Disclaimer: I own nothing.
SMACK!
Our eyes widened at the same time in nothing but surprise and I had to double check to see if I'd really just did that or not. The woman I hadn't seen in over three years stumbled back a step, out of my strike zone and that fish out of water look had yet to falter from her usually smug face. Who was I kidding though? She very well deserved it.
"A simple 'hello' would have sufficed, Milady." She managed to shake my slap to her cheek off and instead, chose to straighten up her clothes while partly glaring at me.
There was the sarcasm. However, the glare was something new. "Elsa?" I asked again, trying to make sure it wasn't my imagination playing tricks on me. Alas, I could plainly see those deep blue eyes, chilly as the winter ocean herself and the sharp features of her beautiful face; sculpted by noble heredity and harsh experience. She was back.
"Aye." Said woman adjusted the blades at her hip curtly and without my full knowledge, drew my eyes to them. The last time I'd seen her, she'd only had the black blade and now a fine white one accompanied the dark counterpart. Huh. I'd never heard of anyone using two swords before. Even the captain of the guard -skilled as he was- only used one sword, but had other weapons to accommodate. Then again, my friend never did anything half-heartedly. "I'm pretty sure I taught you better than to go around slapping people." Her words snapped my attention back to that irritatingly pretty face.
"On the contrary, you've taught me close to nothing, Captain Bjelke." I whispered the last part so that anyone walking close enough wouldn't catch the name. Though, I wasn't sure if she was more known by that title or something else entirely. I just knew that I knew her as Captain Elsa Bjelke of Nærøyfjord. (That was my information for her should anyone think to ask when she showed her face in the kingdom.) Her real identity had been buried in the very back of my mind and I wasn't entirely sure if she herself knew where she'd come from. Or if she even wanted to know for that matter. But all of that was irrelevant at the moment as our eyes connected for a long drawn-out minute.
"Is that what you think?" A lopsided grin spread across her lips. Plump lips that looked like they could kiss any one fool to euphoria.
Something I knew all too well.
Rather than delve back into the passions she usually stirred in me with her white form-fitting trousers, scarred black boots, wide palms and long fingers covered by gloves and broad, smooth shoulders, I brought my arms up to cross them in front of me. "So what brings you back after all this time?" Tone clipped so as not to show any emotion.
"I wasn't aware that I needed an invitation to visit my own homeland, my kind Princess." She stood with a fist on her hip, the one that had her pistol strapped to it. My eyes slipped to her muscled thighs of their own accord and then back up, only to find her own liquefied gaze sliding over my entirety like a warm, tender caress. I had to calm myself all over again because of it. Stupid girl. I did not miss the deep green cloth wrapped delicately around her right thigh too. "Don't take this the wrong way, Milady, but you've changed." As if she caught something in my eyes, she slowly began to bring her hand up to the sapphire colored wrap around my own waist.
Our gifts to each other from long ago.
"So have you." I deadpanned, not letting her finish that thought by swatting her hand away from me.
"My lifestyle demands it." Unperturbed as usual.
"Fighting and stealing changes someone that much?" I couldn't stop the contumelious grin from capturing my lips.
"It's what I've learned to do well, Sweet Cheeks." That time, she brought out something from behind her back and tossed it at me and I did my best to not drop whatever it was. "But as you know, I also do one other thing well." A warm warning of a smile upturned her lips that time, showing off her sharp white teeth.
"You'll do well to mind your manners, my sweet Nomad." My own smile was as cool as hers was heated while I made to walk by her. "Passersby would think you're trying to flirt with me." And I might not be able to control myself if you keep at it. No one needed to know or see that anyway.
"There's no need to try with you, Duchess." She chuckled, simply catching her pace beside me in a heartbeat. "It comes as easily as swinging my blades." Her low voice reminded me of fine wine. Imported, smooth and having grown richer and more seductive with age. She spoke English, Norwegian, Spanish, and French like a native, yet buried deep in said voice was the faintest flutter of an accent even I couldn't place, regardless that I knew where she hailed from.
Elsa was so different, yet so familiar that it felt as if she'd never been gone and I very well couldn't be as mad at her as I should have been. At the moment.
So we walked side by side in comfortable silence for what seemed like forever until we reached the docks. It was as if instinct alone had taken us there. My gaze lifted then, out to the crystal waves reflecting the sun's brilliant light. The salty sea breeze hit my face and I had to take a deeper breath so as not to be taken off-guard by the nearly foreign scent. I'd made it a point to steer clear of the place unless she was present. Otherwise I feared I would be reduced to tears just looking out there and knowing that at some point in time, Elsa wouldn't be coming back to me.
