Chapter 7—This Changes Things

Castle

24MAY24—2117 HRS.

Elsa POV

I looked down the instant I spoke those words fearing the look on everyone's faces. Anna already knows, but how will the rest of them take it? I heard a few moments of silence before speaking again. "I know what you guys are thinking. You're thinking 'she's a monster'…." I was cut off by Kristoff "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't think you're a monster." I then heard Toothless cut in "Yea, you're doing to us what you don't want done to you. You're judging us before you even let us speak." It was at this point the person whose opinion mattered most spoke up. "Elsa, you're not a monster. Trust me when I say that there are people in this world who are truly monsters. The things we've seen and done would put people like us in that category. Those like the people who are after you are monsters, they have no regard for the lives of anyone. The majority of people in this room will agree with me on that one. I am however, hurt that you left this information out when you sat down with us and had our brief. Had I known this when we first met, then we'd know more about the kind of people we're dealing with."

I couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed because I knew he was right. I looked to Anna, but she seemed to be thinking the same thing I was. Hiccup continued on after a moment of thinking. "These men will do anything to achieve what they want to complete, which in this case is to kill the both of you." He began to unblouse his left boot as he continued "I fear what may happen to the two of you should they manage to capture you, but I know that it won't be pleasant." Once he was done with his boot laces he slid the boot off and rolled the pant leg up. What greeted Anna and I was something neither of us was ready for. "This is what happens when you refuse to give into their demands. When you choose to be strong, they choose to break you."

There gleaming in the light was a completely robotic prosthetic continuing on from just below his knee. It looked to be made of solid black metal and even appeared to be connected to his actual nervous system unlike typical prosthetics. I could only gasp and cover my mouth. He then pulled his shirt from his pants and continued on. "They've taken something from all of us, which is where our deep distaste for these combatants comes from." As he pulled his long sleeve under armor shirt over his head my mind went blank. I could hear Anna begin to sob next to me, and I could even feel tears streaking down my cheeks. Staring from his midsection were scars of all lengths and sizes. Some looked like knife wounds while others looked like bullet wounds. There were some however, that looked like neither and in fact looked as if they were inflicted as a means of torture. On his left pectoral was a dark brand saying "infidel" and appeared to have been done several times.

What really stood out though was another gleaming piece of metal, only this time much bigger. This prosthetic started in the middle of his right pectoral and continued outwards replacing the whole right shoulder and arm. This one appeared to be made the same way the leg prosthetic was made. The only difference this time was that the base for this one seemed to be attached to the ribs for support. I lifted my gaze to his face once more as he continued on "I'm not showing you guys this to scare you. I just want you to realize what's at stake if you're not completely honest with us." Without thinking I spoke out one question "h-how?"

I instantly regretted even opening my mouth as I saw him zone out and his face contort with pain. He quickly shook it off and looked at me with distant lifeless eyes. "I was in their 'care' for about two weeks and refused to give in to their demands of revealing our mission parameters and any other pertinent intelligence. While there they committed heinous acts as you can see on my body. In one final attempt to get the US government to relent, they positioned me in front of a live broadcast to all news stations and had me recite my name, rank, branch, and ID number. They then wanted me to read their demands and once again I refused. It was at that point the hacked off my leg with a machete. It wasn't long after when finally Toothless led a team to rescue me."

The air in the room had turned solemn at the start of his story, but now it held an air that was indescribable. It left a feeling of emptiness in my very soul, and I could even feel my powers making the room cold. "That's all I have to say about that, now do you understand why that information is critical? These guys may want to use you as a lab rat to try and enhance their 'soldiers'. It also puts your sister in more risk as well, they'll use her to get to you." The sound of the door opening diverted all our attention.

Hiccup POV

I looked to Toothless and shot him a look. He easily knew what I was thinking and shot a look back saying 'yea, I know'. Elsa seemed to know the so called intruder and addressed him accordingly. "Ah Kai, what seems to be the urgency? I recall telling everyone to not disturb us." The servant bowed "apologies my queen, but the guards found this video among the wreckage outside. Oddly though, it's not addressed to you your majesty." Instantly confusion ran over all of our faces. It was Kristoff who decided to ask the question. "Well, who's it addressed to then?" The servant seemed annoyed that he was addressed so casually, but continued on anyway. "It's actually for you Mister Haddock." Fuck I hate being called that! "Please, just Hiccup. Mister Haddock was my father and I'm actually not fond of either of those titles for him." "My apologies Hiccup."

I walked across the room to the servant and retrieved said box. This is odd, it's a fairly thick little thing. Almost like a small safe box, and while it doesn't feel too heavy it does have some weight to it. "I think its best you guys find some solid cover and get behind it. Instantly everyone's faces went fearful. Some for their lives, and others for the lives of everyone in the room. Anna broke the restless silence "w-what do you mean? What's in the box" "Honestly, there's no telling, I'm just doing this as a safety precaution." "But Hiccup, what if it actually is a bomb or something?" My dark sarcastic and dry humorous side tried to lighten the mood. "Well, at least I'll be going out with a bang." As I guessed, nobody in the room found it funny but reluctantly did as I asked.

After a minute of two I took one last look around the room, not only to make sure everyone was safe, but also to get on last look at things if I did in fact disappear from this world. With a small sigh I flipped the latch on the little black box. With my eyes peacefully closed I slowly opened the little black box and….

A/N: I normally don't use cliff hangers, but there are just some chapters that need a little suspense building. What's going to happen? Who knows? Could Hiccup's time finally be up? Or is something much worse on the horizon? Only time will tell. Good news though, is that the next chapter should be up in the next couple of days. I've also began brainstorming ideas for my next story. If you guys have any suggestions, or story ideas you'd like to see written then send me a pm with the story plot, characters involved and descriptions, and parings. I'll do my best to stay as close to the story you want to read, while keeping it original. I'll be posting a poll in one of my future chapters to decide the next story I'll write. Till next time "fair winds and following seas" my fellow fanatics.