And guess who's back, man, I gotta stop posting new stories, but it's kinda hard when you keep thinking up new ideas! Well, here's the next, but not the last, long awaited chapter, last off, Elsa freed Tuffnut from the curse she had placed on him as a baby and now, they need to leave...
I wonder what happens...continued to read to find out!
After making sure Tuffnut could walk without falling on his butt from being dizzy, the reunited trio decided now would be a good time to leave before Hans returned. The man genuinely scared Tuff, true father or not, and Kristoff and Elsa didn't want to risk his reaction to his son siding with his mortal enemy.
Kristoff would continue to check the corners to the next hallway before allowing them to start down it. It set him on edge like no tomorrow was that there wasn't a single guard in sight at any door nor was there any sign of a servant; no butler, no maid, no one. It made Kristoff paranoid, having spent so many years spying in the place; he was used to seeing people in every corridor.
"Can we go back to the Moors now, mother?" Tuffnut questioned careful to keep his voice low for his uncle's sake, unable to shake the relief that was pouring through him to finally be able to call her that freely.
Elsa paused to look at him, heart skipping for at once again being called 'mother', that was something she will have to get used to. For a moment she was quiet. A very small part of her was rejoicing that Hans' son wanted to live with her. That his son was choosing her over him. Choosing the magic of the Moors over the luxurious castle. But for she quashed it down, such feelings had been what brought them all here in the first place.
Elsa gave him a little smile as she answered fondly, "If that is what you wish..."
Tuffnut nodded his head rapidly, wanting to forget the pain of his true family and return to the soothing, freedom of the Moors, and without hesitation, followed her and Kristoff down the next hall. They weren't even halfway down it when a pair of doors opened...
And out came Hicca, who was still being pushed/pulled by a certain, still squabbling trio. Tuffnut just stood there blinking in surprise at the scene, while Kristoff face-palmed and Elsa tensed a little with a small eye roll.
"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Astrid asked her sisters.
Ruffnut was the one who answered with a shake of her head, "No."
"WHAT?" Astrid squawked in both shock and annoyed-disbelief, "You mean to tell me we've been going in circles?"
"You tell me," The middle sister replied poking her head from behind Hicca's shoulder, "You and Anna are the ones who can actually see where we're going."
Astrid's face turned red at this, "Why, you-!"
"Aunties?" A familiar voice finally spoke up, sounding rather surprised and confused, causing all three to freeze up in shock. They knew that voice all too well.
Looking down the hall, there stood their beloved little nephew, wide awake and staring at them in confusion as he added, "When did you three get so tiny?" Elsa let out a soft snort, which was mostly drowned in Kristoff's own gwaffs.
Instantly forgetting the royal they had been shoving around the castle for the last hour or so, all three pixies instantly zoomed for the younger male. All three of them, as one, the three sisters cried out in relieved-happiness, tears thick in their throats and prickling their eyes, "Tuffnut!"
Despite only imagining what they must've been through, Tuffnut let out a tiny laugh as he tried to return their affections, though it proved a little difficult since he wasn't used to their new forms.
"Thank whatever deity is up there!" Astrid praised as she hugged him tight by a strand of hair that fell over his ear, "I-we-we th-thought-!"
"Don't you dare ever run off on us like that again, young man, do you hear me?" Ruffnut added as she and Astrid apparently switched personalities as she also hugged his cheek, "I thought you got hurt! Do you know how scared we were! You're lucky we love you!"
He could feel his Aunt Anna's tears as she also hugged him, but she was talking and sobbing so fast it was hard for him to understand anything she was saying past 'we're sorry' and 'please don't be a dream.' Apparently, seeing him like that did a lot more than he thought.
But a new, yet strikingly familiar voice spoke in both surprise and relief, "Tuffnut?"
He looked over to see Hicca, the girl he had met in the forest, standing there in the hall, looking very relieved herself, making him dread the idea she had seen him in the cursed sleep as well. While also surprised she was even in his father's castle, Tuffnut couldn't help the warm feeling that bloomed in his chest as well as the tiny pink hue to his face to see her once again.
"Hicca," He smiled as his aunts finally pulled back a bit reluctantly, allowing him to lightly jog up to her, "Wh-what are you doing here?" He quickly realized how rude his question may have sounded and quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with you being here!"
He blinked when she lightly placed her hands on his cheeks, as if she wasn't sure if he was real or not. He couldn't suppress the shudder that ran down his spine at her gentle, yet warm and soft hands' feather-like touch. He had to briefly note to ask his mother about this odd feeling later, before opening his eyes (and wondering when he closed them) and stumble a little in surprise when she suddenly hugged him.
"I...I..." She whispered out, a little shaken, "I...though you were...d-d-dead..."
He slowly hugged her back, vaguely aware that his aunts were now trying to interrogate his mother and uncle in the background, as he tried to comfort her, "Hey, I'm fine," When he pulled back, he held her chin to make her look him in the eye as he reassured her with a small smile, "Everything's fine now."
Hicca released another shaky sigh as she tried to calm herself down, face flushing both in embarrassment of her own action, but also at how intimately close they were. After a deep breath, she managed to smile back at him, making his smile glow with earnest-sincerity, before he laced an arm around her waist, gentle and loose, as he turned them back to the others as he introduced, "Hicca, I'd to introduce you to my Uncle Kristoff..."
The burly blonde man that somewhat reminded Hicca of her own uncle and to a point her cousin and father, offered her a cheery, friendly grin as he looked away from a fuming Astrid and gave a little wave, "Nice to properly meet you, You're Highness!" She nodded back, unfazed by how he was aware of her status and title, but her eyes were more focused on the emotionally unresponsive, yet beautifully-intimidating woman in fine white who was just staring at the three pixies.
"And my mother," Tuffnut continued his voice gaining a much more loving and respectful tone as he motioned to said woman, making her blink. However, Tuffnut seemed to notice what his uncle just said and blinked at her in surprise, thrown for a loop, "You're Highness?"
However, his own prior words had successfully caused Astrid, Ruffnut and Anna to immediately stop their rapid fire questions mostly out of shock before staring at their charge/nephew, also thrown for a loop, as they shouted in unison, "MOTHER?"
Kristoff snickered at their reaction, while Elsa allowed a small smile to grace her face as she looked at the male teen with the same amount of love he had used to introduce her. Mother. Such a simple word she had long taken for granted, having always believed, even before Hans' betrayal, that she would never earn the title fully, and yet, she couldn't have felt more complete and happy just hearing it.
"A pleasure to finally...properly meet you," Hicca said stressing 'properly' as she gave a small and quick curtsy, "Don't think I haven't put one and one together after being dragged around by those three; you're the reason I'm here."
