A/N: Apologies about the long delay between chapters. A new career field was presented to me, and involved a lot of moving and going to school. However, I'm now stationary (for a while) at a new duty station. I have already started the next chapter, and it's coming along nicely. My next shift rotation will affect how soon I can push out chapters, so bear with me as I sort it out.

Chapter 12—Past Troubles

Castle Dining Hall

04JUL24—0715 HRS.

Elsa POV

I had the worst night of sleep in years. I haven't slept that bad since the week of my coronation. It's to be expected I guess. I'm sure Anna didn't fare much better after yesterday's story. My suspicions were confirmed when I made my way down to the table for breakfast. When I arrived, Anna was sitting with her head hanging down, and her food untouched. I found my seat close to Anna, but just like her, I couldn't seem to find my appetite. The two of us sat in a stagnant silence for the better half of an hour, until Meathead and Sven came into the dining hall.

I popped my head up at the sound of the two of them entering the room. The two were chatting animatedly about something that I didn't bother to listen to. Both men stopped speaking when they noticed our presence. Sven decided to break the ice first "why so glum you two?" Anna piped up with a quick answer "just sick of being cooped up in the castle I guess." I could see the thought that crossed Sven's mind written on his face. He was quick to verbalize that thought "how about we take a stroll then?" Anna's face was alight with joy almost instantly as she turned and shot a look at me. I couldn't help the small smile that graced my face as I answered "sure. It is about time for the annual summer festival, if I'm not mistaken." Anna let out a girlish squeal as she remembered.

The two guys looked at us in confusion as Sven spoke "summer festival?" Anna immediately jumped into the conversation with a childlike joy "ohhh, it's only Arendelle's best festival of the year! It's our equivalent of your Fourth of July, except ours is a week long." The two men just nodded in understanding as the connection was made clear to them. Sven looked at the both of us and spoke "it seems like it's time for us to go see how the preparations are proceeding." Meathead threw a smile on his face and said "I'll grab my gun!"

About thirty minutes later Anna and myself, along with our escorts, were walking passed the palace gates and out into the bustling streets that were quickly filling with patrons of all sorts. From high above the city I could see thousands of tourists among my many native residents. I turned my head to Sven "the festival kicked off today. Tourists from all around the globe come to participate in the festival. It's one of our biggest revenue generators of the summer season." I could see Sven and Meathead both wearing cautious looks. Meathead took the opportunity to voice what was on his mind "Elsa, while this is a great morale booster for your county, especially in light of all that's happened recently, but is it wise to be so vulnerable in a situation such as this?"

I couldn't quite follow his train of thought with that last sentence "what do you mean by that?" Meathead stopped for a second then continued on "Elsa, this would be a perfect opportunity for someone to make an attempt on your life. You need to be cautious during this event." I could feel my anger start to boil a little "what would you have me do? Sit inside and watch from afar?" Sven jumped in "he meant no disrespect Queen Elsa. We just wanted to make you aware of the concern. Our first priority is your overall safety accompanied by the safety of your sister."

I cooled myself off 'they make a good point though.' The next few hours were filled with pleasant conversation and light hearted activities. The two men with us, while looked relaxed, were ever on the alert for anything that might go wrong. It was going on five in the afternoon '1700 I think is what they call it' when we ran into the Jack "Frost". He was on a date with a dentist from the castle when he noticed us. He made his way towards us and waved a greeting, to which we all replied similarly.

Sven decided to break the ice "out with a nice lady I see." Jack gave a chuckle as the girl next to him blushed and gave a small giggle. When she noticed my presence, she gave a bow along with "my Queen." I offered a small smile and replied "relax Titannia, there's need for such formalities on this wonderful evening." Anna squeezed into the conversation "well don't let us keep you from your date." Jack replied with a short chuckle "nonsense, we were just making our way back to the castle, care to join us?" I looked at Titannia to see she was quite pleased with how things turned out. Before I could decline she spoke up "your majesty, I would be honored if you would make the walk back with us." With a swift nod and a slight squeal from Anna, we all began our trek back.

