Review responses:

Theother1 . gater: if you hated the last chapter's ending, you'll hate even more this one's

Saberius Prime: And the saga of the cliffhangers continues with this chapter

NPwall: Thanks

Guest: And this one will have another one. This semester's end was okay-ish. Not good grades, but most were average or above, so it isn't much of a worry. And yes, I'm on holidays, for the moment

V01dsw0rd: I applied the corrections you suggested to the last chapter. Thanks :)

Arthanos: I'm pleased to see that this story impacted you enough to not forget about it

BionicleRocks77: Is your nick a reference to the Bionicle Lego series? If it is, kudos for the reference. I wouldn't say 2K words chapter is short. It's pretty average to me.

shiningmoonslayer: Well, no reason not to reply you or do so without being honest. And don't fret, you haven't stepped over any boundaries. I'd love to be your beta, but given that I barely have time to write my own story, I doubt that I'd have time to proofread yours before you update. Given that, I don't feel right in asking you to be my beta when I can't give you the same.

Lemonlimme: I'm not stopping it until it's complete. And I'm happy to see that you enjoyed this story enough to binge it (it certainly isn't that short). My first language is Portuguese

thearizona: You'll find out on this chapter, if you haven't figured it out

Noctus Fury: Lots of maybes. I wonder which one will become true. And thanks. I'm always happy to see one of my readers enjoying so much one of my chapters

Without further ado:

As she lightly grabbed him ice spread out over him. She recoiled, as if bitten by a snake, while yelping. Almost instantly the ice left him. She looked down at her hands and sighed.

One more try, and if I fail I'll bring Toothless or Windwalker. With even less certainty than the small amount she had before, she tried again to sit him. As she touched him frost glimmered around her hand. She winced but decided to continue.

Much to her amazement the ice never came as she gently and slowly sat him up. In a way, she was pleased with herself. Maybe I'm finally progressing, so maybe one day I can reunite with Anna again. Her small progress gave her enough hope to give her strength. She then glanced at the tray and started thinking of what he should have.

She decided on the soup, as she didn't know if his condition had any side effects on his digestion process. Moreover, it was the chief's recipe that soup, and one of Elsa's favourite meals. There was no way it could go wrong right?

Bit by bit she fed him, always doing her best to not get him dirty and not to touch him too much. Her ice may not have come out before, but she didn't want to press her luck.

After he was well fed she decided to eat, and so she had some bread with butter and the hot cocoa. As she was done eating she brought the tray out of her room and pushed the cord leading to the maid's room so Gerda would pick it up.

Now all she had to think was an excuse good enough to keep her mother from entering her room.

She was looking at him, wondering yet again if there was something she could do to wake him up. And again she had no idea of what to do. She bit her lower lip and glanced at the door. Mama has yet to arrive. What will I tell her? She can't come in or she'll find out about him.

Her trail of thoughts was broken as she heard someone knock on her door. "Elsa?" The doorknob twisted, and much to her horror, the door opened. She paled as she realised that she had not locked the door after putting the tray outside. "May I come in?"

"NO!" Elsa stretched out her hand involuntarily as if it would stop her mother if the strength behind her voice was not enough. However, as she noticed with great dread and pain a faint, ghastly blue appeared on her hands as a wave of ice and cold travelled from her to the door, effectively pinning it.

Elsa felt the air leave her lungs as she mutely saw the scene before her. "Mama?" she asked, her voice not louder than a faint whisper. Her hands started shaking and snowflakes started falling from the ceiling as what may have happened was registered by her mind. "Mama?" she asked again, her voice only a fraction louder. Her eyes were wide open in fear, and she didn't dare to move, as if doing so would make more ice appear.

"I'm alright Elsa," she heard her mother say, and then carefully let out a sigh. "What happened? Are you alright darling?" There was fear veiled behind her worry, but it was all too clear to Elsa. It clawed at her insides, shredding it to pieces, tearing her apart as she felt herself being eaten whole by a void of dread and nothingness.

She let out a faint yelp as she realised how close she was to Hadrian. Hastily she took a step away from him, and away from the door, before looking at her gloved hands. "I never am," she spoke, half to her mother, half to herself.

Slowly she walked toward a corner of her room and slid down. Her arms wrapped themselves around her legs as she rested her forehead on her knees. Don't cry. The time of crying curled in a corner is long gone. You're strong Elsa. You have to be. For your family. For your kingdom. For him.

Unfortunately, she was not strong enough.

Sometime later she opened her eyes and realised that she had fallen asleep while crying. She turned her head to look at the door and felt her muscles protest rather painfully. How long was I asleep? My neck shouldn't be so sore for being asleep just a few minutes. She noticed that the ice was mostly melted. Guess I really was out for more than just a few minutes.

"If I knew that you were sleeping like this I'd have left a note telling you to not put me in your bed in case something went wrong."

Her heart jumped as she heard a familiar voice. Her eyes instantly turned to look at Hadrian, who seemed well and, most importantly, very awake. She was so overcome by joy that for a moment she forgot about her accident. "Hadrian!" she said, jumping up. "You're awake!"

"Yes, I am." Elsa frowned as her senses returned to her, and that did not go unnoticed by him. "What? Is something wrong?"

Elsa slowly bobbed her head. "You're speaking in Norwegian."

"I am?" As if only then aware of what he was speaking his eyes widened. "I am!" he said, a huge grin appearing on his face. "It worked!" He then noticed that Elsa was still frowning. "What's the matter?"