Tuffnut blinked at this and looked at Elsa in confusion, to which the elder woman replied, "I thought you were his only hope, but it appeared the key to saving him was much closer than I realized."
Kristoff couldn't help but mutter with a roll of his eyes, "That's putting it mildly..." Before grunting as Elsa not so lightly smacked him in the shoulder with her staff.
"Wait, wait, wait," Astrid spoke up, fluttering foward, eyes wide with disbelief, "Mother? Tuffnut, that's Elsa, the fairy who placed those curses on you to begin with!"
"Wait," Hicca's eyes widened in shock at this revelation, "What?"
"Your mother is Queen Heather," Ruffnut continued, "I know the fact that you'll never meet her hurts, but-"
Tuffnut put a hand up, silencing them almost immediately, "I'm well aware that she isn't my birth mother, but she's shown me nothing but unconditional support and care since, quite around the first day you brought me to that cottage, if what I'm told is correct," All three pixies cringed at the realization Elsa was much closer during those years than they had thought, "I know what she did at my christening is unforgivable, but you know what? I already had; I forgave her, because I just can't bring myself to hate her, no matter how much I probably should, I just...love her too much to."
Elsa and Kristoff smiled, glad he didn't seem to secretly bare a grudge like they had feared, whilst Elsa's heart lifted even higher at the last part. Hicca, however, smiled, for the reason she had somehow expected him to say such words, from how she had heard the love in his voice when he introduced Elsa as his mother and what she remembered from their talk back in the woods, it caused her to leave doubt behind that whatever had transpired in the past was just that; the past.
"But...but she's the reason you grew up without your parents!" Ruffnut tried to protest, earning an icy glare (that he just had to have learned from Elsa) from Tuffnut. Anna decided to finally talk, "Ruff, Astrid, I don't really see the problem," Both her sisters shot her disbelieving looks, but she continued, "I mean, face it girls, we were terrible caretakers," She saw Tuffnut open his mouth, but cut him off, "Tuff, I know you mean well, but we were, my point is: if Elsa was really the monster we thought she was, wouldn't she have just let Tuffnut waste away under our care, in fact, wouldn't she have left Tuffnut in that cursed state instead of bringing a princess to help wake him up?"
Astrid and Ruffnut found themselves at a loss of how to argue with her valid points.
"Can we leave now?" Kristoff suddenly asked after a few moments of awkward silence, "All this silence in a normally busy part of this place is setting me on edge!"
"Yeah..." Astrid slowly agreed as she too realized just how eerily quiet it was as she glanced around, in fact, it was too quiet, "We really should go...plus, I don't think the King would take to you being here very well..."
Elsa knew that was more directed to her than Kristoff, but shrugged. She really didn't care about Hans' reactions to what she does anymore. All she cared about was getting her son, her hus...loyal servant and herself out of here as soon as possible.
"Especially with all the iron he's been hording lately," Ruffnut added causing both older (and bigger) blondes to freeze in both shock and horror, "I swear you'd think he was some kind of warped dragon!"
"Wait, he's purposely collecting iron?" Kristoff borderline screamed as dots connected in both his and Elsa's heads.
Kristoff, while very, very afraid for his mistress' life, was also boiling with anger. He just couldn't believe Hans would go to such extreme measures to inflict, well, any kind of pain, physical or otherwise, on Elsa, but it appeared he underestimated just how far the king had allowed himself to fall into his own despair and insanity.
Elsa, however, was hurt and also, at the same time, found this turn of events to be rather ironic. Just around twenty or so years ago, Hans had so carelessly tossed away a tiny piece of iron in the prospect that their hands could touch again after their first meeting as small, innocent children, but now, as adults, he was collecting it in such vast and alarming amounts, so he could keep her away. The only reason she felt hurt was because, despite all that has happened, a small part of her, deep, deep down, a small reminiscence of her life before the late King Dagur was calling for her head, had hoped so desperately that there could've been a chance, however, small and slim, that she and Hans could've...at least tried to talk things out. But clearly, that wasn't going to be the case.
For a moment, Elsa just had to wonder what had become of the innocent, inquisitive, care-free and bright little boy who had changed her whole world. What dark magic did this cursed castle hold that changed him so drastically?
Yet, when she refocused on Tuffnut as they once again resumed their quest to leave the foreboding fortress, Elsa couldn't help thinking she had found him again, if in a small semblance. Even if it wasn't quite the same, it made the dull ache almost completely soothe.
"What?" Tuffnut's voice shook her out of her thoughts, "What's so bad about iron?"
Hicca was clearly just as confused and curious as Astrid and Anna finally caught on to the king's plan and were just as horrified, though the princess still tacted on, "Its only a metal."
"A metal that burns fairies upon immediate contact," Elsa said for her fellow enchanted creatures, causing both humans to momentarily freeze up from both shock and building terror, "It was the first secret I ever told him."
"But...from my cousin's letters..." Hicca breathed out her terror growing slowly into horror, "King Hans is melding all that iron...into more than just armor...but complete fully iron-based weapons..."
Tuffnut choked on his breath for a moment as the realization dawned on him as he looked to his newly realized mother with undisguised fear and horror, "He's going to try to kill you!"
Elsa gently placed her hand on his shoulder as she began to pass by, a small smile of both assurance and mischief on her face as she replied, "He has to find me first."
Tuffnut swallowed and tried to calm down. It was just so much to take in at once; the woman had been nothing but a guardian, a mentor, a real mother, to him was the one who not only gave him such magical powers, but also cursed him into a eternal sleep, out of pure spite to his father, the man who robbed her of her wings. Now, after rekindling his relationship with his mother, he finds out his father wants to kill her.
He suddenly felt something soft embrace his hand and blinked as he looked down to see Hicca was gently holding his hand, most likely in a gesture for comfort. When his eyes met hers, he found a sincere silent question staring back at him; was he okay? He offered a tiny smile as he interlocked their fingers, once again vaguely registering his aunts gasping and giggling or his uncle chuckling in the background. A silent pair of messages were understood between them:
Are you okay? and I'm alright.
His attention was on an auburn-framed face that was flushing a little as she answered him with a small smile of her own that was soft and comforting, yet joyfully understanding, a quality that reflected just as sincerely in her eyes. He gently squeezed the hand that was in his in gratitude, a gesture that was returned. Once again, silent messages were equally understood:
Thank you and you're welcome.
