Chapter 4- A New Development

Ballroom

12MAY24—1815 HRS.

Anna POV

"No way" I hear Hiccup lightly say. I look to Elsa with a confused look, one that she returned right back. I look back to Hiccup and notice him walking away from the group. Once more I look to Elsa "what was that all about?" She just shrugs "let's go find out." Our little group follows Hiccup a little ways, till he stops abruptly behind someone. I notice the man and the group he's with. Just like Hiccup they seem different from everyone else here, they hold themselves much like Hiccup and Toothless. Out of nowhere Hiccup speaks to the man whose still facing away from him. "Well, well, well, Snowflake; what are you doing here?"

The man perks up for a second then he almost whispers "I only know one bloody American who calls me that" at that moment he turns around "Hiccup!" Hiccup just laughs and embraces the man. Now that I have a better look at him I can see the finer details. Said man stands roughly Hiccup's height, but that's where the similarities stop. The first noticeable thing about him is his bright white hair, it looks like he dove head first into a paint bucket. He also seems really pale, but not like a 'sickly looking' pale; more like a 'needs to get out more' pale. I notice him glance at me and I see the bluest eyes I've ever seen. They remind me of sapphire stones that one would find on an expensive necklace.

At this point I tune back into the conversation as Hiccup introduces the mysterious man. "Ladies, I would like you all to meet Jackson Overland, or as we call him "Jack Frost. He's a part of the British SAS." British? Isn't Hiccup American? "Hi" I speak up, and immediately hear Elsa "Hello." Merida stay quiet and Rapunzel just nods a hello. "Ello" he speaks with a British accent. I notice that the group of people he was with have dispersed now to give us some room to talk. "So Jack…." "Hold up, If he's British and your American, how do you two know each other?" I interject. Hiccup laughs and looks at Jack "do you want to tell them or should I?" Tell us what? "You should mate, you're the better story teller" he says with a laugh. "Alright, Jack here was an exchange student in my college while I was going through. The two of us are rather intelligent, and graduated early from our 'high schools' for an early college education. After college we stayed in touch, and I found out he enlisted and put in a package for the British SAS. I immediately let him know that I also had enlisted and put in a package for the SEALs. After that neither one of us heard from the other for about a year, it was at that point our 'jobs' reunited us, but on a battlefield instead of a class room. I can't go into details, but it was a joint operation that lasted the span of roughly two years. We've been in contact as much as our careers will let's us be ever since. So now that that's done Jack, you still haven't answered my question."

I notice Jack's face lose any semblance of the smile it once held, and I knew it would be bad news from here on out. "Well Hiccup, since this regards both of your charges here I'll fill you in on the basics now." Hiccup nods, while Elsa and myself slightly lean in to show our attentiveness. "My team, The Guardians, have been sent to deal with a high value target that both of us know all too well." I see hiccup think for a second "who are we talking about here, neither one of our teams have many 'friends'" "Jason Roland" I notice Hiccup's eyes go wide "no way, I thought he was killed in the Osama raid." "So did we, but recent intel has picked him up in the area around Arendelle, and he seems to have taken an interest in the queen. It's also been reported that he's working with Drago." I see anger flash through Hiccup's eyes, before he suppresses it "Drago. I'm going to kill that son of a bitch for what he did to Rabbit." "Get in line mate, we still owe him one for Ghost." Jack says with a bit of pain in his eyes. Hiccup's head drops a little "so he got Ghost too? How's his family?" "We treat them like our own." "Well than Jack, looks like we've got ourselves another joint operation" Hiccup says with a chuckle. "Seems that way my friend" he says with a smile. At this point Elsa cuts in "Wait a minute, who's Jason Roland and what does he want with us?" Jack looks at Hiccup, and he just nods "Jason Roland, aka Pitch Black, is a world renowned terrorist who wants nothing more than to watch the world burn. The reason he's set his eyes on Arendelle is because the location of your country puts him in strategic position to hit not only the American east coast, but also most of western Europe. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, which is where our teams come in." Hiccup glances at me then looks deep into my sister's eyes "I will protect you…" he then looks back to me once more "…both of you." I think there's a bit more than duty causing him to want to protect us, and I think she's standing right next to me.

