Midterms are done, finished! Now I just have to wait for the result, which is almost worse since they arrive on Friday the 13th, lucky me right? Anyhow, I don't have much to say this time, only a huge thanks to all reviewers and now, keep on reading, if you dare!
Laidyx: Haha no problem, I figured out who it was anyway just happy I wasn't wrong! Happy you liked the chapter and the little jealousy of Hiccup, though he would deny it if you asked him, he dosen't know it himself yet ;) Also glad you enjoy the way Anna and Elsa's relationship is moving forward, they are more alike I think then they know, and Mr. Beltham sure deserved it! :D
Creeves59: Really glad you liked it! :D Yes that sure was a scene he probably never expected to see his Queen in, though I can promise Fredrik is a real trooper and a smart little guy, he will be fine! Mr. Beltham is probably suffering from all of those things and I do agree that he deserves it. Haha did Elsa fall asleep in Hiccup's arms? You will have to see in this chapter ;)
12.
She couldn't sleep. She had been trying for the last few hours without any success. She had never gotten the chance to thank him. His warm, strong arms had for a moment become her shelter, a place where she could let go of the utter fear she had felt when Mr. Beltham attacked her, when he had tried to…
Shivering with disgust she threw away the covers and jumped out of bed, putting on her robe as she walked to the window. The moon was shining and the stars were glittering, not a cloud to be seen. It was a beautiful night, but all she could see was green eyes filled with compassion, strength and recognition. Eyes that had promised her shelter. Eyes that had trusted her.
Even at her lowest, at her most dangerous, he had trusted her. He had not turned against her or tried to stop her in any other way than reaching out to her.
Why had he done it? How had he known what to say? It had almost been like he had known, as if he spoken from experience, but how could that be?
She hadn't even had the chance to thank him. Once her tears were gone, she had been so tired and in silence he had held her until he had reminded her that they had to plan how to tell what had just happened in the best way. Not once had it been suggested that anyone should know how she, in her fear and anger, had lost control… or how he had saved her from herself.
He had told her what no one else had ever told her before. He had told her that she held the love, that she held the warmth, that she was strong. He had not said that that strength would allow her to control herself, he had said that it would allow her embrace who she was and not succumb to the person she could be.
Embracing meant letting something in. Controlling meant caging in, handling or pushing away, a temporary solution. She had not let her power be a part of her for nearly twenty years. She had not embraced it, she had controlled it. Even after she had learned that love was the key to thaw, she had controlled it, never embracing who she was, never allowing herself to accept what she had learnt should be contained since she was little.
Always control, never acceptance. Always control.
Green eyes flashed before her eyes. She could feel his arms wrapping around her, his warm, strong body telling her that he was not leaving her. That he trusted her, that it was okay, that he understood, that she was allowed to be different, that he was going to stay with her no matter who she was.
She hadn't even said thank you.
She hadn't even said thank you.
Running out of her room, she slammed the door open, not even closing it as she rushed out into the hallway, her bare feet echoing in the corridors as she ran out of the castle.
The moon was shining, lighting up the world with its ghostly white light. It was no longer full, instead it had started its journey towards darkness. It would disappear from the sky, ending an era before returning to begin a new once more. An eternal cycle over the sky.
Some people feared the moon, said it made the witchcraft stronger and brought out dark creatures, that it's power could turn people mad. Hiccup was not stupid enough to say it was all rubbish, but he was still not afraid of something he had never seen so he didn't fear the dark the way many other Vikings did.
He was sitting down by the small pond in the royal gardens where Queen Elsa had told him about her power. He didn't know if he was allowed to be here, probably not, but he didn't care. Toothless was laying behind him with his tail around Hiccup in a protecting manner, seemingly asleep.
Hiccup himself, he felt terrible.
He had not been able to fall asleep, the memories of the broken woman he had encountered the night before haunting his mind. What had caused anyone to come to the point where you were terrified of yourself? To doubt yourself so much? Hiccup had sensed that Elsa was an outsider, he had seen how she, just like he himself so often did, many times kept in background. She was always on alert and she constantly distanced herself a little from everyone else, even her sister, though it was so little no else really noticed.
