Chapter 11
Marcus bid his goodbye to Elsa as she kissed him on the cheek. He was about to walk out of the castle when he was stopped by Anna.
"Have a good night?" Anna asked.
"Yes Princess." Marcus said as Anna grabbed him and slammed him into the wall with surprising strength.
"Listen here buddy, my sister has endured enough heartbreak. If you ever make her sad or angry again I will personally knock out all of your teeth you understand?" Anna growled darkly.
"Y-y-yes!" Marcus said. He was honestly intimidated. Hell truly did have no wrath like a woman scourned.
"Good." Anna said releasing him. "Sorry if I scared you, I just don't want to see my sister hurt is all."
"It's okay." Marcus said. "So you approve?"
"So far you are in the clear. You seem okay but I will be keeping an eye on you. Have a good night!" Anna said as she skipped away. Marcus sat there with an eyebrow raised. What the hell was THAT all about? Marcus felt sorry for any poor bastard that got on her bad side. Marcus made his way to the barracks where Grant stood waiting for him.
"Good evening sir." Marcus said throwing up a salute which Grant returned.
"Come with me Private." Grant said. Marcus followed Grant into his office where he stood at attention. Grant locked the doors behind them.
"I know about you and Queen Elsa and -." Grant said. Marcus felt his heart stop.
"Sir I can explain!" Marcus shouted.
"First off, do not interrupt me." Grant scolded. "Second, I am not upset by this. I think it is a good thing actually."
"Sir?" Marcus asked confused.
"If you were to court the queen at any point it would secure an alliance with one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe." Grant said. "However this relationship between the two of you does bring about some issues I must address." Grant said.
"Like what sir?" Marcus asked relieved.
"Well first off, your first duty is to the U.S. I can't have you slacking off on duty to go see her nor will I allow it." Grant said. "For the next week I have duties for you and believe me when I say if you are not there and you are with the Queen there will be serious consequences. Second, if you were to court her, especially since she is royalty, you would renounce your U.S citizenship."
"What? How sir?" Marcus asked shocked.
"If you were to court her you would be a King." Grant said. "The U.S does not and will not recognize one man as being superior to another. It goes against the very beliefs this nation was found under."
"Understood sir." Marcus said. "Marriage is a very far off idea as we have only just met."
"I understand Private but one can never predict the future. You are dismissed." Grant said as Marcus left the room. Marcus hadn't even thought about the fact if he did indeed marry her he would be king. That was certainly a lot to take in. Marcus entered his bunk room and saw Eli laying on the bed with his mouth open.
"I just, I can't, I still don't believe it!" Eli said.
"Are you serious? You've been sitting there all day?" Marcus asked.
"No." Eli said sitting up. "You look bummed."
"Well the general just dropped a lot on me." Marcus said. "He told me if I were to marry Elsa I would no longer be a U.S citizen."
"What? Why?" Eli asked.
"Because if I marry her I would be a king." Marcus said causing Eli's jaw to drop.
"Holy shit." Eli said. "I never even thought of that!"
"I know, I would never want to be king either. It seems so stressful!" Marcus said.
"King Marcus the First, sounds pretty catchy." Eli said. "Say if you did become King and I lived here would I get special discounts on stuff?"
"Eli this is serious!" Marcus said. "I'm for democracy not monarchy!"
"Oh well who says you two will even get married?" Eli said. "Not to burst your bubble but you never know what could happen."
"I guess." Marcus said. "I need sleep, I got a long week ahead of me."
Kristoff sat in his bed staring at the ceiling. He was upset to say the least, losing a leg meant a lot of things would change. He would never harvest ice again which he planned on going back to eventually. His military career was probably over, he would never run again. He sat there feeling sorry for himself as Anna jumped in and kissed him.
"How are you?" She asked holding his hand.
"Sad." He said. "I'm realizing all the stuff I won't be able to do anymore."
"It'll be okay, look at that one american. He has both legs and a hand gone and he gets around okay." Anna said.
"He also is not the most pleasant person in the world." Kristoff said sadly looking at his stump.
"You are still the same man you were before." Anna said running her hand through his hair. "I don't care if you were just a head, I would still love you forever."
"Well if I was just a head I wouldn't live very long anyway." Kristoff chuckled. Anna smiled seeing him laugh. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do for a living now."
"If you are worried about money you know all wounded soldiers are given very nice pensions." Anna said.