I allowed the imposing thoughts now and again in her unexpectedly long absence, but there was always an after-thought that told me not to be so foolish. She had to come back. No matter what. Impulsively, my hand reached up to touch the pendant she'd given me some years ago. It seemed like nothing fancy; a gold coin with a square cut-out in the middle. Around it was what looked like nothing more than scribbles, but she'd told me that the writing was in Hindi and that it was the key to her most treasured of treasures.
So, if not for me, Elsa would definitely be back for this. And that was too heartbreaking to think about.
"Which is yours?" I asked quietly, trying to cover the thickness in my voice by gesturing to the fjord. The waters were deep enough for bigger ships to dock, but I highly doubted she'd actually bring her own ship this far in. Let alone display it for all to see. My friend may have been a Pirate, but she was a modest one if I remembered correctly.
"She be out of commission for the time being." Elsa muttered. "Insolent dogs failed to mention a hole in the hold until we nearly sunk in Sognefjorden."
"Oh." I had to remember that she had a different way of speaking from time to time. But. Was that the sole reason she came back? My gaze drifted to the innocuous peach in my hands as an empty feeling swept over me. She knew she'd be a little more safe here than anywhere else because of me, so why not?
"You look like I just dropped your dreams on the ground, Princess." Elsa's blue eyes invaded my vision and it was all I could do to not punch her in the face or shove her peace offering back. The nerve.
"Is that all? You came here to fix your boat?" I snapped, grip tightening on the fruit in my hand. It was the one fruit Father questioned me about because before I met Elsa, my absolute favorite had been apples. Since our first goodbye, I had managed to quell the longing feeling of my absent friend with peaches and they soon became my number one. However, it felt like a mocking memory all of a sudden to even be holding it now.
"That's not all, no." Elsa leaned back. Probably because she could sense my sudden hostility and didn't want to be caught in the cross-hairs of another lashing out of mine. "I also needed to resupply." My eye twitched in nothing but irritation. "We been going nonstop since we left Italy- hey-" She'd managed to catch my arm for a millisecond before I yanked it out of her grasp.
"Fine." I kept walking. Maybe if I left fast enough she'd take the hint and leave me alone.
"An-"
"Don't you dare call me by my name!" I spat, whirling back around and making her pause long enough to toss me a genuinely confused look. "You don't know me, Elsa." You don't know what I've gone through without you by my side.
"What's this about?" She did her best to cover the sudden look of impatience, but I saw it all the same. "Should I have not come here?" Walls began to go up. As if they weren't already there. "Is it so bad to want to see you?"
"After how long?!" I couldn't hold in my frustrations anymore. She'd broken a promise whether she remembered or not and I felt I couldn't brush it off like all the times I'd done before.
"What's the matter, Princess?" She tried the more cautious approach. "It's not like I wasn't planning on making my way back to you, it's just that I-"
"Another excuse. You're full of them, aren't you?" I turned away again, not seeing the look she had on her face right then.
"If it was an excuse I would have already said it." Came her nearly exasperated huff. "You know me better than that."
I grit my teeth. "Actually, I don't."
"Yes, you do." Elsa stepped closer that time, letting me feel the amazing warmth she always seemed to exude. Even after all these years, it still felt nice. At once my stubborn attitude began to falter. "You know more things about me than I do, Sweet Cheeks." Her gloved hands came to cup my shoulders. It was partly true. I knew her real name, her real home, why she wore gloves all the time, but there was something I didn't know about her.
I didn't know why she'd disappeared like she did, only to show up three years later out of the blue.
Sure, I could sense the hardened difference in her now, but I was certain she wouldn't tell me even if I asked. When she wanted a secret to be kept, she'd take it to the depths of the ocean and that was what I saw right then once I managed to look at her. It was all I needed to finally cave.
Spinning back around, I frantically threw my arms around her neck and did my best to crush her to me. Too long I'd gone without her scent. Her touch. Her warmth. My nose buried itself in her shoulder and her own arms didn't hesitate to encircle me protectively. Almost possessively, but I was okay with that. If there was ever another person that got to feel like this with her... I didn't even want to think about it.
"There be my lil' lamb." She whispered sweetly into my hair after swinging me around like a child. I heard the smile in her words and let my own spread across my lips.
"If I were a lamb, you'd cut me up and have me for stew." I snarked, trying not to sniffle. Elsa didn't like seeing my tears whether they were happy or not and I wasn't willing for her to make fun of me either.
"You judge me harshly, Milady." It was faint, but I swear I felt her press a gentle kiss to the top of my head after a hearty chortle erupted from her.
