AN: I realize I own all of you an apology. I had thought I left a note on this story indicating that I was putting a halt to my writing due to excessive homework from uni. As the-real-dragon-rider pointed out to me in a PM, I have not. Thus the apology. I would have uploaded this chapter sooner, but my Beta could not proof-read it, and so I decided to upload it today instead of waiting for him. I will add the proof-read version as soon as he betas it.
Review reply:
thearizona: Those are questions that will be answered later, and, obviously I will not answer them now to not spoil you. Hope you enojy this chapter :)
v01dsw0rd: I'm not sure I understand your first question, so I will kindly ask you to elaborate it. As for your other questions no Windwalker is not meeting Elsa...yet
LunarCatNinja: Well, see for yourself on this chapter :)
Noctus Fury: And yet I have you in my grasp, just like I had with Heather-Hiccup :P
KE12: I realized I read your crossover only now, and I must say i feel incredibly honored that you read mine (unless I realized this a long time ago. Then I realize I forgot that I realized :P). I hope you enjoy this very late update.
SpicedGold: I see. I shall reread the last chapter to see if I can spot this atmosphere you speak of. In any case I feel elated that you have enjoyed the last chapter so much, and I hope you'll enjoy this one as well.
Mark Andrew: It is a little early to speak of romance. They're only 15-16 years old. Maybe there will be, maybe not. First he has to earn Elsa's trust.
Dew That Is Blue: Well, see for yourself if she understand on this chapter. As for the dragon, we'll meet it soon enough.
OechsnerC: Update is finally up. I apologize for the delay.
Guest: As you can see we are. Don't worry, if this story is put on hiatus or not going to be finished I will let you all know. As I said on my AN I forgot to let a note saying I was putting writing on the background to deal with my uni stuff.
Without further ado:
I have decided to do a PREVIOUSLY summary, so you all can keep track of my story without having to reread the last chapters again.
PREVIOUSLY: Elsa had a very unusual dream with Hiccup, which ended with them almost kissing. Meanwhile Hiccup was unnerved and stressed over finding out, during a flight he had with Toothless and Windwalker, that another dragon was in Arendelle. He realized he would have to warn Elsa. Meanwhile Agdar is informed of a creature of unknown origins lurking on the trees near the mountain by his guard, and gets on high alert. Soon Hiccup may not be the only one aware of this dragon's existance...
Hiccup opened his mouth to answer her, to tell her that it would only be for a couple of days, but he closed it when he noticed her worried face. He sighed while running a hand through his hair, feeling a bit conflicted. It seemed that she didn't want him to leave not even for a day, and he honestly didn't want to either, but he knew that he would need to deal with the wild dragon, lest their stay in Arendelle be compromised. "Toothless and I went flying today..." he began explaining softly.
Elsa's fear quieted down when she heard her friend's words. She decided to hear what he had to tell her before jumping to any conclusions. A part of her knew that he wouldn't leave, at least not without a good reason, and if something got him worried then it should be something very important. "We were flying when I noticed something flying near the East Mountain. I..."-he quickly thought of a way to explain how he saw the wild dragon without revealing Windwalker. She would already know that there was another dragon in Arendelle. She didn't need to know that there was a third.
"I nudged him to fly closer. I was lucky that the clouds over there cleared before it could disappear within the mountain. Elsa..." he drew a deep breath. "It was a dragon the flying creature..."
Hiccup's words took a moment to fully hit her. Elsa's feared fully returned, but now it was fear for her family's safety. She couldn't stop herself from remembering Hiccup's stories of how the dragons raided his village, and she couldn't stop herself from questioning him. "Are you sure it was a dragon?" she asked, even though she didn't mean to doubt him. She also couldn't fathom how he did not notice the room becoming very cold, enough so that she could see his breath and hers.
Fortunately he didn't seem to be bothered that she was seemingly doubting him, or by the cold. "Yes... I'm afraid that it was indeed," he confirmed. "And it is why Toothless and I will be heading there to deal with It." He saw her open her mouth and quickly added, "I need to... A wild dragon by itself is already dangerous. And I'm the only one around here that knows how to deal with one…", 'at least without getting killed,' he completed mentally.