On our way back, we animatedly chatted about Titannia's date, one to which she was ecstatic about going on, and couldn't wait for the next. We could hear the guys slightly ahead of us talking about the same thing. 'Seems like a successful night for the both of them. Wonder if I could ever be like that?' Before I could get too far on that train of thought, Jack stopped short, almost causing Anna and I to run smack into his back. We could hear a muffled "oh shit" come from one of them, but it was hard to tell who. The three of us girls walked up next to the men, and each one of us followed their gaze to a couple of people just down the road.

Not far ahead of us was two individuals who appeared to be on a date. The male was appeared to be in his mid-twenties with black hair and a slightly rounded face. He was quite built, which was easy to tell through the tight t-shirt, and was sporting a stubbly beard. The man stood about 6 foot 2 inches tall. Next to him was a slightly shorter female, who probably only stood about 5 foot 7 inches. She had bright blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes. She had an athletic build about her which made it quite easy to tell she played some kind of sport. 'What's so special about that couple over there that's got these guys stopped dead in their tracks?'

Before I could get the chance to ask I overheard Jack ask Sven "shit, should we tell Hiccup?" I shot a confused look at Anna, who in turn, shot one back. Anna beat me to the punch and asked the question both of us had, "tell Hiccup what?" Both men looked apprehensive to answer the question as they glanced at each other. Sven sighed, almost as if he lost a mental battle with Jack. "The woman over there is the one who cheated on Hiccup, but the question lies 'why is she here'?" We found that we would receive our answer sooner than expected, as none other than Hiccup walked out of the store not far from them.

"Double shit" I heard Jack say as he quickly began to make his way over to the small group. We approached a conversation that had already began. As we walked up we could hear the female speaking "…at are you doing here?" Hiccup's voice held a tone of disdain as he replied "I'm on vacation. More importantly, what are you doing here?" She smiled, a smile that seemed a tad too forced, as she answered "I'm also here on vacation, my company had a drawing for two tickets to the summer festival here." Her smile widened a bit more as her male friend continued on "so Hiccup, where are you staying? That trashy little motel down the way? Or are you bedded in some cozy cardboard box in some alley?"

I felt a surge of rage race through me as I stood there listening to the three of them. 'Who the fuck does she think she is?!' Her next comment really lit a fire under me. "I heard you still dread the night you walked in on me and Eret here. Apparently, you never were able to get over me…" she let out a sigh then continued. "…if only you had come home twenty minutes later, you would have never even known." I had to commend Hiccup's resilience to the conversation, but even a blind man could see that last comment hurt him a little. I took that as my cue to step in as I cleared my throat.

"Ah, there you are my distinguished and revered guest. I fear we'd lost you to one of the fair maidens here." I shot a small smirk at the blonde-haired female before continuing on "alas, it seems the one you set your eyes on already has plans for the evening. No matter, I seem to have no escort, and I would be pleased if a MAN such as yourself would do me the honors this fine evening." I could see a flash of relief in his eyes as he gave a small bow and replied "of course, your majesty. I would be honored." He offered his arm to me, which I happily accepted. I snuck one last look at the shocked faces, before glancing to the man whose arm I now draped. I could feel an almost unnatural warmth spread through my body as I walked with him. Almost to the point I missed what he was saying "…didn't have to do that for me."

"Nonsense, I was happy to assist you." Once more the warmth spread through me. 'God, when did I become such a schoolgirl?' The seriousness in his voice brought me from my thoughts "Elsa, please be warned, Astrid is not the type who likes to lose. She will attempt to show you that she's top dog." I let out a small scoff as I replied "let her then, I love a challenge. Who dares, wins right?" It was at that point I remembered we weren't alone when Jack let out a "hell yea!" Hiccup just seemed to face palm as he let out a groan and spoke "don't tell me you like the Brits better?" I gave a confused look as I spoke "I thought that was the SEALs saying?" Jack let out a chuckle and replied "no, the SEAL saying is 'the only easy day was yesterday'."