But that she had carried so much fear for her own power and what she could become... How in the name of Odin had she been able to contain it? It required one extremely strong person to keep all of that inside.
What made him still worry so much about her, and slightly scare him, was the fact that he had seen so much of himself in her. He remembered the loneliness, the feeling of never being enough. He remembered thinking that sometimes it would just be better to let it all go, to turn into someone who didn't earn respect, but someone who demanded it. Someone who instead of fitting in made himself do so by taking over.
When he had found Toothless, he had had the chance to do it, the darkness, which had been born from being bullied and an outcast his whole life, had told him to do it. It would have been so easy to prove them all wrong. He had a Night Fury who could help him, he could have done it. But he had not listened to it, in Toothless he had seen a soul that reflected his own. It had made him realize that he was, perhaps, not alone and with time he had found a new friend, his best friend, who had helped him to accept himself for who his and embrace the fact that he would never be the epitome of a Viking, he would always be Hiccup and that would have to be enough.
That did not mean he still didn't feel like an outsider among his own at times, just like Elsa apparently did, or that, when he was reminded of his dark teenage years, the darkness would stir within. The difference was that now it wanted him to show how far he had gotten and, of course, that those who thought otherwise were wrong. It was what had happened when Prince Harald had mocked him and normally Hiccup would have just walked away. It was that the Prince had brought up his dad that had made him lose his temper.
And just like that the pain, sorrow and guilt washed over him again. He had told the Queen to embrace her feelings and he couldn't do it himself, he couldn't live with the guilt of having been so stubborn and naïve. That he hadn't listened and that it had torn his family apart just as it had gotten back together. He had killed his dad. What he didn't understand was why it was so constantly coming back to him over the last week, why couldn't it just go away?
"Arggh!" Hiccup gave up an angry scream as he tried to give a voice to his conflicting emotions, throwing a rock out into the small pond while Toothless woke up and looked at him with sorrow filled eyes.
"I'm sorry bud." He said to his dragon, Toothless putting his head on Hiccup's lap as best as he could. Hiccup knew Toothless also mourned Stoick's death and probably, somewhere, blamed himself himself as well despite the fact he had been under the alpha's influence and that Hiccup had forgiven him nearly the moment it had happened.
"Hiccup?" At the small, quiet voice both Hiccup and Toothless flew up from the ground, Hiccup with Inferno drawn while Toothless growled angrily, both a little a little embarrassed when they registered who had spoken.
"Queen Elsa, I am sorry you startled us." Hiccup said as he looked at her. Elsa seemed to be glow in the moonlight and for the first time her hair was flowing freely like silver down her back. Her ice-blue eyes were shinning as they reflected the moon and she was only wearing a thin light blue robe over a white nightdress, no shoes on her feet.
She looked like an unearthly creature who had happened to stumble into the human world by accident.
At her simple attire, Hiccup was reminded that he was only wearing a shirt and loose pants, having not put on his armor since he had left his cottage in the spur of the moment. It was as if they had taken away yet another layer between them, breaking down the facades even more.
"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sneaked up on you. I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here and then I heard your scream and I…" She looked down at her hands, trailing off as she didn't know what to say. "What's its name?" She asked when she looked up again, gesturing to the still burning sword in his hand.
"Inferno." He told her, retracting the sword, making it look completely harmless once more. "I am sorry, I'm a little on alert tonight."
"After everything that has happened that is to be understood." Elsa replied, her eyes showing that she was in conflict with herself before asking: "Do you mind if I join you?"
"No, of course not." Hiccup answered and to his surprise she didn't sit down on the bench, instead she sat down next to him on the ground, looking out over the pond where a small family of ducks were just walking up on the small island in the middle of the it, the statue of a woman standing there like a dark figure in the moonlight.
"I couldn't sleep." She suddenly whispered, twirling the end of her hair between her fingers.
"Well, neither could I." He replied, happy when he saw the hint of a smile on her face. "How are you feeling?" He asked, for he had not gotten the chance to ask her after the rush that had followed once they had left the study the night before.