After what almost felt like hours, they finally found the throne room. A place so hauntingly familiar for all but two of their ragtag, unlikely group. The dimly lit, widely placed and spaced candles along the wall offered very poor light, casting most of the large, spacious room almost entirely in shadow. The almost impossibly tall, dull stain glass windows made up for what the candles lacked, casting pale colored lights in evenly spaced rectangular beams of light from the moon outside, but the room still held an ominous feeling and it was still painfully quiet save their own footsteps across the darkened marble. It was as if the castle itself was holding its own breath.
It unnerved Kristoff to a point beyond words. He was actually starting to wish for run-ins with at least a maid or one close call with a guard. Anything that proved normal activity was still in practice. But this, this deafening silence. It left him on edge. Yes, he saw no reason not to move on through the room. Even when Elsa reverted him back into his natural, winged form, he still felt edgy.
Neither, apparently, did Elsa, who strode confident and calm as ever into the very room she had cursed Tuffnut in all those years ago. There was no doubt in either humans' minds that this room had once been a sight to behold, but now, it looked like something described in a book and it made them hesitant to enter the room, even as the three pixies fluttered slowly to continue on.
Elsa, unhindered by how nerve-racking the silence truly was, simply turned to where the two teens stood, hand-in-hand, by the doorway, not fully into the room, yet not making any move to go back. She then motioned for them to follow as she continued to walk forward.
Just as both teens began to follow, the sudden, fast-paced clinking of heavy metal chains were heard, causing Elsa to look up in time to see something dark falling towards her, but she had no time to move. Without warning, it dropped on top of her and Elsa let out a scream of agony as she was forced to the ground, quickly finding her struggles only increased the sudden onslaught of sharp, unhindered burning. Despite, her grasp on the thick links, her normally freezing touch wasn't turning them to ice for her to break.
The net was made of iron.
Hicca and Anna gasped in horror, while Astrid and Ruffnut cried out in surprise. Kristoff let out a violent squawk, whilst Tuffnut let out a horrified yell, "Mother!"
But then another voice, one full of victory and ugly glee, yelled out, "We got her!" Followed by more voices that were filled with triumph and ugly insults as the room was soon becoming filled with guards.
But it wasn't the number of guards that intimidated the small group; it was their armor. Each man was clad head right down to their toes in thick iron plating. They were even wielding heavy iron shields and blunted staffs.
To their horrors, the soldiers began holding the net in place and poking through the net to jab the ironed, square-shaped heads into Elsa, resulting in more cries of pain as the iron added more burns to the ones she was already trying in vain to heal. Kristoff didn't hesitate, diving straight at one soldier cawing with pure fury and making full use of his talons.
Tuffnut was right behind him, his own eyes blazing with his own fury as he shouted, "Leave her alone!"
"Tuff-!" Anna gasped in terror, but Astrid stopped her from trying to stop him. "Look!" The eldest of the three said pointing to the floor, making her sisters and Hicca look and gasp.
Tuffnut's steps were causing foot-print shaped patches of ice to appear on the floor and those patches slowly began to grow across the floor as snow and icy-blue energy flurried and crackled around his tightened fists. Without warning, one fist became encased in hardened ice as he swung at one of the soldiers holding the net down, leaving a nice dent in the thick helmet, before kneeing him in the face, sending the unsuspecting man skidding across the now slippery floor.
Gathering his magic, Tuffnut shot a blunted blast of ice at another soldier, sending him back, before creating a blunted ice formation on the floor and summoned a cold, snowy gale to slide it into another. Hicca could only stare at the harden, enraged expression on Tuffnut's face as he willed the formation to keep sliding into it shoved the man into a pillar. Kristoff kept narrowly diving and clawing soldiers in the face, while skillfully avoiding their attempts to hit him.
Shaking her head, she went to help as she retrieved the dagger she kept in a holster under her skirt, only to slip a little, unprepared and almost forgetting about the now iced floor, but thankfully, the pixies caught her in time before she could fall.
"Careful there, princess," Anna said as they helped her right herself. "Yeah, I don't think Tuff would appreciate you getting bruised," Ruffnut added jokingly, making Hicca blush a little at the idea of Tuffnut being worried over her.
"Come on, girls!" Astrid said as they zipped by, making Hicca blink in surprise, "We have to help!"
She vaguely heard Ruffnut shouting, skeptically, "How?"
She then heard an oddly familiar voice suddenly hiss, "Coz!" She looked around in confusion, "Hic, up here!" She turned to where there was a hidden flight of stairs nearby that led to the next level and around the middle of it, hiding beneath the solid stone railing, was Snotlout, her cousin, motioning her over with a frightened expression she rarely ever saw on his face.
Hicca hesitated, looking back at the battle, worry clear on her face. She wasn't entirely sure what to do, since she didn't have any form of powers, gifted or otherwise.
As for Elsa, everything felt as if it had been placed in a strange warp. Her head was swimming with vibrating sensations that threatened to leave her both deaf and blind. All of the sounds were garbled together into one big white noise that reminded her of a howling storm and everything was distorted, blending together in waves and blurs, leaving her helpless, until...
"You're Highness!" One voice suddenly became clear as the pain dulled just enough for her to regain enough of her senses to register a familiar figure was standing in front of her, "What the hell are you doing?"
She realized who it was as it began to snow within the room, followed by blue lights of ice magic. "Run, Tuffnut!" Elsa managed to shout out through her pain as she tried to push the net off, only for the burning in her hands to intensive to the point she let go, fearing she'd lose her fingers if she didn't.
Tuffnut glanced over his shoulder at her at her words and replied, "I'm not leaving you here!" He clenched a fist and Elsa watched with wide eyes as ice slowly encased it. He swung at an incoming soldier, ice met metal with a sickening crunching sound that sent a chill up her spine as the man howled with pain as the blow left an impressive dent in the helmet.
Shouts caused her to turn her head, to see the soldiers being bombarded by blue, red and green blurs, which were really Anna conjuring swarms of butterflies, Astrid conjuring red flower petals and Ruffnut leaves, leaving them disoriented enough for Kristoff to attack and knock down. Elsa was left stunned that the pixies were so willing to help her despite the threat she had posed for almost two decades. Perhaps she judged them too quickly.
But then a frightened shriek filled the air, "Let go of me!" Tuffnut quickly turned around and his blood boil to see a random soldier had grabbed a hold of Hicca's arm, her dagger on the ground. Eyes narrowing dangerously as pale blue light danced off his fingertips, Tuffnut flung an arm at the soldier, watching as a bolt of ice flew through the air, nailing the soldier's metal glove, catching him by surprise as he was forced to let the princess go.
"Hicca!" Tuffnut called out and once he saw he had the frightened girl's attention, he added, "Go!" He shot another bolt on the frozen ground in front of him and with a swing of his arm, raised a small wall of ice that flew across the floor and up the little flight of stairs, blocking the soldier from going after her again.
