So this chapter is... a bit awkward. It's not going exactly as I planned, as my stories usually go, but still manage to line up with what I need to happen. Doesn't make the chapter any less awkward because I'm trying to handle great drama between two people caught within a group. So apologies in advance for that.

WARNINGS; A lot of males on a single female, think Queen ant or bee, but consent is still dubious. Murder and cannibalism. Imprisonment (essentially, necessity or not that's still what it is). Neglected teenager in her first heat. And attempted coercion against minor (I think? Correct me on the choice of word if it's wrong)

If you can stomach all of that, then please enjoy this chapter :)


It's barbaric but it's our only home

Vizier wasn't wearing clothes.

Jackson had been seated inside the yeti burrow and was currently in stablemaster Astrid's care from where the boy tried not to stare at the vizier who was resting against Mulch's side while the digger played a strategy game against Bucket.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Astrid's voice was gentle. Jack had never heard her use that tone. It wasn't pressing, like she would accept his silence too. Still, a glance was all she needed to give him to say she was ready to listen if he did speak.

"I just… fought with Bunny."

"I gathered as much," the woman said, rubbed his cheek one last time before combing her fingers through his hair.

The sensation was painfully familiar. "Mother used to do that… through my hair."

"I like to do it too," the stablemaster answered and did it again as she stood. "It's like a sign that the pain has been subdued, often earns me a smile, and then the kids run off like they were never hurt to begin with."

Jackson looked carefully at the stablemaster who placed her bag of ointments among the vizier's armour, reminding him once again that the vizier was not wearing it.

"I thought you only treated dragons and fairies."

"I do that too, yes. Mainly because it's a great way to harvest them of other things that have good components for healing human wounds and illnesses. You normally go to Death guild when you're hurt or sick?"

"Yes."

"Don't look so guilty, most people do, and part of my job thus becomes to supply Death guild with medicine."

Jackson had never thought to ask where Death guild got their medicines from. It was a guild secret, just like Dig-Build had theirs. "You harvest… fairies… for medicine?"

"Sure do. Nothing's ever purely evil. Sometimes you just have to look real hard to find something good."

Astrid left Jackson to his thoughts and went to look at Belle's wounds. She had pinched them together somehow. Jack didn't want to look too closely. Blood made him queasy and Belle's wounds were far beyond what he could stomach. He'd tried to stop the wood guild member from stabbing her, but he'd been too weak.

"Augh! Lost again! How?!"

Jackson looked up at Mulch, who had thrown his hands up in defeat. A move that woke the slumbering vizier who groaned and started moving.

"I am not used to sitting still for this long," he grunted and rubbed his behind as he stood.

"There's no room for you to pace here, Hiccup," came Astrid's voice from the tunnel.

"Thank you for pointing that out. I could never have figured it out myself by, I don't know, looking around."

"And yet you're trying to do it right now."

The vizier stiffened and retreated the step he'd been about to take.

Jack stared, his heart beating a weird staccato in his chest. "Hic… cup?"

Dark eyes, their colour hard to discern in the faint light, turned to him and Jack felt like his eyeballs were about to fall out. He was so used to seeing the vizier looking like a dragon master. Now, dressed down to what Jack could only assume were his undergarments, he looked way too human!

"My full name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock."

Jackson jolted, feeling his face heating up like a furnace. "I'm… I'm sorry!"

But the vizier just rolled his eyes and stretched his arms above his head, taking a step before catching himself.

"Heccup! You explain! How do I keep losing to Bucket?" Mulch demanded as he set up the game again.

"Because you greatly underestimate Bucket's talents."

The old yeti glared up at the man, who smiled brightly through his beard. The vizier was smiling.

Something burnt in Jack's heart and down his cheek. He hurried to wipe it away. It was just a smile. It wasn't even directed at him! What was wrong with him!

"If you have questions, I'll answer them."

The boy looked up. Vizier's voice had softened and his eyes grown ever darker under his furrowed brow. Another tear rolled down Jack's cheek before he could stop it.

"What happened to my parents?"

Haddock took the one step that separated them and sat down beside Jack, gracefully accepting Jack's refusal to look at him.

"I don't think you're asking for the details of the crime, are you?"

"…no."

