwards to Hiccup, begging him to run faster.
"I'm running as fast as I can," Hiccup snapped, "you're the who got us into this mess." Guilt ridden, the goat fell silent as Hiccup continued to run up the mountain.
"Toothless I could really use your help right about now!" Hiccup yelled as he continued to run but Toothless was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup managed to get a quick look up at the sky before ducking underneath a wolf that had leapt up to bite off his head. Spinning around Hiccup jumped over the second wolf, keeping the wolf from ripping his leg off.
Emerging from the bushes and into a clearing, Hiccup found himself facing a cliff side with nowhere to go but back. Turning around Hiccup sees the wolves emerging from the trees. Five wolves was too much for Hiccup to fight off and he was outmatched by the sheer speed of the wolves. Without any trees or rocks, maneuvering around them wasn't an option either. With nowhere to run, Hiccup was forced to slowly back towards the cliff edge. In a lowered stance the wolves crept in a wide arc towards Hiccup and the goat. Unfortunately for Hiccup, the wolves were less hasty and much more cautious now. One wrong move and they could be the ones who fall from the cliff.
A black shadow suddenly appeared above them and landed between the two group with a loud thump. Rising to his full height and with his wings out wide, Toothless let out a massive roar. Shooting a plasma blast towards them, wasting no time the wolves scurried off like a pack of wild dogs.
Saved by Toothless, Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. Completely out of breath Hiccup fell backwards and rested on the rock hard ground. Gasping for air and his chest heaving, Hiccup felt like he was going to pass out. After a few minutes Hiccup of resting, he could finally direct his anger to the animal that almost got him killed.
"Seriously, who names their pet goat princess? That is just plain misleading," Hiccup complained.
The goat gave a bored expression to Hiccup's as she continued to lazily graze at the few patches of grass that managed to get through the rock and acted oblivious to the fact that she was almost killed. Realizing that there was no point in yelling at a goat,Hiccup got himself off the ground and sat himself upright. High up on the mountains he stared out to the wondrous view. He could see the village that he was imprisoned not too long ago.
"The world sure has changed a lot since my time. Did I make the right choice or did it not matter at all? What would the world look like if I hadn't interfered?" Hiccup wondered
Toothless bumped Hiccup's side, interrupting his thoughts and gave him a worried look.
"I'm sorry I ran out on you like that last night Toothless," Hiccup said as he gave him a scratch, "Last night was unexpected and a little overwhelming. It all came back so fast." Standing up Hiccup stretched his tightened back as he walked closer to towards ledge of the mountain to stare out once more. The view was truly amazing but sadly Hiccup was too far to get a glimpse of Arendelle.
Relenting to the fact that his questions may never be answered, Hiccup let out a tired yawn. The exhaustion of not sleeping last night returned to him in a huge wave. Leaving the cliffside to find a place to sleep, there was still one last lingering question Hiccup had.
"Mom, Dad, Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout, Astrid. I wonder what you would think of me if you saw me now?"
OoOoO
"You look a little tired Elsa," Anna asked as they walked down the empty halls of the palace. In the morning, the sun has yet to reach the high windows of the palace. But slowly the sunlight filtered in through the windows creating beautiful cascading shadows for the Queen and princess to enjoy.
"I'm alright Anna, I just didn't get enough sleep last night. Nothing to worry about."
"Why not? Did something happen last night?"Anna asked as she created a shadow dog on the wall with her hands.
"Nothing happened last night, Elsa said a little too hastily.
"Are you sure? Because you seem to be a little agitated. Is there something you're not telling me?" Anna asked. Moving her shadow dog forward, Anna opened the the shadow's mouth and pretended to bite Elsa's head off
"I am perfectly fine Anna and if you keep asking me i might think that something weird is going with you," Elsa said. Annoyed by the sunlight that was rhythmically being flashed at her face by Anna, Elsa twirled her finger and blocked the windows with ice, consuming the hallway in complete darkness and ending Anna's fun. Surprised, Anna turned around to angrily face her sister but Elsa had already began to walk away.