Hicca recoiled at the loud bang the ice made as it slammed against the wall, but didn't hesitate in listening to the white-blonde teen and raced for the stars just as Snotlout jumped the last step to reach her. Without a second thought, her cousin grabbed her hand and cried, "Hurry!" Before rushing and pulling her up the stairs as she hurried along, lifting her skirt in effort to keep up without tripping, but made no protest.
A loud shriek, followed by a squawk caused Elsa to focus as hard as she could, trying to will the blurriness away. Vision swimming in and out of focus, all she managed to see were the pixies barely avoiding being caught in smaller iron nets, while Kristoff got pinned to the ground under one. Elsa swore she felt her heart stop as a soldier raised a staff to strike Kristoff with the intent to kill.
Thinking quickly and doing her best to concentrate, Elsa felt her ever gleaming silver magic tingle down her arm and center in her hand. Steeling herself, she whispered tiredly, "In-in...int-t-to...a...dragon!" With a weak flick of her wrist, she sent it flying and judging from the highly startled screech that, in her ears, sounded vaguely a lot like a very loud 'OW!', she had hit her target.
Kristoff had let out the shriek when he felt a very familiar form of magic strike him from behind and he instantly felt his body change. He could feel every bone not so gently snap out and back into place as they shifted and change, once again feeling his feathers molting off. His caws turned into groans as he felt his body grow bigger, much bigger, along with his wings and everything felt hot.
The soldiers backed up in fear as the strange raven's wings suddenly grew and shot out through the net, snapping the chain-links as its black and gold feathers slowly began to molt and fall away to reveal the skin beneath. The ends of the wings slit into three digits as it shifted to regain balance as its talons changed as well to match. Slowly, much to their horror, the three pixies' shock and Tuffnut's stunned amazement, the crow slowly began to grow in size, its neck getting longer and thicker as scales started to grow all over. The final addition to its form were a new pair of wings as its transformation began to add detail.
Tuffnut and the pixies could only stare in awe at the new animal his uncle had become. It was impossibly tall, its head scrapped the ceiling when it tilted its head a certain way, it had four thick legs that ended in three-digit claws and its tail was long and whip like, with a diamond-shaped tail-fin. It had long feather-like appendages hanging off the back of its head in an odd mix of a lion's mane and a fish's back-fin, each one more transparent then the last. Its snout was bird like, perhaps a side of effect of his uncle's natural form? Finally, it had large, magnificent pair of wings on its back that were similar to a bat's and it was covered in the most glorious scales, each one glittered like gold beneath the torch light.
Kristoff was a Gold Death(1).
Astrid nearly fainted from fear, while Ruffnut was slack-jawing and Anna...her face was suspiciously red and her eyes impossibly wide. Tuffnut was grinning ear-to-ear. From the cat-walk above, Hicca and Snotlout paused in their running to stare at the beast, Snotlout's jaw nearly hitting the floor and Hicca's eyes were wide from both shock and amazement. Elsa smiled faintly, feeling beyond tired. as she let her head rest.
Eyes snapping open, Kristoff revealed his normally bright and cheerful honey-brown eyes were now a brilliant golden-brown color that bordered yellow, pupils shrinking into thin slits, taking the heightened senses his new form came with. He could smell every cowering soldier's fear, which reeked like old fish that had been left in the sun too long, he could smell how each pixie smelt; Astrid was a bitter-y smell, like an almond, Ruffnut had a flower-y smell that reminded him of a bluebell and his Anna, she had a smell that was a mix of lavender, crisp apples and fresh cookies. He could even smell the two humans who were fleeing, one smelt like a fire mixed with burning metal and earth, the other smelt like roses, violets and marigolds with an undertone of something that reminded him of autumn. However, he was honed in a two particular smells; smells that were crisp snow and pine trees. He could hear better too, every heartbeat around him was either like the faint flaps of a bird's wings in at a distance or so close it was like a rabbit was thumping its foot near his ear, but he was focusing on two. He could even hear each footstep patter or clang against the marble floor, it made it easy to tell who was who, even the disbelieved and frightened muttering was clear in his ears, but he was searching for two particular voices.
Even his eyesight was much clearer than before, which he didn't even think was even possible. Even in the darkness of the room, he could the fear on each soldier's face as well as the shock on Ruffnut and Astrid's face. He wouldn't deny the pleasant-satisfaction that purred through him at the look on Anna's face or the sear awe and amazement on his nephew's, but his eyes were zeroing in on one person in particular and what he found sent his entire body burning with anger. Her face and neck were almost riddled with burn marks that were slowly disappearing as they healed and her eyes were closed, her eyes shouldn't be closed!, and she was lying her head down.
Furious, Kristoff craned his head back for a fraction of a second before throwing it forward as he released a mighty, yet terrifying roar that had even Tuffnut covering his ears as a spew of silver and indigo flames came flying as he released his anger, and the beautiful windows shattered from the all mighty force of the sound. As soon as the flames touched the ice-encased floor, it spread across the surface as if it were oil as Kristoff slammed his new paws hard into the ground with a force that knocked everyone off their feet, while Elsa was rolled and the shock-wave had Astrid, Ruffnut and Anna flying through the air head-over-heel.
The soldiers were quickly scrambling to their feet, but Kristoff easily had them either crushed against the wall or back on the floor with a grand sweep of his whip-like tail, which Tuffnut and the pixies only just managed to avoid. Though, for all his new imposing size, sharp teeth and intimidating (and possibly magical) flames as well as his new claws, Tuffnut couldn't help looking back at his uncle's new form with an exhilarated and excited grin, despite the situation, things in his opinion just got a whole lot more interesting.
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"Quick, in here!" Snotlout shouted in a rushed breath as he dragged his cousin into one of the King's private rooms, more or less tossing her into the room before almost whipping himself around in order to close the door after making sure they hadn't been followed.
"Oh god, Snotlout!" Was all the warning the raven-haired man got before he was nearly knocked right over by his small cousin when she more or less rammed into him in her effort to crush him in what he will forever refer to as a 'death-hug.' Which of course, threw him very off balance (both physically and mentally) as of all her reactions, this wasn't the one he initially expected.
Ever since they were small kids, they had never been very close, not even with their fathers being brothers and his own father being a member of his uncle's close-knit group of advisers, even the fact they both lived in the same wing of the castle didn't make their bond as cousins grow as one would expect. In their kingdom, physical power was respected much more than any other with the vague exception of magic, which was rare, and Hicca, for all her heritage of long-lines of warrior kings and queens, was in no way the example of Berk's heir, while Snotlout himself, was. This, coupled with how people both in and out of the castle would treat them, caused a significant gap between them to grow even bigger once they were old enough to truly understand it. Don't get him wrong, he loved his cousin in his own unique way just as he knew she loved him, since, after their mothers' passing, they were all each other had at the end of the day, they just, didn't get along well outside things they couldn't keep personal or unafraid to share outside the privacy of their rooms.