Elsa POV

I noticed Hiccup's gaze linger on me the longest and lock eyes with me. The whole time he was looking at me I was mesmerized by his magnificent forest green eyes. I want to know more about Hiccup, even become friends with him…possibly something more. It was at this point that someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I had to repress a jump and scream. I turned to face Toothless and the rest of his unidentified group. "Your majesty, what do you say we give the old friends some room to discuss the finer details." I simply just nod my head. "Excellent, Kristoff" I notice a blonde haired man stepped up next to Toothless "take the boys, and treat these lovely ladies to a dance. I need to have a word with the queen." He responded with a smile "sure thing sir" then turned to the other two men "you heard him boys, let's show these ladies a good time." "Right" the other two replied. Kristoff reached his arm out to escort my sister and she gladly accepted. "Oh, and Kristof…" "Sir?" "actually spend some time dancing, God knows you two spent enough time just staring at each other." He said with a laugh. I noticed my sister blush bright red, and then look to Kristof. He too had a tint of pink on his cheeks "R-right sir, you got it. Shall we princess?" With that the group of eight was down to just two "Elsa, mind if we take a walk to the gardens?" "Not at all Toothless" with that we made the roughly two minute walk through the crowd to the garden.

We arrive at a bench and he gestures for me to have a set, but he remains standing. "Toothless?" I ask a little confused. "Elsa, do you like him?" I look at him confused "what?" "I see the way you look at him, and the way he looks at you. So I'll ask again, do you like Hiccup?" Do I? I mean we only just met, but at the same time I've never felt this way about someone. My heart beats fast whenever he's near, and every time I look into his eyes I find myself lost. Could it work for us though? I'm the leader of a country and he's an elite solider that could die any day. That last though made my heart lurch and almost stop. It was right there I knew my answer "y-yes, I do Toothless." He smiled sweetly at me "good, that was the answer I was expecting to hear." His face became down trodden quickly after that. "Elsa, let me offer some advice about him though. Hiccup, by far, has had the hardest life I've ever seen. He's seen and done things most of us would have nightmares about, he grew up with no family, and most of the friends he had now rest in Arlington, Virginia. The few people you see on the team are all he has left, and he'll never admit it but if something happened to us….I feel he wouldn't allow himself to live with that. I'm not going to tell you about his past, because those are not my stories to tell. The reason I tell you this is so that when the time comes you'll be understanding. I've watched him risk his life on far too many missions far too many times, so I ask you, please give him a reason to live for his country…not die for it." I simply nodded my head, while I process everything he just told me.

At the conclusion of our conversation Toothless escorted me back to the ballroom. I walked in to notice the party had dwindle considerably, and I looked at my watch 9:30 pm already?! Wow the time really flew. As I scanned the room I notice the only groups still here were The Guardians, Rapunzel, Merida, and obviously Hiccup's. Toothless looked at his watch as well "Elsa I think it's about time we wrapped this shin dig up" he said with a chuckle. "I'm going to go grab the boys and Hiccup and retire for the night." Before he goes and idea dawns on me "wait, Toothless where are you guys staying?" He stopped and turned to me "we're staying at an inn about five minutes from the airfield, why?" "Well I would like you guys to stay here in the castle with my sister and me. I mean you are our protection detail, and plus it would be nice to have some company here. The Guardians are welcome to stay as well if you would like to inform them." I saw him smile "that would be wonderful Elsa; I'll inform Hiccup and Jack. For tonight we will station a detail like we originally planned, then tomorrow at dawn we'll move our gear over here. Sound good?" Damn, I was hoping to start my plan to get to know Hiccup tonight. "Sounds excellent Toothless, what time should I tell the guards to be expecting you?" He thought for a second "will 0530 work for you, I would rather move our gear under the cover of darkness so that anyone watching can't figure out our capabilities." I giggle "you boys sure start early, but I guess the early bird gets the worm." He laughs "yea it sure does. Ok, I'll be posting Kristof and Meathead here for the night. I'll go inform them now, and I will see you at breakfast Elsa" he says with a wave. I wave back then go to the girls to fill them in on the plan.

Tomorrow and the next coming months are going to be very interesting.