"Its not money I'm worried about." Kristoff said. "I'm still young and I don't wanna sit around and do nothing all day."
"Listen." Anna said getting close to him. "You are a hero, you are my hero. Besides, you still have another leg and both your arms. You can still do plenty of activities!"
"Like what?" Kristoff asked.
"Like this!" Anna said swinging herself on top of him but taking care to not hurt him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and bought him up for a kiss. The two kissed for a while before breaking away.
"Hell, I'll cut off my other leg if it means more of that." Kristoff said as he kissed her again.
The next week went by painstakingly slow for Marcus. He had to do numerous menial jobs from fixing up the Monitor II to night watch guard duty. Marcus could honestly say standing watch was his least favorite part of being a soldier. Having to stand perfectly still for hours on end. It was always during these times when bugs would land on his face or his nose would start to itch. He was not able to tell Elsa he was busy for the next week and he hoped she was not upset. He couldn't wait till this week was over and he could see her again. Arendelle had turned into a giant war factory. Shipyards and armories now dotted the landscape.
"Hey Marcus." Marcus turned to see Eli stepping out of the barracks in uniform. "I spoke to General Grant, he's impressed with your hard work and I offered to take over your night watch today so you can see the queen."
"Thanks so much!" Marcus said as he relaxed and stretched his stiff muscles from standing still for so long. "How could I ever repay you?"
"Well you could hook me up with the Princess." Eli said.
"She's taken sorry." Marcus said.
"Damn." Eli said. "Well you best get going, I got a long night of guarding nothing to do."
"I will make this up to you." Marcus said as he ran into his bunk and changed out of his uniform. He was excited to see Elsa, he only hoped she wasn't upset with him not seeing her for a week.
XXX
"Why didn't you leave me a note? I had no idea where you went!" Elsa asked quite upset. Marcus cursed himself.
"I'm sorry, I had stuff to do around the barracks." Marcus said.
"Just please let me know next time." Elsa said going up to him and hugging him tight. "I missed you."
"Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" A voice said. Marcus looked down to see a little snowman looking at him in the eye.
"AHHHH!" Marcus yelled as he let out a high pitched scream. He backed up knocking over a chair. He quickly grabbed a firepoker from the fireplace and whacked the snowmans head off.
"Oh look at that I've been decapitated haha!" The snowman said. Marcus was about to swing down the fire poker again as a shot of magic shot it out of his hand.
"Stop! He's a friend!" Elsa said.
"A friend? He's a talking snowman! Snowmen are not supposed to talk or move or laugh or hug!" Marcus said.
"Snowmen can't hug?" The snowman said sadly.
"Of course you can hug Olaf." Elsa said embracing the snowman.
"Oh now it has a name! Wonderful." Marcus said.
"Marcus this is Olaf, I made him." Elsa said.
"You brought a snowman to life?" Marcus said. "What can't you do with your powers?"
"Keeping you in line is one." Elsa said shooting a small shot ice at Marcus' behind.
"EEP!" He yelped feeling the ice freeze his buttocks. Elsa giggled.
"Oh come on now you are gonna use your powers to boss me around." Marcus said.
"Marcus give Olaf a nice long hug or I will freeze you to the wall." Elsa said with a sly smile. "I am going to have fun with this."
"You little devil." Marcus said as he walked up to the snowman and hugged him. Olaf happily returned the hug. Marcus could not grasp this snowman was alive.
"There you happy?" Marcus asked Elsa.
"Not with that attitude." Elsa smiled said as Marcus felt a cold sensation on his legs. He tried to walk but saw his foot was stuck.
"Real mature" Marcus said. "Please unfreeze my pants."
"What should we do with him Olaf?" Elsa asked putting a hand to her chin.
"We could unfreeze him like he asked." Olaf said.
"Okay but not before we give him a lesson on manners." Elsa said as she conjured several snowballs. Marcus' eyes widened upon seeing the projectiles.
"Okay you win! I surrender!" Marcus yelped.
"Come on now, you are a soldier, I thought you were tougher than that." Elsa said as she fired the snowballs pelting Marcus in the face. Marcus wiped the snow off of his face where Elsa saw his goofy grin causing her to laugh.
"Did we learn our lesson Mr. Samson?" She asked.
"Yes teacher." Marcus pleaded as Elsa unfroze him. Marcus immediately tackled her to the couch and held her down. Elsa tried to move but Marcus was too strong.