Still, for all that, he knew his cousin, and she was as stubborn as he was to a fault (he was starting to think it was hereditary) and she didn't truly show much in terms of personal emotion, even in their rooms back in Berk when no one else was around. The only other time he had seen her display such an outburst was when he told her (in privacy of course) that he was leaving for Hans' kingdom to learn more about the art of being a blacksmith as well as the world outside Berk. Needless to say she hadn't been very happy about it.
As such, he was now, very aware of just how much this entire experience must have effected her, for he was sure that rumors of King Hans' mental state declining like it has had surely spread to Berk and he could just imagine how Hicca (bless her big heart) must've worried for him, especially after he was promoted to Master of the Iron Guild, something he couldn't say he was very proud of anymore. Especially now. And the scene they had escaped from probably didn't help.
"Hey..." Snotlout did something he hadn't done in a long time, he spoke in a very soft and gentle tone of voice, and rubbed small circles on his cousin's back once he realized she wasn't shaking from anger, she was crying, "Hey...everything's fine...everything's...okay..." He could vaguely remember the last time something like this had happened, only it had been reversed and they had been half their current sizes, "I'm okay."
"I...I...hic...I th-though...when...hic..." Hicca, ironically enough, started to hiccup as she sobbed into his tunic, fisting the cloth of his vest tight, "Wh-when...you-your le-le-le...hic...letters s-stopped..."
"Damn king wouldn't allow me to so much as write any anymore, much less send them," Snotlout grumbled into soft auburn hair as she tried to calm down, "Didn't want any distractions for his...pet project..." He spat out those last two words as if they were poison, he could still feel all the soreness in his muscles from all the long hours of work the madman of a king had him do.
"All that me-metal...Lout...hic...Lout..." Hicca more or less bawled (which she would deny latter), "I-I-I-hic-Iron b-burns...fa-fairies...th-th-they're go-going to-to...hic...kill her!"
"Please know I didn't have a choice, Hic," Snotlout cringed at the information, it made so much sense now, the near endless and almost impossible demand for all iron weapons and body suits of armor, it was all meant to entrap that cause of the king's madness, "I really didn't."
They stayed like that for a good, maybe, three or so minutes, before Hicca finally pulled away, rubbing at her eyes with her sleeves in a very un-lady-like, but very Berk-like manner that made Snotlout chuckle a little despite their predicament. You can take the princess out of Berk, but you can't take Berk out of the princess...or however the stupid saying goes.
"This never happened," Hicca muttered to him. 'And...Hiccy's back,' Snotlout once again chuckled a little, smiling faintly with fondness with a light shake of his head before responding automatically, "What never happened?" Making Hicca nod as if that were answer enough.
It was then Hicca finally took notice of just where her cousin had taken them to hide and she cringed at the amount of dust that was covering every flat surface in sight. Almost everything was covered in old white sheets, suggesting it had been a while since someone had last been in this room.
"Where...are we?" Hicca asked hesitantly, a little afraid of the answer. "King Hans' trophy room," Snotlout replied also not very impressed with the state the room was in, pausing to pull back a sheet to reveal an old stuffed raccoon and cringed, "Well...it used to be the previous king's, Daguer's, trophy room of various hunting or conquering trophies he accumulated during the long years of his reign, but a little after the Lost Prince became...well...lost..." He chuckled but it quickly died on his tongue when he noticed the dry look his cousin was giving him and he cleared his throat, "Well...there was a piece that King Hans' was rumored to spend hours on end just...staring at...he would even take meals up here...apparently...he even refused to come to Queen Heather's side while she laid dying...just so he could stare at it more...mumbling things..."
"That's horrible!" Hicca shook her head with wide eyes at the idea, ignoring his dying wife just to stare at some...trinket, she was losing more and more respect for the king the longer she was here, "What could have been more important than his wife's final moments?"
That caused Snotllout to pause in his own careful investigating as they looked about the room to scratch his head in thought. What had been taking up so much of the king's attention? The harder he thought on it, the more he could only guess what it was that had enraptured his king's attention like that.
"To be honest, I don't really know what it was or, rather, still is," He answered without a slight hesitation, pulling back a sheet to find an old, dusty, yet still remarkable landscape that was elegantly framed, "It was when we were both children and when I finally arrived here, he started spending less time here and I had no reason to come up-"
He was cut off by a sudden loud sound. It reminded them of when a flock of birds would suddenly take flight without a moment's notice. It was noticeably close them enough that it them both jump.
They stilled and it became unbearably quiet again as Snotlout dropped his voice to a low whisper as he and Hicca looked around wildly for the source of the sound, "Did you hear that...?" Hicca could only nod, unable to trust her voice at the moment.
Emerald eyes scanned the desolate, dusty room for any sign of a bird, fluttering to each stable surface, as well as the floor, for even the smallest feather, but there was nothing. Maybe all the chaos of the recent events had caused the stress to mess with their heads...?
But then, they heard it again, followed by the creaking of old wood against the floor. They knew they didn't make the sound because both cousins were standing stock-still. So something was in the room with them.
Hicca was becoming nervous until her eyes landed on the tallest object in the room, which was rectangular in shape with a sheet covering it. She didn't know why her eyes were drawn to it or why she felt the need to go over and pull the sheet off, but she was. Slowly, she started to walk towards the covered object, despite her cousin's hissed protests.
No sooner was she across the room, the object shook a little as the noise filled the silence again, making her jump back a little, afraid it was going to topple over. However, it only moved a little, not having the momentum nor the strength to topple over, peaking Hicca's curiosity.
Inching as close as she dared to, Hicca reached out and grasped the sheet of the still shaking object. For a slit second, she hesitated, not sure she wanted to see what the king had been keeping in a more or less forgotten room, but her curiosity won out in the end and she pulled the sheet off with one good yank.
It was a tall wooden case with long, window-like, glass doors that had slim curvy handles; simple, yet elegant enough to be a king's possession. But it was what was inside the case that had both cousins captivated; a large pair of white wings, each stunning feather a faded white from age and lack of care, was the source of the sound they had heard. Somehow, despite being long severed from whatever they had come from, they were shaking and jerking with such frantic movements, trying desperately to get out of their prison.
Hicca's eyes narrowed in thought. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed; Elsa was a fairy that was missing her wings, King Hans was her enemy and he had a pair of wings on display in his trophy room, the wings themselves were just the right size and color...