"I…" She shrugged, as if unsure how to continue. "I guess I'm doing okay; I still feel violated but mostly I just…" She trailed off, but Hiccup stayed quiet, feeling that she didn't really want him to break the silence. "So, Inferno, how does it work?" She asked instead, changing the subject and he accepted that she maybe didn't want to talk about what had happened.
"It's actually one of the constructions I am pretty proud of, the blade is retractable and is covered with…"
"I never thanked you." She suddenly interrupted him, looking at him with tears in her eyes she clearly was trying to hold back. "You are the first who has said to me that it's okay… to be who I am… everyone else has always told me to control it, that I am supposed to control it." She said, the bitter tone from the night before seeping into her voice, the one from his own youth.
Toothless, noticing her mood as well, put his tail around them both before nudging her slightly in the side, with a sad smile, Elsa looked at him and patted him on the head.
"My parents always told me that controlling my power was necessary, that I…" She trailed off once more and he could see the storm in her eyes.
"You don't have to tell me, Elsa." Hiccup told her earnestly. She had been through a lot just over the last twenty-four hours and he didn't want to push her. Still, it seemed as if his words were exactly what she needed to hear for she gave him a sad smile.
"You are probably the most compassionate person I have ever met. I want you to understand…" And so she told him about how she, while growing up, had been confined to the castle, how her parents had tried to teach her how to control her power, pushing her more and more each time it broke free, causing the hatred for being different and the fear of her power to grow until she had looked upon it as a monster within, something she had been cursed with and that should be locked away.
She told him how she, in the end, had started to turn away from the outside world and how it in the end had culminated when Anna had pushed her at her coronation until the power had broken free. How she had decided to let it go, but how it had only resulted in covering the whole land in eternal winter, a winter she hadn't known how to reverse. She told him that she had learned how love was the key, though she left out the part that she had frozen Anna's heart. She was not ready share that yet.
She also told him how she had hoped that learning how to thaw the snow would finally give her full control over power, only to learn over time that was not the case.
"I know that what happened with Anna when we were little was just an accident." She concluded. "But growing up I learned to fear myself, to never trust in the power within, that it was something I should never let anyone see. Our motto even was "conceal, don't feel, don't let it show". Who says to a child to stop feeling?" She asked bitterly, looking out over the pond once more.
"And so you never accepted it, you have never accepted who you are." Hiccup concluded as Elsa sighed and nodded her head.
"I haven't been able to, I have used my power but I have seen it as a tool, not something I want to have. But what you said to me last night… I know that you are right, I need to embrace it, it is a part of me and I never struggled before Anna's accident. I loved it. Sure my parents made certain it was a secret, but at least I was allowed to use it."
"You can get there again." Hiccup told her as she sent him a grateful, but also slightly skeptical look.
"How do you know? How can you be certain that I will?" She asked, staring at her hands with doubt. Seeing the look on her face, Hiccup reached out and took them in his own, turning them over as he held them next to his so they could see the contrasts. Her skin was pale, soft and glowing in the moonlight. His was hardened and darker, covered with burns and scars from years of working with dragons and in the blacksmith.
"Do you remember what I told you about my dad putting me to work in the blacksmith?" He asked her, trying to ignore the tingles that seemed to travel through him when Elsa suddenly began tracing some of the hard edges on his palm.
"Yes of course." She told him while she traced a burn he had gotten from a young Monstrous Nightmare that had once exploded by accident, her ice cold fingers feeling strangely comforting.
"He did it to try and change me, to bulk me up and try to make me more of a Viking." Hiccup said and at his words, Elsa looked up at him with a small frown.
"Why would he do that?" She asked and Hiccup couldn't help to smile at her words, though there was no warmth behind it, his own resentment slowly waking up inside.
"Vikings are supposed to be hard, though, stubborn and fierce. I was none of those things, well except for the stubbornness part I suppose." He said, feeling a bit happy when he saw the smile that spread over her face.
"But apart from that, I was everything a Viking was not supposed to be. I was an outsider from the day I could walk and that my dad was the most fierce Viking of all didn't help. While the other Vikings my age trained with their swords or were beating each other up, I sat in a small room Gobber had fixed for me and did drawings of ideas and inventions. I was clumsy and always in the way; it was actually the general view that it probably had been better if I had gone away."