"Not so funny now huh?" Marcus said as he saw Olaf jump on him.
"Take that!" Olaf said as he slapped Marcus' back which had no effect. Elsa than grabbed his wrists and began to freeze them. Marcus fell back as Elsa jumped on him and froze his back to the ground.
"I think we won Olaf." Elsa said as she got off Marcus and hugged the snowman.
"YAY!" Olaf cheered.
"Olaf why don't you go find my sister, she is under the weather about Kristoff." Elsa said.
"I know just the thing to cheer her up!" Olaf said as he happily skipped out of the room. Elsa locked the door and walked back over to Marcus who was at her mercy. "Now what to do with my prisoner?" Elsa said as she sat on top of him again. Her hands on his chest as they stared at each other.
"You won't get anything from me." Marcus said defiantly.
"Oh really?" Elsa said giving him a kiss. "How about now."
"Never!" Marcus said as Elsa delivered another deep kiss. The two passionately kissed for a minute before Elsa released him.
"You win." Marcus said. Elsa giggled and hopped off of him. "Would you join my sister and I for dinner tonight?"
"I'd love to." Marcus said.
"Easy Kristoff." Anna said as she helped Kristoff walk with his new prosthetic. It was a simple creation, it had a large rubber bowl on top where he fit his stump into. There was a strap that he used to secure his stump to the prosthetic. Under the bowl was a long sturdy metal rod. Kristoff was having a hard time as he kept thinking his foot was still there. He took a stumble as Anna caught him.
"Yeesh! You are heavy!" Anna said struggling to hold him up.
"I'm not that heavy!" Kristoff retorted as he straightened himself out again. "This is gonna take a while to get used to."
"You'll be okay." Anna said as the doctor walked in.
"I'm glad to see you up and walking." The doctor said. "It may take a week or two but you will eventually get used to the prosthetic."
"So I'm good to go?" Kristoff asked.
"Yes, your wound has healed. How is the pain?" The doctor asked.
"Its still pretty bad but I can manage." Kristoff said.
"Well if you feel you are no longer in extreme pain you are discharged. If you notice the wound begins to act up again or starts to turn green or black come back immediately as it is infected. We cleaned the wound out with whiskey so any hostile bacteria should have been killed." The doctor said.
"Thank you for everything." Kristoff said as Anna helped him out the door.
"Actually I think I will take a crutch for now." Kristoff said as he grabbed a wooden crutch to aid his walking. Anna took his hand as they stepped outside. Kristoff shielded his eyes from the bright sun as he stepped outside for the first time in almost two weeks. He took in a deep breath of the spring air. A crowd of arendelle soldiers and civilians applauded him as he walked out. Kristoff let out a smile as he walked through the crowd. Anna took his hand and the two walked towards the castle. As they walked Kristoff saw a reindeer run towards him.
"SVEN!" Kristoff yelled as the reindeer jumped onto him.
"AHH!" Kristoff moaned as his reindeer licked his face. "Okay buddy I missed you too!"
"Here you go." Anna said giving the reindeer a carrot. The reindeer happily munched it down. She bent down to help Kristoff up. After getting up Kristoff, Anna, and Sven continued their trek to the castle.
"I'm so glad to be out of there!" Kristoff said. "One more day and I would have lost it."
"I'm so proud of you." Anna said giving him a tight hug. "Will you come to dinner with my sister and I tonight?"
"You know me well enough to know I never pass up real food." Kristoff said.
"Good, cause I gotta surprise for you in the castle." Anna said giggling.
Washington D.C
"This is an outrage!" President Johnson yelled reading Grant's letter. "Fifteen thousand troops and twenty ships!?"
"Sir, we were attacked." Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton said "General Grant's regiment was wiped out, they need reinforcements."
"We have just started disbanding the army and navy!" Johnson said. "Do you realize the uproar of the people when we go into another war that isn't even ours?"
"Sir, those attackers killed U.S military personnel and destroyed flagged U.S ships. That is an act of war!" Stanton said.
"I agree sir." Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles said. "We have plenty of ships to spare. I can have them rigged and ready by tomorrow."
"That leaves the question of the fifteen thousand men, where are we going to find fifteen thousand men and who will lead them?" Johnson asked.
"Leave the recruiting to me, and I have just the man to lead them." Stanton said. "Step inside General!" The door opened and in walked a man familiar to them all.
"General Lee?" Johnson said appalled.
Yup Robert E. Lee, review please!