It clicked in her head as she gently pressed a hand against the dusty and cool glass of one of the doors as the wings' movements slowed. "These are..." She breathed with awe, "These are Elsa's wings..."
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Meanwhile, Tuffnut had taken the soldiers distracted-state thanks to his uncle's new form to get the new off his mother, being as careful as possible not to cause her more harm. Elsa merely sighed in relief once the burning metal was gone and her natural healing magic was able to fully work to make the ugly burns on her neck, face and hands slowly fade away.
"Mother!" Tuffnut quickly looked her over, watching with worry-filled eyes as the burns very slowly began to fade back and heal into normal skin, before finding her icy-blue eyes, "Can you walk?"
Elsa had taken a moment to regain her senses before nodding and slowly pushed herself to her feet and, with Tuffnut's persistent help, began to make for an exit, only for them to freeze in their tracks as a large number of soldiers closed in around them. Each soldier was armed with huge shields made purely from iron and were almost large enough to hide each soldier was the duo's view. Most likely another trap employed by Hans should the first one fail for whatever reason.
'Not good,' Both white-blondes thought soon finding themselves pressed up, back-to-back, against each other, balls of ice-magic between their hands, readying to attack on the men's move.
From their hiding place, the pixie sisters were gripping onto each other with great worry.
The pixies had decided it would be safer and better for them to get out of the more capable fighters' way and had taken a hiding spot high above in a chandelier that was well out of Kristoff's reach. As for the newly created Gold Death, he was taking great delight in knocking the fools who dared to attack him onto the floor either simply by slamming his fore-paws into the ground or with a grand sweep of his tail, he even gave his new wings a try by giving them a few beats, knocking the soldiers to the ground.
The circle finally made their move when one, from the safety of being behind his shield, threw a long chain from an angle out of the son and mother duo's vision, catching a startled Tuffnut by around the neck and yanked. Tuffnut let out a startled choke, "Mo-!" Before he was pulled to the floor. His hands flew for his neck instinctively and the touch would have frozen the link chain enough for it to break with a tug, but another soldier swung another chain, catching the young prince by the elbow and pulled, followed by another chain around the other arm's wrist, also pulling, preventing Tuffnut from freeing himself.
Anna and Ruffnut shrieked in frightened-horror, "Oh no!"
Astrid almost flew off the chandelier in her alarm as she yelled, "Tuffnut!"
Elsa had turned her head at hearing him choke and became horrified at the sight of her son being dragged across the floor by his arms and neck. "NO!" She screamed turning and readying her magic to rescue him, but a searing pain wrapped itself around her leg and she soon found herself back on the floor and looked up just in time to see the chain being pulled back behind the shield once the pain was gone.
She didn't get the chance to retaliate because she was struck again by another iron chain, then again and again, and again. It left her disoriented and everything was swimming again. Elsa was just barely able to register Kristoff's majestic form as more soldiers with the cursed chains began to tie him down or Tuffnut's feeble, choked cries as he tried to pull out of his own chains.
It was then, she heard a new sound. The soldiers were rhythmically pounding the bottom of their shields against the floor from their anticipation of what they knew was coming. However, it only caused the trapped blondes hearts beat more frantically with fear. Tuffnut's silver eyes slowly strayed from his mother's weakened form on the floor just a few feet from him to the imposing figure that the soldiers were letting through and his eyes shrunk in more, while his aunties whimpered in fear.
Elsa had just managed to push herself up onto her hands at this point when she heard the clanking metal-footsteps approaching from behind and turned her head to look. Only now vaguely aware that her hair had come undone at some point and was now falling free everywhere, partly obscuring her view.
Her eyes began on the long iron chain the figure was carrying, well, more like dragging, across the still partially frozen floor, followed by the thick, heavy, plated iron boots. Boots that traveled all the way up to the figure's knees in large padded plates before laying way to a pair of thick, dark brown pants. Her eyes then found the well-fitting and equally well-crafted chest armor the figure adorned, almost looking like a chain, had it not been connected to the pointed shoulder-plates. Her eyes drifted down to the thick, iron gloves he wore before finding his face and her breath-caught, heart-pounding.
It was Hans.
But it wasn't the Hans she remembered. This wasn't the expressive, joyful little boy she played with as a child, grew up with, shared her first experience of love with. This wasn't even the man who had taken her wings in a misguided act of love and protection nor the man who had sat on that throne and looked at her with upmost fear, anger and sorrow.
No, this was a madman. The once bright and understanding emerald orbs that were his eyes held nothing but a hate that left Elsa cringing for it held, not just a promise of pain, but a form of insanity she had never seen before, not even on dragons who had succumbed to being burned by their own flame. These eyes held a darkness even she feared to experience, an age she never thought a human could possess, as if he had aged a century during turmoil and pain.
This was Hans. But it wasn't her Hans and that's what scared her more than the iron chains did.
Hans rose a single hand with a single shout, "Enough!" And instantly, the banging stopped.
For a second, Elsa's eyes met Hans' and everything fell away, for the both of them. They both had their long repressed, happy memories come filtering back to them, as if it all had happened just yesterday. Then, they remembered themselves.
Slowly, Hans started to walk towards her, grip tightening on the chain as he brought it up in both hands. Fear groaning, Tuffnut managed to shout, "Father, no!"
"Don't worry, son," Hans, while mildly stunned that his son was free from his curse, assumed it was just an illusion created by Elsa to try and persuade him not to hurt her, but he played along, if anything just to see the look on her face when he dealt the final blow, "Once this witch is gone, everything will be as it should be," His madness raised its ugly head as he returned his attention to Elsa, who was stumbling back onto her feet, "Our family will be whole again..."
Tuffnut's eyes widened in horror as well as watering with tears. Kristoff released a loud, yet muffled cry of protest as his muzzled was tied closed with a chain to prevent him from breathing more of his silver and blue fire. The pixies were unable to watch anymore, hugging each other as they hid.
Hans' attention, however, was solely on Elsa, which made her shiver. To think there had once been a time she would have preened and internally squeal at having his complete and undivided attention, but now, she'd rather he look anywhere else.
"How does it feel?" Hans asked her suddenly in a oddly soft voice that had her momentarily reeling, "How does it feel to be a magical creature without wings...?" But as he finished his questioned, he lunged at her, the proximity of the iron he was wearing leaving Elsa too distracted to react, until she was wrapped in his chain as he yelled in her face, "In a world where you don't belong?" Elsa screamed at the burning sensation reached a new peak, before finding herself being bodily thrown by Hans into the steps of the platform where the thrones were.