"That's horrible." Elsa said sadly, Hiccup giving her a pointed look.
"Says the the who was locked up in her room alone all of her childhood. Anyway, Gobber, he kept me going, supporting me as much as he could. It finally changed when I found Toothless and I accepted that I was different, for had I not been I would have killed him. Me being different gave me my best friend." At his words, Toothless gave Hiccup an affectionate lick on the hand.
"Things changed after we defeated the Red Death. The dragons moved in and since I had a special connection with them I went from outsider to hero in a very short period of time. But despite all of this I am still different, what has changed is that I have accepted that I will never be like them, I will only be Hiccup." He said, clasping her hands in his once more as he looked into her eyes that were still vulnerable.
"What I mean is that I know how it feels to try and be someone you are not, to change and try to push a part of you away. As you know it doesn't work, it only leaves us angry, unhappy and bitter, but with some time you can change and accept who you are. I have done it; I know you will too." He said and Elsa smiled at him, a strange feeling of warmth spreading within her as she felt how she connected to the man in front of her on a deeper level.
He had known, that was why he had been able to reach through to her when no one else could. They were both outsiders among their own people and they had both been left in loneliness because of it. Hiccup might never have feared himself, but he had just told her that he had wanted to be different. Just like her, he had tried and failed to fit in. In the end he had accepted that no matter what he did, he never fully would either, so why couldn't she do the same? Before her sat a man who had managed to do what she wished more than anything and she knew it was time to embrace that she was different, and that she always would be.
"Feeling better?" Hiccup asked her, having noticed the display of emotions running over her face.
"Yes, better than in a very long time actually. Thank you." She told him with a warm smile and for the first time in nearly twenty years, she didn't feel the cold place in her heart that had been present for so long, the one telling her that the person opposite of her saw her as a freak or as unnatural. Instead her heart felt warm, almost expanding a little in her chest when she looked into Hiccup's kind green eyes that told her that he knew and that to him, she was simply a person, nothing less, nothing more.
For the first time the warmth seemed to come from within.
"Your welcome." Hiccup told her as Toothless laid down his head next to them again, his body a silent protector in the night as they sat in silence for a while, Elsa still comparing his hands to hers. They were so different, even the men at court had hands that were soft and without any injuries since they had never really done a hard day's work. Hiccup's were not soft and she found that she was a little intrigued by how hands that were so hardened from work could still appear to be soft, but also gentle.
"How did you get this?" She asked, looking at an especially nasty scar at the end of his right thumb.
"It's actually from a terrible terror." He said, chuckling at her slightly surprised expression. "Their claws are a lot sharper than they look like."
"Remind me of that next time Sharpshot wants to sit on my shoulder." Elsa told him, thinking about how the small dragon had made it his new favorite spot. "So, Inferno, how does it work?" She asked and Hiccup smiled at her before telling her about the sword, showing her both how the blade that could be retracted and how he could exchange the small canister with gas to create an explosion from the one of the lighters, telling her that the other lighter made the nightmare saliva ignite and the sword flame up.
"It's amazing." She said with an impressed expression as he pulled out the sword at her request and allowed it to flame up once again. "Looks like we are opposites." At his slightly confused expression, she smiled at him. "Fire and ice." She said, gesturing to his sword before making a small snowflake appear in her hand.
"I suppose you could say that, though I can hardly shoot fire from my hands." Hiccup chuckled, putting Inferno away once more.
"Well, a flaming sword is nearly as good." She laughed, her smile slowly dying as she looked away from him and out over the pond, the lightness in the air around them suddenly disappearing as she felt she needed to ask him about what troubled her so much still, hoping she wasn't making a mistake. "Hiccup?" She said in a quiet, hesitating voice.
"Yes?"
"When you found Toothless, did you ever feel that you could have gotten revenge for all those years? That you could have changed their minds? Did you resent them so much for what they had done that you wanted to just take over and prove them wrong?" Looking at him, Hiccup saw the vulnerability in her eyes once again and around them it was as if time had stopped.
Looking at her, Hiccup understood her fear, her fear that the dark side telling her all of this wasn't natural. It made him only now fully understand what she had meant when she had talked about a cold heart. But he had already been where she was now, he still was to some point, and he didn't judge her or find that he thought her to be a cruel person for ever thinking of revenge. Instead he understood for he knew how hard that dark part was to ignore.