You know who actually is the weirdest person?" Anna asked as ran to catch up to her sister. "It's Hiccup. He is like the worst villain in the history of like ever! What type villain captures an entire kingdom and then does literally nothing afterwards. I didn't mention this during the meeting yesterday because it's not really important but I just don't get it.
"That is because Hiccup is not a villain. He is nothing like Hans," Elsa answered.
"You sure are defending him a lot. I wondered how the dragon king managed to charm my sister?
"Hiccup hasn't charmed me. I have know idea what you are talking about," Elsa denied.
Sensing that her sister was lying Anna moved forward and blocked her sister's path. With both hands Anna grabbed her sister's shoulder to hold her position as she carefully observed her sister. Under the immense pressure of Anna, Elsa couldn't help but break eye contact. Having won her first starring contest against her sister in forever, Anna's face brightened up immediately. The puzzle pieces came together in her mind and she smiled with excitement.
"My my, looks like the tables have finally turned. My older sister who is always making fun of me. But now look who's talking. It seems like the tendency to quickly fall in love and rush relationships is genetic," Anna laughed as she started to skip away.
"My situation is nothing like yours!" Elsa said indignantly and chased after her.
"How many times?" Anna asked suddenly as she twirled around to face her sister.
"What are you talking about?"
"How many times?" Anna asked again, putting more power into her word.
"Two times," Elsa responded sheepishly as she remembered their most heated and memorable times. The first surprise kiss Hiccup gave her during the morning of her accident and her first time giving a kiss as a thank you for saving her sister.
"And a couple of others," Elsa sheepishly added.
"Ha! I knew it. You've only known him for like what? A month? And now you two are sucking each others faces off."
"You tried to get married after meeting a man for half a day. Even with Kristoff you kissed him after a day of knowing him." Elsa countered.
"We've already established how terrible I am. But this isn't about me, this is about you. How you are always teasing me, my foolish little sister but now you can't anymore! Now you're are no better than me." Anna said laughing.
"I promised you that we would get rid of him. but now we are doing the exact opposite. You are not mad at me for breaking my promise?" Elsa asked.
"I just want you to be happy sis," Anna responded, "that's all I ever wanted. I will just have to wait until I talk with the Dragon King myself. He saved my life and Kristoff's as well. I should at least give him the benefit of doubt.
Opening the palace door the queen and princess exited outside to the upper gardens.
"Do you really think he isn't evil?" Anna asked
"A part of me does believe that he is evil and all of this is some sorted of twisted game to him. For as long as he has been here for, I still don't know anything about him. I know nothing of his past and that is what scares me the most. I don't know if he has truly lost his memories or if he is hiding something. My distrust for him has me distancing myself from him and has stopped our relationship from growing any further." Elsa said.
"And of course you haven't told Hiccup about any of this. The problem is the same as always with you. You're shutting him out. Just like how you used to shut me out. How do you expect to grow your relationship when you won't tell Hiccup about your feelings either?"
"I know Anna, and I finally have my resolve. No more putting it off and running away. Tomorrow night I will tell him exactly how I feel. Tomorrow night the truth will finally come out.
"And I will be right here to help you or make fun of you," Anna said, smiling at the idea. The two sisters laughed as they arrived at their destination. "So what are we doing out here anyways?"
"We are here to set up the party." Elsa answered. Using her imagination Elsa tried her best to imagine what type of show Hiccup was going to put up. He said that he needed about the a quarter edge of the gardens. The garden was big so you could easily fit at least fifty dragons. Using her powers Elsa created a small wall of ice to separate the garden.
"What the heck are you doing!?" Anna asked. Her sudden loud outburst, startling Elsa.
"Hiccup is going to put on a dragon show as an introduction to the party. I am separating the two areas so nobody gets hurt," she explained.
"You are doing it all wrong!" Anna said with a huff and started to move in front her sister. This is one of the few times where Anna took charge instead of her older sister, Apparently in Anna's exact wording, "Elsa isn't much of a party girl." As such Elsa has no idea how the throw types of parties that involved large social gatherings. And in these times Anna would take charge in order to avoid embarrassment.