Elsa could only groan as the pain faded in an agonizingly slow pace, only to for dull thuds to be tacked on as she rolled down the three steps she had landed on. Her eyes somehow found the watery ones of Tuffnut, who was now being restrained by the soldiers and her heart fell, especially once her ears picked up on Kristoff's low whines.
Hans didn't notice either as he turned to his men, arms up with victory and a vicious, mad grin of victory on his face as they cheered for him. Elsa, however, couldn't miss them and could only silently pray, 'Please, Hans, if there's any form of love left in you at all...please don't make him watch...'
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Meanwhile, back in the trophy room, Hicca and Snotlout were furiously trying to undo the many small, tight knots that made up the rope that tied the glass case doors closed, but were getting nowhere, which was just frustrating them further with each slip or bump of the fingers. "What kind of princess who prides herself on being prepared and thinking ahead," Snotlout was berating with his tenth failed attempt at his third knot, "Doesn't arm herself with a second dagger in case she loses the first one?"
Hicca just rolled her eyes as she started her seventh knot, "You're just mad I'm ahead of you..." Snotlout just snorted, but made no comment until something occurred to her and she slowly aimed a dry, deadpanned look at her cousin as she asked unimpressedly, "Don't you carry one?"
Snotlout paused in surprise as well as thought before patting along his belt and sure enough, there was his dagger, well polished and present as always. He grinned sheepishly as his cousin continued to stare at him, very unimpressed. Rolling her eyes, Hicca snatched it from him and, within a minute, had the knotted rope on the floor in pieces.
Tossing him his knife back, Hicca proceed to pull the doors open to set the wings free, only to find that they wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she or Snotlout pulled. The door was locked.
"Seriously?" Snotlout demanded in disbelief, "Who ties a case shut and locks it?"
Hicca blew at her bangs as she tried to think up a new plan and noticed the chair seated next to the case and smiled as she got an idea. Without hesitation, she pushed the chair a little closer and said, "Snotlout, help me push it over."
Unable to protest or question her anymore, Snotlout stood next to the chair as Hicca climbed onto it. Together, they pushed against the side of the case as the wings picked up its jerking, as if sensing what they were trying to do. With their combined efforts, the cousins had the case tilting until it finally fell onto its side with a hard, loud thud, which was instantly followed by the shattering of glass, then another thud as the momentum (and a bit of luck) had it falling onto its back.
Hicca and Snotlout watched in awe as the wings lifted themselves out of their prison, paying no heed to the shards before bolting, their sheer force causing the door open on impact. Without a second thought, Hicca jumped off the chair and hoisted her skirt in order to properly run as she rushed after the wings, whilst shouting, "Hurry!"
"Wait!" Snotlout shouted after her, "You want to follow a pair of decapitated wings back to the violent-chaos we had run in here to avoid in the first place?" But Hicca didn't answer, already out of the room, making the raven-haired man groan loudly at his luck, before running after her, "Hicca, wait for me!"
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Elsa just barely had the energy left to stand back up and when she was finally able to focus back on Hans, he had a long, pure-iron sword drawn. With an enraged battle-cry, he ran at the snow fairy with the intent to kill.
Kristoff closed his eyes, unable to watch, while Tuffnut let out a choked scream, "NOOO!"
But Elsa released a gasp of shock, but not from the sword. A familiar sensation creeping through her from her back, a feeling she never thought she would ever get to feel again...they were back.
Hans let out a growl as a brilliant bluish-white light suddenly shone out from around Elsa, as if she was creating the light from something within herself. Kristoff and Tuffnut looked up with wide, wonder-filled eyes as she was slowly lifted a few feet into the air, hair floating as if she were in water. Hicca and Snotlout appeared in the catwalk overhead and gasped as well.
Elsa closed her eyes in both content and relief as all the pain from the burns finally disappeared completely, only to be replaced by something entirely new. Her entire body felt as if it were alive with a fire that was setting her every nerve a light with a near overwhelming sense of power and euphoria as blue sparks lit up at her feet and fingertips.
Everyone watched as the lights slowly danced across her. Her little-heeled shoes were changed into a pair of pointed-toed, crystal-like boots that had a jagged-patterned rim, a matching pair of gloves formed on her hands growing up to her elbows. Her tattered and dirtied dress was replaced with something extraordinary; it was skin tight, it was both pants and a shirt, its sleeves and pant-legs disappearing into the boots and gloves. It stopped a little above her collarbone, a crest that resembled a bird formed above her chest, simmering like ice. Her hair seemed to glow like the moon itself as a small tiara made of ice-crystals formed in her hair, nestled right above her bangs and finally, a belt that curved to accent and follow that shape of her waist formed out of ice-crystal, a small white skirt fell from it, stopping just a little past her mid-tights.
Jaws were touching the floor as the most magnificent pair of snow white, feathered wings, like that of an angel, unfurled from her back, reaching their full span before pushing off, lifting her higher into the air as her hair continued to float to the side in an unknown wind and the light died down. She had regained her wings and they had given her a gift of some sort.
Hicca let out a sigh of awed-wonder. A sigh that Elsa heard and turned her head to look up at the princess. A small smile appeared on her face, a smile of pure gratitude. She had given her a fairy's greatest joy back, a joy she had thought was gone forever. Hicca smiled back, nodding her head a little in response.
The pixies were literally crying in relief that Elsa was going to be just fine.
Kristoff was taken completely off guard. His eyes just had to be playing tricks on him. In all his long years of spying on mankind, even watching the different magical folk, never once had he seen anything or anyone look more beautiful...more breath-taking, than his mistress did at this moment. He momentarily wondered where the outfit came from, but questions later, escape and help now.
The interaction between fairy and princess wasn't missed by father or son. Tuffnut couldn't have felt more grateful if he tried. Hicca and this unknown man, just saved his mother's life. He almost lost his mother for real. He let out a small sob of relief, the surreal feeling of the near loss was overwhelming, but so was his awe of his mother's new form. As for Hans, he was furious. He had to wonder how the traitor had gotten this unknown girl to his trophy room, much less got the case open, he had tossed the key out a random window, but that was besides the point. She wasn't supposed to get her wings back!
There would have been a time when Hans would've been just as entranced and enthralled by Elsa's transformation and new appearance as everyone else. But it had only served to anger Hans more and that anger fueled his frustration, which gratified his madness, which blinded his common sense.
Without hesitation, he motioned at Elsa and yelled, "KILL HER!" Which effectively broke the spell on everyone.
The soldiers didn't hesitate in picking up their iron staffs and began hurling them at Elsa, while others pulled out crossbows and iron arrows and began shooting at her, but she either did something entirely new. With a loud battle-cry of, "Hah!" She formed a new, thicker staff of ice along with a matching shield. Elsa began to either evade the weapons or deflect them with her staff and shield.