"You did a completely idiotic, stupid, irresponsible and foolish thing which could have easily killed you or scarred you for life," she spoke as she slowly approached him. "You're insufferable, incorrigible, and completely irresponsible. Honestly, of all the irresponsible things you have done, this tops them all."

Only when she stopped talking that she realised how close to him she was. He gave her a gentle smile and said, "I missed you too." Elsa nearly broke down in tears at hearing those words.

She took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself. "Please don't scare me like this again." Hadrian's heart was painfully squeezed as he realised how frightened she looked.

"I won't I promise you." He hopped off her bed, and for a moment she thought he'd fall as his legs wobbled. But, fortunately, he regained his stance. "What happened?"

Her heart felt a pang of pain, even though she did not look at where he was pointing. "Mama was going to enter the room and I . . . panicked, because I knew she couldn't find out about you. Not yet anyway."

His eyes gazed at her, studying her. "Are you alright?"

She gave him a look full of fondness. "I'm much better now." He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes, much to her sadness. "Is something wrong?"

His shoulders tightened as he hesitated. "No," he said with a tight voice. She arched an eyebrow. "I mean, it's nothing important. We should focus on you."

Sensing that she'd have to press him to speak what was bothering him Elsa decided to drop the matter. "Okay," she replied, although her voice told him that she was not done with this. "We should go back to the tower. Toothless and Windwalker are very worried."

Her eyes widened slightly. "I have an idea. I'll write a series of tests to determinate how well is your Norwegian. That'll help us know whether or not you're ready." She looked at her desk. "I'll go with you to there, and after dusk, I'll meet you and bring the tests."

He wanted to tell her that he was okay and was not going to fall while heading to Toothless, but decided against that. It would do him no good trying to change her mind, especially considering that he was keeping from her that he had thought of Berk during his comatose state. It would do her no good to worry that he was homesick. "Sounds like a good plan."

He missed how she cast a worried glance toward him.

Toothless and Windwalker were so relieved when they saw Hiccup that they actually missed that he was speaking another language. And after they realised so Hiccup realised that he couldn't switch easily to his mother tongue. 'Maybe your mind is still adapting. And so it will take a few days for you to easily switch between these languages.'

"Maybe," he said thoughtful, although it sounded as if he was not entirely focused on the issue. "We'll wait and see what happens."

Sensing that something else was bothering the boy Windwalker decided to question him, 'What is on your mind? I have the feeling that you are troubled.'

He eyed the white dragon with narrow eyes before looking away. "You're right. While I was . . . asleep, I kept seeing Berk, my father, my inventions, Gobber, Astrid . . . I'm not sure I should tell Elsa that I feel homesick. What if she thinks I want to leave? I don't want to upset her over nothing."

'Your feelings aren't 'nothing',' Windwalker stressed. 'Besides a part of friendship is being honest with one another. Therefore I think you should open up to her.'

He hesitated, and then glanced at Toothless. "Maybe," he whispered.

A few hours later Elsa came to the tower and, true to her word, she wrote several tests for him to do. He was so caught off by the sheer amount of tests that he actually had to ask her to help him organise it in a way for him to start.

She stood silently as he did them, and read a book she had brought. Occasionally she would glance at him, and more than once their eyes met, which made her look away while she felt her cheeks redden.

After an hour or two, he finished the tests and gave for her to check his answers. "Remarkable," she said as she corrected them. "Your Norwegian is as good as mine. Whatever Windwalker did it turned you into a proficient Norwegian speaker."

Despite the small smile on her lips, her eyes were still hardened when she looked him in the eyes. "It still doesn't excuse your recklessness."

His gaze fell to the floor as his shoulders sagged. The familiar feeling that he disappointed someone returned so strongly that it killed any joy he felt. "I'm sorry."

Elsa noticed the change, and her eyes softened. She slid closer to him and was then at arm's length. "I didn't mean to be too stern Hadrian," she softly spoke. She wanted to touch his face, tell him that all was well. But her fears kept her from doing so. Instead, she said, "What is bothering you?"

He looked at her, and she noticed how pained his gaze was, which made her wonder if it was her fault, or if something caused it. She looked down at her hands and inhaled deeply. Should I? We've progressed so much, but is that enough?

Tentatively, almost as if he was a caged animal, she let out her hand. It grabbed his hand so gently that, at first, he didn't even register it. His eyes snapped upwards and looked at hers, surprising evident in them. "I worry about you, Hadrian. Please don't shut me out."

The irony of her words was not lost to her. Perhaps one day I can let Anna in again. She looked at their entwined hands. And maybe that day is sooner than I think. She shook herself mentally. Now is not the time. I should focus on him.

Her bold action crumbled any resistance he felt. "I miss home," he said in a whisper so soft that she barely heard it. "While I was . . . asleep I kept seeing Berk. Seeing Gobber, my father… Astrid."

Elsa tensed, remembering that Astrid is the one his heart yearns for. Before she could wonder what it meant that he had thought of her he spoke again, "I was afraid of telling you this because I thought it would make you think that I wanted to go back to Berk, that I wanted to leave you."

"I mean, one day I want to go back, see how they're doing. But that day isn't close." A rueful smile crossed his face. "Do you mind if I share a few stories of Berk with you?"

She smiled and squeezes his hand. "Of course not. I'd love to hear them." He looked at her and, for the first time since he awoke, a real smile crossed his face.

As he told her his tales of his hometown his hand never left hers.

"Order! I will have order!" The booming voice of Stoick the Vast echoed through the Hall, making all vikings go silent.

Updated on July 5th, 2018