"No offense but your ice wall is absolutely hideous. Your copying ability is perfect but creativity is not something you do not have sister. And don't even try to tell me about you ice palace up on the mountains because you copied that too. Just because I was little doesn't mean I don't recognize it from our children's book mother used to read to us," Anna said turning around to face her sister. Elsa had finger up and her mouth open and was about to defend herself before she was completely knocked down by Anna.
"You need to make a platform Elsa. That way people in the back can see the dragon show as well," Anna instructed, "Obviously we are going with a dragon theme. Maybe we can have ice sculptures of other dragons from different cultures, it would be a great way to welcome all the foreigners we have coming in for this. And in the front and center we could have Hiccup's ice sculpture dragons as contrast for them all.
"I see what you mean." Elsa nodded in understanding. Erasing her previous work, Elsa created Anna's suggestion. Unfortunately her new work was marginally better than the one before. For all intents and purposes, Elsa created a platform. But a more precise description would be a glorified giant table with hundred of legs as support.
"You're not helping Elsaaa," Anna whined, clearly exasperated by her attempt at a platform, "Leave and let me take care of this. I will draw things out for you to create later on."
With her sister clearly not wanting her, Elsa returned to her office to get some paperwork done without fear of Anna's constant chatter. Unfortunately luck was not on her side. A guard came into her office, to tell her that Gerda was demanding to see her. With a sigh Elsa, let the older women in.
"I want to see him," Gerda demanded simply as she charged past the guard and closed the door behind her.
"Who?" the queen asked not bothering to look up from her paper as she continued to scratch the paper with her pen.
"Your husband."
"I don't have a 'husband'," Elsa replied, not falling for her usual games. "And if you are referring to Hiccup. You will see him at the welcome party tomorrow night."
"I need to see him before the party your majesty. I have an idea for matching dresses for the two of you for the party and they need to be absolutely perfect. I already know your body probably better than yourself but the dragon king is a different story. Your ice sculptures are good but it is nothing compared to the original. The way he carries himself, his attitude, the way he talks and moves. All of this need to blend together with his clothes and complement the wearer which a model does not capture." Elsa was about to interject but Gerda wasn't quite done with appeal yet.
"And have you prepared him for ballroom and foreign etiquette? Is he going to offend the first diplomats he meets because he didn't know better? Does he knows how to use a knife and fork or are you just going to let him eat with his hand like an uncivilized neanderthal? I very much doubt you have taught him everything he needs to know. The party is tomorrow and you are far too busy to be teach him.
Gerda was right but Hiccup wasn't exactly home at the moment. Elsa needed to be careful with her wording. Besides Anna and the council members, Elsa didn't want anyone else to know Hiccup wasn't home at the moment. The Queen trusted the seamstress but one can never be too careful.
"As you have stated, I am too busy to teach him. However, I can't guarantee your safety if I leave you alone with him. Hiccup and I get along just fine because he likes me, but I'm not sure the same can be said for you Gerda," Elsa lied, trying to sow some fear into her to get her to back away from the idea. "I will talk to him tonight to make sure everything will be okay and I will send you to him tomorrow morning."
"Half a day is hardly enough to teach him everything he need to know." Gerda complained, "I am your unofficial your image manager" As such I will not have that man embarrass you in any way. I won't allow rumors that the queen is married to a complete fool."
"Hiccup is anything but a fool," Elsa defended, remembering the entire reason he left in the first place was so he didn't embarrass the two of them. "Half a day will be be enough for him to survive the night."
OoOoO
As the sun began to set down, the villagers gathered to the centre to share a meal and drink after a hard day's work. With a tired sigh, the chief of the village unslung the sword off his back and sat down on a bench.
"By the looks of your face I take it that you couldn't find the boy?" His wife asked him
"There's no sign of him anywhere," he replied
"What about princess?" His father asked.
"Sorry I couldn't find your pet goat either father," the chief said.
"Poor princess! All alone out there. How will she survive without," the elder cried.
"Ring ring baaaah,"
Emerging from the golden rays of the sunset was their runaway captive and the elder's pet goat
"Princess!" Running towards each other, the old man and his pet goat were reunited. With tearful eyes the old man wrapped his arms around the goat's neck and gave her a hug.