I could feel the embarrassment flood my cheeks as Hiccup gave out a small laugh. "We'll chalk that up to a misunderstanding then." The rest of our walk back to the castle was enjoyable, but passed much to quickly for my taste. Upon our arrival to the castle Hiccup broke the peaceful silence lingering over us "Elsa, I must bid you all a good evening. I have to go speak with Toothless about a few things." I was slightly dejected upon hearing that, but managed to put on a small smile as I replied "very well Hiccup. Have a pleasant evening." He returned the smile before making his way across the castle courtyard and into a side entrance. I let out a small sigh, which happened to be heard by Meathead. "Don't worry Queen Elsa, he'll be alright." I turned my head toward the door he entered as I whispered "I hope so."

Hiccup POV

I made haste to the operations room where I knew Toothless would be. My instincts were correct when I arrived about five minutes later to see him standing by the planning board. "I see you got the plans finished. Good, how soon till we put them in place?" I heard Toothless let out a chuckle "good to see you're still trying to sneak up on people. If you keep that up I might just have to replace that leg of yours with a wooden peg." At that both of us let out a hearty laugh. Toothless was quick to recover, and I was right behind him. We set right back into a serious chat as Toothless continued speaking. "To answer your question, the personnel are already on station and shifts are already in work. Nothing will happen at this summer festival without us knowing."

I couldn't help the sarcastic laugh that escaped my lips as Toothless turned to look at me. "If that was the case Tooth, then nobody told me." He shot me a confused look before I continued "seems that 'nothing' you're talking about was standing in the plaza no more than an hour ago." I could see the gears working in his head as he put the pieces together. It only took a few seconds for the realization to dawn on him "…oh shit…" He looked up at me before continuing "Jodie's here?" I left the question unanswered and hang in the air. Both of us knew the answer to the question already. A moment later he continued "I'm sorry bro, are you ok?" I simply nodded "yea man. I know it's been a couple of years, but she did me dirty, ya know? I don't know man, I thought it was all good, but seeing her hanging off his arm like that…and then having the gall to blame me…" I let out a small sigh as I continued "…I just need some time to gather my thoughts. Kinda, makes me wish we were back in the Middle East. Things were easy over there. Mission came in, mission got approved, infil, get shot at, shoot back, get our objective, and exfil. I don't know, it seemed easier there."

This time it was Toothless who let out the sigh before speaking "Hic, bro, you've been in the shit too long. When's the last time you just relaxed?...and I don't mean by hanging out in the ops center." I had to think about that one for a moment, but before I could reply Toothless continued "see, that's what I mean. You haven't done anything remotely relaxing since you went back and caught Astrid with that fuckboy. If you keep this up you're going to end up getting yourself killed." I pondered his words for a long time before replying "you're right man…I think some well needed R and R is deserving after this is all through."

I heard Toothless give a small chuckle to lighten the mood before he spoke. "Hell Hic, we might just be better of retiring after this." I gave a small smile in response. He continued on after a moment "seriously though, forget Astrid. She's probably only here for the festival and then she'll be on her way. Hell, the chance of you even seeing her again is slim to none. The shifts over the next few days will keep us all busy." I attempted to put Astrid to the back of my mind, but that was a task easier said than done. I decided a workout might help clear my head. I cleared my throat before speaking "I'll take into consideration your advice. I will try man, and a workout might help with that." I turned to leave, but stopped once I made it to the door and shouted back to Toothless "where did you put me in that rotation anyway?" I heard him chuckle and reply with "you'll see." I rolled my eyes at him and shot him the bird as I walked out listening to him laugh.

Castle Hallway

05JUL24—0850 HRS.

Elsa POV

'Geez, that meeting seemed to take forever.' I spared a glance to my right and saw Anna had the same thought. Anna looked back at me and asked the question both of us had on our minds "breakfast?" I could hear Hiccup and Kristoff follow us out into the hall and I took no time in repeating the question to the two men, who both gave a curt nod and followed behind. The walk to the dining hall was peacefully quiet. 'I wonder how Hiccup is holding up?' However, before I could voice that thought we arrived at our destination.