He could have chosen to not open up to her about this part of himself, the part that he had never shared with anyone else before since he was ashamed of it, but the thought never even crossed his mind when he knew that she would understand and that he could help her.
"I did." Hiccup therefore answered her honestly, and at the relief in her eyes he knew he had been right. "I remember the feeling; it would have been so easy when I had Toothless. But it was not who I was and he was my best friend, thanks to that I choose a different path." Now it was he who hesitated a moment before adding. "Does that change how you look at me, do think that a part of me is cold as well?"
As soon as he asked the question, Hiccup felt how much he actually feared her answer, but when she shook her head and looked at him with honesty he felt himself relax once more.
"No, no of course not!" She said, quiet for a while before she continued. "When those men tried to kill me, I wanted to kill them. They had taken away my life and now they were also trying to end it, I wanted to punish them all. But when Prince Hans called out to me, I knew what he said was true, that if I went down that path it wasn't because it was who I was, I would have only become what they believed me to be. I would not have proved them wrong; I would have proved them right. So I managed to push the darkness away." She said and they looked at each other in understanding.
They had both had risked turning into tyrants made from their pasts, but they had somehow managed to fight against the path that could have been natural for both of them. Still, it had left scars and fears that the darkness was unnatural, but someone else had felt it and that was some relief. They were not cold or full of hate, they could have been, but instead they chosen paths that made them who they really were, people who had overcome it but where a part of it had stayed behind.
And just like that, it was as if the night breathed out again and an old troll high up in the mountains opened his eyes with a smile as he felt how the path turned in a new direction, one that, if things turned out the best they could would cause the darkness in the two souls to slowly turn into nothing but a dark memory. It would never disappear, but it would no longer be a presence.
"It's strange that the man who almost killed me also saved me." Elsa said, both she and Hiccup unaware of the tension that had been flowing around them. At her words, Toothless and Hiccup shared a look.
"Not so very strange I think, after all I tried to kill the one who saved me." Hiccup replied as Elsa smiled at him, warmth spreading within when she looked at the man in front of her and she was grateful she had risked to let him in, for it had turned out it had been one of her best decisions in a long time.
"No, perhaps it's not so strange after all." She said, feeling how the emotional toll was finally getting to her and how tired she really was. "I think I'll head back, thank you for listening Hiccup, for trusting me and for telling me I am not alone." She said before, on a sudden whim, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight."
And with those words Elsa rose and walked back to the castle, Hiccup looking after her in silence, his face beat red as he tried to understand what had just happened, only coming back to reality when he saw Toothless' smug look.
"Stop looking at me like that." He muttered, feeling even more embarrassed when his best friend only chuckled.
"If you say anything more I will put eel in your food for a week." Hiccup added with a threatening voice, Toothless only going back to sleep, seemingly completely unfazed by the threat while Hiccup looked out over the pond, ignoring the way his skin still tingled.
The week that followed was a roller-coaster of trails and figuring out the best way to handle the aftermath of what had happened the night when Mr. Beltham had followed Elsa into her study. The Vikings had not been allowed to leave since Hiccup and Fredrik were the only witnesses, not that anyone doubted what had happened.
This, however, was not the only reason why the Vikings stayed, for they would have stayed anyway to see that everything would turn out in the best way. What had surprised them all during the passing week though was the discretion and efficiency that had been shown by everyone at every step of the way.
Lord Beltham had written his oldest and only son out of his will, despite Lady Beltham's angry protests, while the trail had only been a forced formal event. The punishment, prison, had already been decided and while everything had followed the correct procedure, the judges had never even talked amongst each other, they had simply convicted Mr. Beltham for crimes against the crown.
Fishelgs had followed the whole trial with interest, always curios to learn as much as possible, but Hiccup had only been present the day he had been forced to witness. When he had entered the small courtroom he had seen that Elsa wasn't present, not that he had been surprised, the Vikings had spent a lot of time with the royal family during the past week and he knew Elsa had chosen to participate as little as possible in the trail.