She closed her mouth while taking in what he just told her. She couldn't deny that he was right, and she even agreed that he was the best person to deal with this situation while keeping any collateral damages on a minimum. But, Elsa couldn't also deny her worry for his safety, even if he had Toothless and a, curiously, short sword with him. She recalled how he told her how he had been so close to death when he released Toothless, hence why she was afraid that, if this happened again, he wouldn't be so lucky. She hugged herself, feeling her chest tight with apprehension.
She deeply wished that she could hug him right now, that she could tell him to be careful and how much he meant to her. Instead the only thing that she spoke was: "Will you be alright?"
Hiccup smiled at her concern. He would have patted her shoulder in comfort or even given a hug had he not noticed how she was hugging herself, which he recognized as an attitude of someone averse of physical contact. "I'll be fine. This will take only a couple of days at most," he reassured while hopping on Toothless. He turned his head to look at her, and was concerned with her saddened expression. "This isn't a goodbye. I'll be back, Elsa." and with this he patted Toothless to take off.
Elsa watched with bated breath as he and the dragon flew away. Her heart ached with worry while she watched from the window the young Viking and his dragon blending on the dark night. "Please be careful Hiccup... I can't lose the only friend I have…" she whispered, watching the sky through the window even though she could no longer see them.
Hiccup kept looking back while Toothless went to the forest to retrieve Windwalker, and even when they caught up with the other Fury he kept glancing back at the tower. Windwalker, sensing his hatchlings despair, softly spoke up. 'What troubles you Hiccup?' he asked.
Hiccup closed his eyes and shook his head. "I... I don't know Windwalker. It's just that she seemed way sadder than what I expected her to be before leaving. This worries me..." he explained, speaking the last part with a quiet voice. Not that it mattered to Windwalker how loud his hatchling's voice was; for being a dragon Windwalker could easily hear Hiccup even if the boy would have been whispering.
'It is true that this is preoccupying, but you seem way more worried than I thought you would be...' he pointed out. For him Hiccup was like an open book, and he wanted to be able to help his hatchling as much as he could. It was, after all, the least he could do after being set free from his decades-long imprisonment.
"I..." Hiccup tried to speak but failed. What he saw on Elsa's face brought him painful memories of a not so distant past, one that he had forgotten during his current brief stay in Arendelle. "The way she looked at me... Her sad expression was one of fear of being alone." He looked at Windwalker. "It reminded me of Berk... Of before you guys came," he explained with a sorrowful voice.
Windwalker was silent, completely caught off by Hiccup's statement. He did not expect neither his hatchling suddenly being reminded of Berk nor Hiccup seeing on Elsa such familiar pain. He had been, so far, harboring a small dislike for the princess, mainly because of the empowering position she constantly had, even though she has been nothing short of kind toward his hatchling. But right now, even though he still didn't know how she looked like or how her personality was-he refused to invade Hiccup's mind to satisfy such meaningless curiosity-he felt sympathy for her.
Hiccup cleared his throat in an attempt to change the painful subject, and pulled Windwalker out of his thoughts. "So... We'll complete my map as soon as possible so we can use it to guide us through here. Windwalker, I'll be flying you to do the map since your flight is smoother"-Toothless grunted, pouting because Hiccup would not be flying with him. It was a childish rivalry he and Windwalker had: who Hiccup would be flying with-"while you bud will be scouting. You can blend in better so you can scout farther than Windwalker during the day," he explained as they landed.
Toothless held a smug look on his face after Hiccup's instructions, while Windwalker was muttering something along the lines of 'Childish Night Fury' and 'Terrors are more mature than you'. His smug, however, vanished when Hiccup told him that he would be using the autonomous tail, a mechanism he would have broken a long time ago had Hiccup not been stranded with a pack of boars on one of their stops back at the Archipelago.
"So, you think you could keep watch while Toothless and I go gather some wood?" Hiccup asked Windwalker as they approached a cave. A camp tent had been actually one of the few things he did not take when leaving Berk, although it didn't bother him. Most of the times during their trip he either slept wrapped in one of his Fury's wings, or they managed to find a cave.