Breakfast was a mostly quiet affair. However, that didn't keep me from sneaking glances toward Hiccup throughout the meal. I couldn't help but think about what that horrid woman said to Hiccup. It was still making my blood boil. 'Who the hell does she think she is?! For her sake, I hope our paths don't cross again.' I took a breath to cool my head before allowing my thoughts to move over to the summer festival as we wrapped up our breakfast. I turned to look at Hiccup as we all rose from our seats "Hiccup, I would like to discuss some things with you." I saw him turn his head toward me and give a slight nod "I was planning to go for a run. Would you like to discuss matters now, or wait till after my run?" I pondered the question for a moment before I had a splendid idea "actually, may I join you on your run?" I could see he wasn't expecting that answer as he replied "sure. Meet here in the yard in 15?" I gave a quick nod as I answered "ok. 15 it is then."

Fifteen minutes later I found myself down in the yard just behind the dining hall. I took one last look at my outfit, which consisted of a snug fitting light blue t-shirt, a pair of light blue runner shorts, and a pair of white Nike running shoes with a snowflake pattern on them. As if on cue, Hiccup walked out the door and into the yard. He was wearing an olive green long sleeve under armor shirt, a black glove on his right hand, a pair of camouflage pants, and a pair of tan boots. On his back was a black tactical backpack with a small hose coming out the side and up to his shoulder. I looked at him slightly confused as I posed my questions "why are you wearing your uniform? And what's with the backpack?"

He gave a slight laugh before he replied. "It's really just habit to run in my uniform. It's quite comfortable actually, plus I don't like showing off the gear." 'Gear? What Gear…Oh. How could I forget about that.' "And if you ask me I think the Type III's look cool. The thing on my back is called a Camelbak, and it's basically just a giant water bottle. Which reminds me…" He took his bag off and began digging through it. "…Where…Oh, here it is." He pulled out what looked like a small vest and handed it out toward me as he continued speaking. "Don't worry, it weighs practically nothing so you won't feel it while you're running."

I looked at him with a skeptical look as I replied "what is it exactly?" He gave a small laugh as he answered "right, probably should have said that sooner. This is a new ballistic vest invented by yours truly. It's a weightless metallic fluid, spread thin throughout the vest. It takes the impact of a round and disperses it throughout the rest of the vest to alleviate the amount of force done to your body. Think of a liquefied version of Captain America's shield that acts like an impact resin. However, it's only capable of stopping three 7.62 rounds in succession. Anything bigger than that is going to hurt…a lot."

I took the vest from him as I responded "are you sure your calling in life wasn't as an inventor instead of a SEAL?" He gave a small laugh before I continued "wait, where's your vest?" He simply tapped his chest as he replied "underneath the shirt. My bag also has a collapsed MP5K and five mags in it along with my radio. We have to be extra careful now that the summer festival is in full swing." A momentary pause filled the air before he continued "ok Elsa, ready to get a move on?" I gave a small nod and began jogging to the castle's rear gate.

We made our way out of the rear gate and down the small trail to the castle's private beach. Five minutes later we made it to the beach and turned right, since a cliff face was down to the left, and made our way to Arendelle's public beaches. About three minutes after we turned right I decided to speak to Hiccup. "Hey, Hiccup?" He answered with a simple "hm" and I took that as my que to continue "I just want you to know that if you need someone to talk to…you know…about the whole thing with Astrid…I'm here for you." He went silent for a long time. The only sounds that could be heard were the waves, our heavy breathing, and the slowly approaching public beach that seemed to be quite busy. At first, I thought I might have upset him, but that train of thought went quickly by the wayside when he finally spoke up. "Elsa…you don't know how much that means to me."