Now when it was over, it was almost as if a tiny vacuum had fallen over the royal court. Things had just gotten back to normal despite the fact that so much was different. No one really dared to talk about the subject loudly, but everyone was still talking about it quietly. One thing was sure though, and that was that Elsa didn't blame Lord Beltham for his son, Mr. Beltham not even actually being his, and she had made it clear on the first meeting she had with her council after the attack.
It had now been nearly a week since the trail finished and to get the royal family some room to breathe the Vikings had invited them down to the cottages. All of them had eagerly accepted the invitation, Rapunzel immediately planning that they could turn it into a picnic and bring food from the kitchens. It had been good for all of them to get out of the castle, all of them enjoying the simpler setting as they laughed and joked amongst each other.
They had all grown closer during the past week, the rest of the royal family extremely grateful towards Hiccup for having seen what they missed, but then things like hardships had a tendency of bringing people together.
As Elsa now looked at the people surrounding her there was no cold in her heart anymore, it was still there more often than not, but among these people she had finally allowed herself to feel accepted. At times, the bad memories of the night when Mr. Beltham had come into her study surfaced to the front of her mind and would weigh her down, for it was still too close in time for them to have disappeared. Amazingly though, it had turned out that Hiccup had become very good at reading her, often sending her an encouraging smile across the room or a pointed look that helped her break out of her dark memories, memories of his warm arms and their talk by the pond pushing them away.
If anything good had come out of what had happened, it was her friendship with the Chief. After their talk down by the pond, they had gotten a deeper understanding of each other that had changed their friendship. Hiccup had also shown her more of his work and ideas when she had told him of her own deep love for mathematics and architecture and soon they had been in a deep discussion about one of his drawings, both of them coming to realize how much they had missed someone to discuss their ideas with.
"Are you two talking about numbers again?" Astrid called from across the fire, having seen how both Elsa and Hiccup was one again sitting with a couple of papers, talking quietly with each other while they pointed at them or changed things with a pencil they took from each other when they needed it. The sight had become very common, just like the slightly startled looks on their faces when someone pulled them out of that strange world only they seemed to understand.
"We are; I am trying to explain to your Chief that this doesn't add up." Elsa answered, holding up the paper they had been working with, pointing at a very strange equation that no one else really understood and the rest of the group looked at each other.
"Just for the peace of the family I will say Elsa is right." Eugene stated, Rapunzel sending him an amused look while Anna chuckled.
"Well, as I have already told the Queen, we already have similar constructions on Berk, it will hold." Hiccup replied, a slightly irritated look on his face while Elsa's turned emotionless.
"The mass from the dragons can't possibly be equivalent to the strength or support!" She said, her eyes telling everyone that she was not going to back down.
"Here we go again." Eugene whispered to the others who just snickered, Anna shaking her head slightly. It had been quite entertaining over last week to see how often Elsa and Hiccup would get into an argument over a subject they both refused to back down from. The longer it went on, the clearer the contrast between them would become, for while Hiccup would gesture with his hands or start pacing around, Elsa would turn cold and emotionless.
Usually it all ended with Hiccup walking away so they both could cool off before they would come to a truce, neither one ever admitting that they were wrong.
"So how long do you think it will take this time?" Kristoff snickered as they all watched how the faces of the two rulers started to become more and more frustrated.
"Four minutes." Eugene answered with a smile, the two men nodding to each other while Rapunzel and Anna glared at them.
"Are you two betting on them?" Anna asked with an angry expression, Kristoff looking a little uncomfortable.
"Uhmm…." He began.
"No way it will take so long, Hiccup will leave in two minutes." Astrid interrupted with a grin, the two women sighing while Kristoff and Eugene grinned back at her.
"How about we make this more interesting, let's give the ones who lose some sort of punishment." Eugene said.
"Fine, you two lose, you'll clean after Stormily for a week." Astrid said, both Eugene and Kristoff looking at her with huge eyes. "You are not scared are you?" She asked with a challenging look, the two men looking at each other.
"Of course not." Eugene said before an evil smirk slowly spread over his face. "And if we win you will have to wear a dress a whole dinner up at the castle." At his words both Anna and Rapunzel smiled at each other excitingly while Astrid looked as if she was seriously considering not going through with the bet. "You are not afraid are you?" Eugene told her with a smirk, Astrid sending him a glare.