"Why did you come back?" the chief asked Hiccup. "After you had gone missing and left behind nothing but torn ropes I had expected to never see you again.
"As I said before I'm not looking for trouble. I'm just here to do a little exploring of the wild. I found princess in the mountains and I thought I should bring her back to your father," Hiccup responded.
Before the chief to interrogate Hiccup once more his wife stepped in and took charge.
"Enough talk, it is time for dinner and this child will be joining us. The boy is harmless. I will not have this child return home and besmirch our village's reputation by having him say we are inhospitable.
Sitting down at the head of the table with the chief, the food was laid and Hiccup thanked the chief and his wife for the food.
"So who is it that you're running away from?" the chief asked.
"Excuse me?" Hiccup asked, as he looked up from his dinner.
"If you are not here to make trouble than are you running away from destiny? Want something more exciting than taking over the family farm? Or is it that running away from a loan shark? A murderer? Or is it a women you are running away from?," the chief clarified, grinning at that last thought.
"I'm not running away from anything," Hiccup laughed nervously, We're just taking a little break that's all"
"So it is a woman. Did you get into a fight with your girlfriend or something?" The chief asked
"It wasn't really an argument but more of frustration," Hiccup explained, "she is hiding something from me. It is bothering her greatly but she doesn't want to tell me. I want to help her but she won't let me in. But then again, I haven't exactly been able to be open myself up to her either.
"Son, As a man who is married let me give you some advice on relationships," the chief said.
"You are getting relationship advice from my husband? That is the worst idea ever" the chief's wife interjected.
"Leave us alone women, fumbling our way into a woman's heart is the path to true manhood, the chief argued.
"Rubbish, if I hadn't made the first move you would still watching me from a distance. Too scared to make the first move," the women countered. Turning away from her disillusioned husband, she faced Hiccup with a stern look and a sharp finger pointed towards him. "I am going to make this simple and tell you what you need to do to earn a woman's affection and get her to open up to you."
"Thank you, but if it is alright with the both of you. I think I will be okay with this. I already have the solution to the problem," Hiccup said with both arms raised to stop the married couple from fighting.
The couple looked at each other with confused looks before looking back at Hiccup and shrugged.
"If you say so," the chief responded and returned back to his meal. By the time Hiccup was done eating and talking with the chief, it was already night time.
"You are leaving now in the middle of night? Are you sure you don't want to stay here and leave in the morning?" The chief asked as he guided Hiccup out of the village.
"It's time for me to leave. Besides I do my best traveling during the night," Hiccup said with a cheeky grin. The village chief wanted to tell him how dangerous it was to be travelling at night but before he could, Hiccup had already started to run off on his own.
Watching him leave chief couldn't help but feel like someone important had just left his village. With a shrug the chief began to walk home.
Sprinting down the beaten trail with the moonlight to guide him, Hiccup's heavy footsteps echoed through the night. Hiccup never felt lighter as he was practically leaping with each step. An ominous shadow flew over him before it began to circle back towards him. Flying lazily beside him, Toothless gave Hiccup a curious look as he wondered why he was running when there was a perfectly good dragon right next to him.
"Good morning sleepyhead. Are you ready for a night of flying?"
Toothless roared in agreement. Grabbing the reins of the saddle, Hiccup hopped onto Toothless' back. Tucking his body closer to Toothless, the two climbed the night sky until they were higher than the clouds.
"Common Toothless we got a party to get to!" Hiccup said, urging Toothless to fly faster.
Flying above the cloud in the quiet night sky never felt better. The burden that he shouldered long ago was gone. And with his memories having returned, he finally felt whole again. The sense of ease was a feeling that he hadn't felt in over a thousand years.
Hiccup was excited to see Elsa again. There was so much to tell, so many things to ask her. And it was all happening tomorrow.
"Tomorrow night I will tell her about everything. Tomorrow night the truth will finally come out."
Authors end notes: With this chapter we set up for the climax of the first half the story. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out in a timely matter. I am currently flying solo as Colonel Pepper is busy with his own stuff. As always, Thank you to all my reviewers.