Our run took a peaceful silence after that, mixed with some small talk. About twenty minutes later we stopped and decided to take a break underneath a fishing pier. I looked back and saw the castle in the distance. I also noticed a few people looking at the two of us, but none decided to approach. I turned and asked Hiccup "how far from the castle are we?" He took a breath and replied "roughly about five miles. This seemed like a good turn around point." A good mood settled over the two of us. I decided to pose a question to Hiccup "hey Hiccup, want to go up to the boardwalk and grab a drink." He gave a small laugh then replied "sure, I need to make a head call anyway."

A small walk up the beach found the two of us at a familiar little beach store by the name of Oaken's. Oaken's was centered in between a male and female restroom, so while Hiccup walked off and did his thing, I went into Oaken's and got a water bottle. However, when I went outside, my heart dropped into my stomach. Standing in front of Hiccup was none other than the banshee from yesterday. 'Oh no. It seems like another one-sided argument has started up.' The second that thought rang out in my head, I noticed her other half walk up with a smirk on his face. 'Seems I need to make myself known.'

I walked up on the three of them and stood beside Hiccup as Astrid continued her rant. "…and here she comes." She turned her attention to me and continued "how does it feel your majesty to know you ended up with Hiccup the Useless?" I spared a glance to Hiccup, who was struggling to maintain a neutral face and posture. 'If looks could kill, she would be in a box already. Hiccup looks ready to dismember her.' Astrid continued on unfazed "nice vest. Did he make it for you? I bet he did. I bet he didn't tell you what some of his other inventions did though, did he?" At this point, Hiccup cut in with a low growl "don't go there Astrid." Immediately her boy toy cut in "don't cut her off when she's talking."

Astrid put a smirk on her face and once again proceeded to speak "yea. Ever wondered why Hiccup never brings up his mother?" Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Hiccup's face contort into rage as he cut in "Astrid don't!" Eret stepped in between the two of them, keeping his eyes on Hiccup the whole time and spoke over his shoulder to Astrid "go ahead babe. If this guy has a problem, then he can deal with me." Once more Astrid smiled and continued on "did you know that it was one of his 'inventions' that got his mother killed?" She then looked at Hiccup, smiled at him, and spoke "what's the matter Useless? Did I hit a sore subject?"

I put my hand on Hiccup's shoulder before he could do anything rash. It seemed to have the desired effect as Hiccup uncurled his hands, and relaxed slightly. He spared me a glance, without ever taking his eyes off the other two. I shot a glance back saying 'we'll discuss this later.' He seemed to understand and turned his full attention back to the two in front of him. Hiccup took no time in getting his response in "my apologies Queen Elsa. It seems our run was interrupted by the two lovely people." I heard a snort come from Eret as he replied "run? With the Queen? You're a cripple. You can't run." 'Ok, now that comment pissed me off.'

Hiccup grabbed my hand, and stopped me from doing something rash this time. He didn't miss a beat as he replied "once again I apologize Queen Elsa, but it seems it's time to take our leave. It was great seeing you again Astrid. I heard your sports career is on a great path." I could see the anger fly to her face when he said that, and Hiccup continued regardless. "Ah Eret, I also hear your enhancement surgery went well. Seems like you're no longer a cripple down there. It's too bad they couldn't do something about that self-confidence problem though." This time Eret's face contorted in rage as Hiccup continued "oh well, maybe medicine will advance far enough in the future to reconcile that."

I could see Eret shaking with rage. Eret went to take a step toward Hiccup, but I had another idea in mind. I shot ice right where his foot was going to land. It didn't have quite the desired effect though, because he slipped and started to fall my direction with his hand extended out. In a flash, Hiccup had him flat on his back with his MP5K pointed in his face. It attracted the attention of a few nearby guards who quickly made their way over to us. One guard I recognized as Sergeant Johns and called him over. "Sergeant Johns, this man has made an attempt to harm me. I would like for you to take both of them from here immediately." He gave a small bow and replied "as you wish, my Queen."

A few moments later both Astrid and Eret were removed from the boardwalk and carted off to the police station. With a bit of normalcy returned I turned to Hiccup with a smile "I think we still have a run to finish." He gave a small laugh as he replied "that we do." The two of us proceeded to run back down to the shoreline and toward the castle.