"In your dreams!" She exclaimed angrily.
"Good, Fishlegs will be the judge." Eugene said, Fishlegs clearing his throat.
"So just one last question to be answered then, who will win of our two leaders?" He said.
"Elsa, without a doubt." Astrid replied. The women had actually bonded quite well and even though they had their differences, they had also developed a mutual respect for each other.
"My money is on Hiccup." Kristoff said.
"Mine too and just so you know Astrid, it's looking really bad for you if Hiccup doesn't rise to leave about…" Eugene began only to trail off when Hiccup rose from his place next to Elsa, Astrid grinning.
"It's like talking to a block of ice!" Hiccup exclaimed with frustration, but unlike what usually happened Elsa rose as well and walked after him.
"Don't you dare walk away from this once again, you can't always just walk away as soon as you feel like it." She exclaimed angrily. It was strange seeing her so relied up and the others wondered what Hiccup had said this time, the two having an uncanny ability to push each others buttons.
"Yeah well, there is no point in talking to someone who won't listen!" Hiccup retorted turning around with a frustrated expression.
"That's because saying that "I just know" or "that's the way it is" is not a valid argument!" Elsa said, crossing her arms.
"No, but it does work and until we figure out why, you just have to accept it, but you are too stubborn to do that!" Hiccup told her.
"If people were just to accept that the world is a certain way we would never move forward." Elsa said, Hiccup giving a frustrated sigh, taking a step closer to her.
"I am not saying we should let this go, but I am saying that right now it doesn't matter. You know what?! I think this simply have to do with the fact that I won't back down on this and you can't talk your way around it!" While he was speaking he had walked closer to her and while Elsa still glared at him, the others suddenly felt a little uncomfortable watching the argument, for it suddenly seemed like the air around them had begun to crackle a little.
If it was from the fact that they just clashed, Elsa looking cold while Hiccup's frustration rolled off of him, or if it was from something else was impossible to say though. The two leaders however, seemed completely unaware of the high tension between them.
"Says the man who has talked my whole council under the table." Elsa snapped, refusing to admit she had already lost.
"You know what, until that wall you have built up has disappeared, I am not talking to you about this anymore!" Hiccup said with frustration, turning around once more to walk away and allow his burning frustration cool off.
"I swear to God… Could you stop doing that?!" Elsa exclaimed, throwing out her hands in frustration and a blast of ice flew from her them and froze Hiccup's metal leg to the ground. The silence that followed was thick enough to be cut with a knife as everyone stared at the pair, wondering what was about to happen next.
Hiccup was looking down at the ice with a frown before he turned to Elsa, who he could see had a slightly terrified expression on her face, though she hid it very well.
"You know if you want to freeze my arguments into silence it will not help much if you freeze my feet to the ground." He told her with a pointed look and, to everyone's amusement, Elsa sent him a slightly sheepish smile before dissolving the ice. It was very rare to see Elsa embarrassed and it was always a little fun when it happened.
What they missed however was the grateful look Elsa sent to Hiccup and the small smile he sent in reply, or everyone missed it except for Astrid who felt her stomach clench slightly at the sight.
"Good thing it was your metal leg and not your real one so there really was nothing..." Elsa began, a sudden revelation came to her. "That's it! They must be hollow!" She exclaimed with an excited look on her face while everyone else stared at her as if she was crazy. "The dragon's bones, they must be hollow like the bones of birds, that's how it adds up!" She told them to clarify, everyone else still staring at each other in confusion except for Hiccup who grinned at her.
"So I was right." He told her while Elsa sent him a new glare.
"I never said that, I said that if the bones are hollow the mass will change." Elsa replied.
"Which means that the equation adds up." Hiccup answered.
"No it doesn't, I need to change some numbers, then it will add up." She told him, crossing her arms over her chest with a smug look, but Hiccup only kept on smiling at her.
"In yours perhaps, I bet mine is already perfectly fine." He replied and Elsa looked at him with huge eyes, realizing that he was probably right and there was really no way she could argue against it.