I'd forgotten how tall she was. And how just being near her made me more at peace than I'd ever been. "I judge you fairly, my dearest Buccaneer." It was with more confidence when I turned my head to land a kiss to her neck. She'd told me before that I was a sloppy kisser, but I couldn't care less. I simply wanted the contact and it usually took too long for her to give it to me, thus the impatience. Who could blame me? I missed you. Pulling back, our eyes met in a lingering kiss before I swallowed as she slowly but surely began to lean in. I felt her warm breath wash over my face, smelling faintly of peaches and as moist as the air around us.
I can just cup that jaw, right tilt, and… there.
"There you are." A new -sultry- voice joined us, positively ruining the moment. As disappointed as I was right then, I couldn't help but jump away from Elsa like a child getting caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Although, what I saw walking toward us had me kicking myself for not getting the kiss I all of a sudden wanted more than my next breath.
The unfamiliar woman was easily the most attractive person I'd ever seen. (Besides Elsa, that is.) She walked much like a big cat, pacing along, stretching out in a slow, methodical strides that would make any man instantly stop what he was doing so he could look at her. I saw that she had this ridiculously long, thick, glossy raven-colored hair, tied to the base of her creamy neck with a blue ribbon. She was tall. Easily about six feet. Her body was lithe yet wholly feminine with such a bosom that put mine to shame. Complete with green, lucid eyes that never wavered left nor right.
And that gaze was fixed on Elsa.
"I told ye not to bother me." Said woman behind me stepped out and in front of me in one swift motion as if to shield me from the other's radiance.
"Aye. But I wanted to be the first to tell ye that Jet and Pip-" Those green eyes then cut to me before she looked back at Elsa for confirmation.
"What is it?" She asked, authority immediately coating her voice. The unknown woman then stepped closer and leaned those full ruby colored lips close to Elsa's ear. The same ear that held one of my earrings in it. My jaw twitched irritably at the sight. Who was she and why did she seem closer to my friend than me?
After a moment more, Elsa stepped back and cursed under her breath. Blue met teal just after and then she turned back. "Find Korra." She hissed at the other pale girl, looking a lot more agitated than before. "Inform the men and have them get Gaston, Jet and Pipsqueak back to the ship as soon as possible. Do not come back without the Dragon."
"Right." The raven haired woman nodded, but then looked perplexed. "What about you? I don't think it'd be wise to be here when-"
"Let me say goodbye, Sam. Let me have this." Elsa placed a weary hand on her bare shoulder.
"From what the boys tell me, ye have less than fifteen minutes until he comes to the port. That's plenty of time for us to get the head start we need-"
"Asami, it's been three years." My friend straightened up, nearly matching the height of her taller companion and adding more power to her usually calm voice. "Five more minutes is hardly a wink in that amount of time, Savvy?"
The woman didn't waver. "Are you sure you want to drag the Boon into this then? She's not even close to being repaired yet."
A dangerous growl made her throat muscles quiver along with mine. Only once had I seen my friend this mad. "Then get Hiccup and Astrid involved." Elsa snapped. "Use the flares Floki make for us to get their attention."
I couldn't stand it anymore. "Elsa, what's going on?" My hand came up to touch her shoulder. It was as stiff as a board. She turned back to me with a certain kind of look in her eyes. One that told me she clearly didn't want, whatever was going on to tear us apart like it evidently was going to anyway, to happen.
"Forgive me, my sweet Princess." Her voice was in several kinds of pain as she brought her hands up to grasp my arms. "There be a ship sailing their black flags, heading this way." From the way it was said, I had the feeling that I wouldn't get any further information.
"Friends of yours?" I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach. Not because I was afraid of the coming threat, but because I knew they were coming for Elsa. My Elsa. "What did you do?" I found myself asking without thinking it through.
She didn't answer. "Go, Asami. If I'm not at the dock when you come back, stick to the Code and I'll catch up to ye soon enough." A tight grin split her lips. The other woman's reluctance was palpable but she eventually took a step back. Although before she could turn away, she quickly grabbed Elsa's hand and strapped something into place around her wrist.
"This isn't smart and you know it, Cap'n." She hissed. "I'm not about to let that filthy swine take you again and neither is the crew."
My eyes widened at three words. Take her again? I couldn't even think to ask over all the discombobulated emotions being passed between both women though.
"Sam, you know you'd do it for Nags now be gone." Elsa then said something to her in what seemed to be yet another new language she'd learned.
"Apologies." And then she was gone and Elsa was tugging me away from the docks and back through the markets we'd come out of. What's going on?!
A/N: Hope you liked it. Now let's see how it goes. (When I find the time to write again.)
#life ;)
~Jane