Windwalker looked at him with a face that clearly said 'did you really ask that?' earning an annoyed yet amused glare from Hiccup. Teasing his abilities was one of the things Hiccup grew fond of doing during their travel. 'Sure...'-he answered, surprising Hiccup-'if you manage to come back without a pack of boars hunting you,' he added smugly.
Hiccup groaned. "Do we really need to go back there again?" and much to his annoyance both dragons hummed in agreement. "Seriously Toothless, you too?" he asked feeling betrayed, and earned only a gummy smile in return. "So much for loyalty, flying salamander," he muttered, earning a chuckle from Windwalker and an annoyed look from Toothless.
He cleared his throat to gather the attention of the Furies. "Okay, so we will set in for the night, and first thing tomorrow morning will be complete the map. One of us will need to keep guard of the entrance for any animals or hunters..." he instructed.
'I'll keep watch,' Windwalker volunteered. 'Putting you on guard will be like calling a pack of boars with a horn,' he added, making Hiccup mutter some curses along the lines of 'shiny salamander' and 'grumpy grandpa'. Determined to not lose their little teasing Windwalker swept his tail over Hiccup's leg, making him fall. 'Be careful Hiccup, "grandpa's" reflexes are quicker than yours it seems,' he teased while heading to the cave's entrance.
Hiccup raised his head to look at Windwalker before letting it fall to the ground. He noticed Toothless looking at him before crooning. "Yeah, sure, dragon pity will make me feel so much better," he sarcastically muttered. He drew in a deep breath before rising to his feet. "Come on Toothless, we need to hurry before it's too dark to go out," he said as he waited for his dragon.
While the two of them gathered some wood so they could set in for the night Hiccup glanced one last time at the direction of Arendelle's castle. "Don't worry Elsa; I'll be back soon… I can't let this dragon harm anyone…" he whispered before returning to the task ahead.
xxxx
Elsa, meanwhile, left the tower only an hour after Hiccup left. She felt dejected, and worried about Hiccup, about her family's safety. She strode through the corridors of the castle, instead of going through the hidden passage as usual, and was paying little heed to both her surroundings and the risk she was taking in doing so.
She was so unaware of her surroundings that she didn't notice Idun spotting her as the Queen was returning to her room after going to the kitchen for a midnight snack. She thought about calling Elsa, but seeing her daughter's slow pace and pale, sad face illuminated by the moonlight made her rethink her decision. She watched with a heavy heart Elsa heading to her room and her daughter entering it; the fact that Elsa's door wasn't locked didn't even register in her mind. "Oh Elsa...how I wish I could help you now…" Idun said with a sigh.
Elsa slipped to her nightgown but didn't head to her bed. Instead, she sat on the bench right next to her window, and leaned her head against the wall frame. Her eyes gazed at the lone moon illuminating Arendelle, and she felt an odd feeling of comfort coming from it.
Somehow she knew that Hiccup was at this instant being illuminated by this same moon, and she could only hope that this would continue to happen for, possibly, forever.
xxxx
She tightly gripped her pillow while she lay down on her bed. The clouds had obscured most of the sky, so there was no more reason to be stargazing. She could hear the sleep calling her as her eyelids felt heavier by the second. Welcoming it begrudgingly Elsa made one last wish before falling to the uneasy sleep she had been used to after her first outburst. "Please be safe…"
The next day arrived too quickly for Elsa's liking. She awoke to the sunlight peacefully illuminating her room; but she felt anything bur peaceful. She half-opened one of her eyes and noticed a thin layer of frost covering her blankets.
Too tired to even mutter a curse Elsa just weakly hit the blankets, thus sending the frost into the air and onto the ground. She knew that at any given moment Gerda would stop by and leave the trail with her breakfast, and that soon after her mother would call her to give Elsa her lessons, but at this moment she didn't want to care about it.
She slowly closed her eyelids again, the restlessness of her last night catching up with her, along with her worry. This time Elsa welcomed with open arms her sleep.
xxxx
Hiccup, on the other hand, jolted awake with Windwalker's voice. He hurriedly stood as his friend relayed to him that he spotted the dragon flying on the brink of dawn. For Hiccup's relief and distress Windwalker told him that the dragon was white, meaning that, while it wasn't a Monstrous Nightmare it could easily blend with the snowy territory that the East Mountain was.