"Well… at least I solved it." She said, everyone knowing that was the closest she would ever come to admitting she had been wrong.
"NO!" At the terrified voice, Hiccup and Elsa remembered the rest of their company and they turned to see Astrid having a look of terror on her face while the others were laughing, even having some trouble breathing.
"What is going on?" Elsa asked them, sharing a confused look with Hiccup who only shrugged his shoulders.
"These three nutheads betted on which one of you who would win the fight and Astrid just lost." Fishlegs managed to get out, even ignoring Astrid's glare.
"Wait, you betted on who would win our argument?" Elsa said, not knowing if she should find it funny or be irritated.
"Yes and how long it would take before Hiccup tried to walk off." Eugene snickered.
"That part Astrid won." Anna filled in, the group suddenly looking at each other with huge eyes. "Wait, you won one half each!" Anna said.
"That means it's a tie!" Astrid said, a look of relief on her face.
"No wait, Fishlegs is the judge, you have to decide which guess should give most points." Eugene argued, Fishlegs looking at Astrid with nervously.
"Uhm…."
"You cannot seriously be considering giving them a win on this!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Well technically…."
"Fishlegs you are not seriously telling us you don't want us to win this." Kristoff said, the poor Viking looking between the three contestants.
"You know what, I don't know what this is all about, but this is ridiculous!" Elsa exclaimed, the group turning to look at her while Hiccup looked at her with a smile. "Fishlegs, may I propose that since they didn't decide in the beginning if one guess would outweigh the other, the only logical solution is that it is a tie. That means they will now have to decide if they all wish to do the punishment or if they all shall be freed from it. But I am not the judge of course, the choice is yours." Elsa said, looking at Fishlegs who nodded his head, staring into her eyes while she smiled at him.
"I think that sounds like a good solution." He said.
"Wonderful!" Elsa said happily before turning back to Hiccup who was doing his best not to laugh, the rest of the group already teasing Fishlegs who had gotten a little red in the face.
"What?" She asked him, feeling how it tingled a little inside at the amused look he sent her.
"Nothing, I just feel a little sad for Fishlegs that he would have to prove my point." He told her.
"What point?" Elsa replied, doing her best to hold back her own smile as they returned to their seats.
"That you always talk around people to get your point and will across." He told her, Elsa feeling a slight blush on her cheeks that she quickly pushed back.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." She said instead.
"Of course not, just remind me to warn the poor man you possibly turn your sights to in the future, he will never survive otherwise." Hiccup grinned at her, Elsa answering by hitting him lightly in the side with her elbow, the action only causing them both to laugh. Looking into Hiccup's warm eyes that seemed to reflect the fire, Elsa felt the surge of warmth that every so often now had a tendency to go through her when she looked at him.
She knew that Hiccup was right, she wanted a man who challenged her and was not afraid to do it, but she would never admit it to the Viking. That would make him unbearable.
"Hiccup, could you come over here a moment?" Astrid called from the other side of the campfire, Hiccup nodding to her, rising before offering his hand to Elsa.
"Afraid they will team up on you?" She asked him with a smile, accepting his hand without a second thought. It was still a little strange how an action that had once caused her so much distress and that had needed so much trust now felt so complete natural.
"Would you call me a coward if I said yes?" He chuckled, referring to the fact that they over the last week had been forced to join forces, along with Toothless, against the rest of the group when they tried to tease them too much about their work.
Across from the fire they missed the sad eyes that was watching them, and even though Elsa joined Anna and Rapunzel in their conversation, Astrid could not help to feel some resentment towards the Queen simply because Hiccup had actually taken her with him. At the same time, he was Hiccup, it would not have been him to leave her sitting alone. Telling herself this, Astrid once more reminded herself that they were soon going home to Berk and hopefully things would go back to normal.
Hopefully the lighter side of Hiccup she had started to see again the past week would remain so they could go back to where they had been before all of this started.
That was chapter 12, what did you think and what about the little fight between our couple? Was it just two elements clashing or was there tension of another kind? I don't know, tell me in a review, or tell me anything you like! The next chapter will probably be up till Halloween and things will happen, that's all I can say!
Until next time dear readers!
/Lysistrate