With her wings back, she regained the aerial advantage that made her a foe to be reckoned with. With a speed reminiscent of lightning, she flew at the chains and shot a beam of ice magic at them, freezing them instantly. Kristoff merely had to flex his wings and open his mouth and they all broke apart into little pieces. Elsa then gave a mighty flap of her wings, the air turning freezing and the chains on Tuffnut froze as well. He grinned as he easily broke free.
Tuffnut rejoined the fray along side his uncle as his aunties swooped down from their hiding place to join in as well.
Hans saw he was losing and didn't like it one bit. He hefted up his chain and swung it around for a moment, waiting for Elsa to fly his way again, before throwing it and grinned as it wrapped around one of her boots, making her shriek in at the sudden pain. She turned her head and glared at him as he tried to dig his feet into the floor to keep her in place, but Elsa wasn't having it. She started spinning wildly and Hans' eyes widened as his chain wrapped around one of his own boots, making him lose his balance and fall over, but stubbornly held onto the chain.
When one soldier aimed at Elsa, seeing she was distracted, Tuffnut barely had time to react. He shot a bolt of ice just in time to cause the soldier to fire higher than he intended. Instead of the arrow hitting Elsa, it sliced the rope that was keeping the bars on the window behind the thrones up, causing the bars to fall forward and crush the thrones.
With a yell, Hans was pulled off the floor as Elsa barrel-rolled into the window, her wings shielding her from the glass, taking him with her. Hans growled loudly as he was forced to hang onto the chain as she carried him through the air to a the top of one of the castle towers, where he was dropped harshly with a thud when the chain was finally freed from Elsa's leg.
Elsa landed with much more grace as Hans managed to pick himself up. He growled again and lunged, but Elsa was prepared this time. She stopped his punch with her shield and slammed one end of her new staff into his stomach, winding him enough for her to slam her shield into his head, knocking him back. Hans barely had time to regain himself when he suddenly slammed into a wall, pinned their by Elsa's new found strength and her shield.
Once again, their eyes met, this time, both glaring with the upmost ferocity as they breathed heavily both from exhaustion and the thrill of the battle. After the moment had passed, Hans said, "Do it," Elsa blinked out of her stupor, stunned as she realized her staff had sharpened into a spear without her realization, but she focused back on the look of pure fury and hate mixed with the smallest form of acceptance on his face as he yelled at her, "Go on!"
Elsa stared at him with wide blue eyes as she controlled her breathing in effort to calm herself as she realized the perfect chance she had to finally be even with him and rid Tuffnut of the chance the man would come looking for him in the Moors, bringing he darkness with him. But, then she realized, what would be the point? She could easily keep up her ice walls for another fifteen, sixteen years or longer if need be and Hans had yet to get even close to breaking through. Plus, for all his actions, she doubted Tuffnut would truly ever forgive her if she did this, take the life of the last real parent he really had. But after that she realized that she would never forgive herself if she did this. For all his madness, somewhere, locked far away in there, was the boy who failed to steal a jewel, but stole her heart...and she couldn't kill, no matter what he did to her.
With that in mind, she jerked her shield forward for good measure before pulling away from him. Hans just stared at her as he slid onto the floor, face blank save for shock that she didn't finish him. He had taken her wings, he was sure she would want to kill him, especially after what just happened. He nearly killed her!
Elsa just stared back at him, just as silent, eyes narrowed with an unspoken warning. Let all this end here and no more harm to anyone will be caused. Then, she turned her back on him...and started to walk away.
This caused Hans to completely lose it. He released a sound reminiscent of an angered, caged lion as he charged at her, catching Elsa off guard enough to send them both over the edge of the tower. Elsa glared as she punched and clawed back at him as they plummeted towards the ground. Hans just glared back, one hand around her throat and the other other punching back.
Somehow, Elsa maneuvered herself when they spun so that both her heels were pressed against his chest, allowing her to launch herself away from him, but soon realized her mistake. The chain wasn't attached to anything. Hans was falling. Elsa watched with horror as everything seemed to slow down around them as he fell. Hans stared back at her with shock-filled eyes as the wind wiped against his back until...
Elsa cringed, eyes squeezing shut tightly as an impossibly loud sound that was a sickening mix of a thud and a crunch filled the otherwise silent air. When she opened her eyes, she released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and began to slowly descend to the ground. Hans laid there on a the cold, hard ground, his arms and legs bent at the oddest angles from how hard he had hit the brick floor, he didn't move so much as a muscle or blink as she landed, once again in her snow white dress.
She knelt down and hesitantly laid a hand against the now cold cheek and felt a prickling sensation in her eyes. Elsa looked into unfocused, hazy and now lifeless eyes and closed her own as her mind wondered back to when they had first met. How those once beautiful and stunning emerald eyes had once been filled with such wonder, curiosity and life. Now, that boy, the man she had grown along side and had fallen for...was truly gone.
Elsa gently ran her hand up, then slid his eyes closed as she whispered gently, "May you finally have peace...mitt hjerte(2)..." Elsa stood and she started to walk away, when she paused for a moment, unable to help adding over her shoulder, "You were always a king to me..." With that, she gave a mighty flap of her wings and took off, willing herself not to dare look back, but she didn't bother holding in her tears.
Wow, now that was epic! Tell me what you guys all think of my little twists. Hans is dead...don't know how to really feel about that, but deep down I think Stephan's death effected Maleficent more than she let on, so I didn't think it would be that more different for Elsa, only, you know, she shows it more. On that note, Elsa has her wings back! Plus, I just felt that the pixies and Philip should've had bigger roles during those final moments in the movie...well, Philip should've had a bigger role to play in general, but ah, well. Tell me what you all think.
On with my ever faithful viewer, nicknamed MuseSwan: I'm so glad you liked my little mini-bonus chapter with Tuffnut's curse, I honestly wasn't so sure it would've been a good idea, but in the end I said, what the hell, and I went with it. I hope you really like this chapter, especially Hans and Elsa's little mini-battle and Elsa's transformation. Truthfully, I just wanted to give that final battle a little unique zing and came up with that, so, I hope it wasn't too over the top. Tell me what you think in your next review and be honest with me!
And to the missing, but hopefully reoccurring viewer Sammael29: I hope your okay, since, you know, you usually review the new chapters, but hey, life's life, so no prob. I hope you can tell me what think of this chapter and the last one.
Oh and the poll for my next crossover is officially closed and the grand winner and the muse for my next HTTYD and Frozen crossover is...the new(not so new anymore, but you get what I mean) Cinderella(fella) movie!
Until next time everyone!