"Okay, Windwalker, you and I are going to finish our map today while Toothless scout the area," he said as he grabbed some fish from one of Toothless' satchels to give to his Furies and to cook for himself. "Let's just hope today is cloudy. Otherwise we'll have a hard time finding that dragon without getting unwanted attention," he muttered while he gave a fish for Toothless to burn; they didn't have time to build a campfire to do so.
They didn't take long to eat, and quickly left the cave after that. Hiccup was elated that it was lightly snowing, making the skies a perfect cover for Toothless and Windwalker to fly. He was thankful that it was not windy, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to finish his map.
Idun walked worried and careful steps toward Elsa's room. She had a nagging feeling that her daughter would be somewhat indisposed to have her lessons this day, if the troubled look on her daughter's face she had last night was of any indication.
She stopped in front of Elsa's door, and hesitated to knock. Part of her wanted deeply to know what was worrying her, after all she had no doubt that it was related to the tower, but part of her wanted to let Elsa rest a little more, even if oversleeping was an attitude unfit of a future Queen.
She snorted, thinking that Agdar rubbed on her his sense of duty. Elsa wasn't even Queen and, hopefully, would not be for a long time. She wasn't even of age yet! Idun let her hand fall to her side, deciding to give Elsa some more time to rest. She turned around, ready to go to the library, and was surprised to come face to face with Gerda.
"Ah!" she yelped unceremoniously. "You scared me Gerda. Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked with a much quieter, noticing her friend's guarded worry and aware that, if Elsa was asleep, she might have awakened her daughter with her yelp.
"Apologies my Queen," she said while curtseying. "As a matter of fact there is. The King asked me to fetch you. He's waiting for you in his study," she said, a small tingle of worry noticeable on her words, although only Idun and those that knew the servant for a long time could notice such thing.
"I see..." she said while furrowing her eyebrows. While not completely surprising that Agdar called her it was still unexpected. Few were the times that he formally called her, and the last time she could remember it had been to discuss Elsa's suitors. "Well, you can go back for your work. I'll be heading there. And Gerda"-she called as the servant turned to leave-"let Elsa sleep a little more okay?" she asked, not as a Queen, but as a worried mother.
Gerda smiled a sad smile. Idun may not know but she could see the worry in her friend's face. "Of course, I'll return within the hour with her breakfast. Would that be enough?" she asked while grabbing the tray she was just about to leave near Elsa's door.
Idun nodded, and soon they parted ways. When Gerda reached the kitchen Kai looked at her surprised, or more precisely, looked surprised at the tray full of food that she brought. "Err wasn't you supposed to leave the tray at Elsa's door?" he asked with confusion, even though he knew the answer.
Gerda, knowing Kai, understood the real question underneath the one he just asked. "The Queen asked me to let Elsa sleep a little more." Once she left the tray on a corner of the kitchen she sighed, and grabbed herself a cup of water. "She seemed more worried than the usual Kai... and I'm certain that it had nothing to do with the fact that King Agdar summoned her," she explained.
Kai's eyebrows rose in peaked curiosity. "The King summoned her?"-Gerda answered with a nod-"it is odd indeed. I don't think I can remember the last time he formally called for the Queen…" he tapped his chin in thoughtfulness. "But you said her worry had nothing to do with this…" he pointed out.
"She hesitated to knock on Elsa's door," Gerda commented. "And I've been her friend for a long time Kai… I know when she's troubled, even though she was trying to hide it. She seemed helpless, as if she couldn't do anything to help her daughter," she added sadly. It always pained the seasoned maid to see her friend with such pained expression, and even after seven years every time she saw an expression as the one she saw today Gerda remembered when everything changed.
"Do you think that Elsa is sick?" Kai guessed. "It is unusual of the Princess to be sick, and it would certainly make the Queen worried if Elsa indeed is," he added.
"I don't think so..." Gerda thoughtfully answered. "Had it been the case she would have either asked me to summon the Physician or fetch some medicine. I think that whatever is troubling our Queen and Princess can't be fixed with medical herbs."
Neither of them noticed a small redhead eavesdropping on their conversation, or her worried face as she quietly left the kitchen.
Update: Ogremen has proof read this chapter for me