"Then I don't know. It was my grandfather who put the theory together, but half of it is guesswork. What I do know is that your father's family adopted Bunny and the two grew up as brothers. There are notes in my father's letters that detail a couple of cases of mischief involving them that forced a few measures of discipline from the guild master of the time. I guess they were both competitive."

Jack felt the vizier turn to him, his look more questioning than his tone, like he was asking for confirmation.

"I… I don't know. Bunny's never competed in any games as far as I know."

The vizier made a thoughtful sound and stroked his beard. Jack struggled to not stare.

"Well, next certain fact is that Bunny and Jokul both got married at the same time, and you were already well under way at that point. You'll have to ask North why though because I sure can't fathom why Jokul would marry so late."

"…Bunny was married?!"

"You never knew?"

"No! I don't even…" Jack closed his mouth and slumped back down. There could only be one reason he'd never known Bunny had been married. "How did she die?" he asked instead.

"Pregnancy," Astrid answered as she crawled over and sat on Jack's other side. "My uncle was stablemaster before me, and Ester's pregnancy was too problematic for Death guild to deal with so they sent her to him. But even he couldn't help her keep the baby, then something happened when she miscarried and the bleeding couldn't be stopped. I had tried to assist uncle when it happened, and I still have nightmares about it every time I hear somebody's pregnant. I remember Bunny sitting there holding her still as uncle fought to stop the bleeding while she kicked and screamed. He still held her long after her body had grown cold."

Silence stretched between them as Jack tried to understand. How could Bunny's life lead to his own parents dying. Mulch groaned loudly when Bucket beat him in the game again, a clatter of stones and a light-voiced hoot said Miguel had just won in his game, Belle laughed quietly and Beast grunted. The small space, lit by a pale orb in the ceiling, a portable one and the vizier's staff, where they all spread out as much as they could and still had each other within arm's reach offered little in terms of privacy. Still, Jack felt safer here, tucked between the stablemaster and Vizier, than he had done with Bunny for the past two days.

"I was… five lights when… Bunny suddenly came running, held me and said they were gone…"

"How old are you now?" the vizier's voice asked softly.

"Eighteen."

The answer had the man beside him huff out a breath of air that misted before his face. It was… it misted?

It was cold. No, it was growing colder. Fast.

An arm reached around Jack's shoulders and pulled him closer to the vizier's side. Warmth spread from his touch even though he was staring intently at the ceiling, along with everyone else.

"Tell me the this happens every time," Jack heard Astrid's voice whisper from his other side.

"I don't think it ever got this cold," Jack answered and looked up along with the rest of them.

The yeti all quietly moved back into their burrow, huddled together and forced the humans into the circle of their bodies.

The ceiling was starting to glitter in the light.

In this tense silence, Vizier's whisper almost echoed. "Elsa found a match."


It was that time of the year.

Every other year this happened, the princess would rage inside her room, locked up by Olaf throwing himself at her door and becoming an unbreakable blockade, until she ran out of energy and cried for food that wouldn't come for several days.

Not this year.

Anna had ignored and dismissed as many of her classes as she could growing up, but there had been one she had actually fought to keep attending. It had focused on Queen Elsa and her responsibilities. Hiding under her bed, writhing from unfamiliar sensations and trying not to make any sounds, Anna remembered she'd gone thinking it would be less class and more game where Elsa and her were both queens of equal power. Because in her own mind, that's how it was. That's how it was supposed to be. They were sisters. They were both princesses once, why should only one of them be queen?

But the class had never been a game of house. It had been all about Elsa and Elsa alone, which young Anna hadn't been able to tolerate and continuously forced her way into the classroom. One day it had been about the mating season.

"So all the male fairies will come and line up for Elsa's love?" Anna had asked. "What about me? Won't they line up for me too?"

"No, they will not line up, and no, they won't come for you."

Anna remembered the teacher that particular day. It had been her mother's vizier, the one with the crazy big beard. Queen Bora had also been in the room, and she'd been the one who had answered.

"Why not?!" Anna had demanded. "I will be queen one day too!"

The old vizier had only sighed heavily while her mother narrowed her eyes and stayed silent.

"Princess, please stop interfering with the class. Lady Elsa, have you understood?"

"I… don't know…"

"Then I'll go over it again."

Hiccup had been in the room too, a gangly, beardless man back then. He'd come forward then, and Anna had noticed the way her mother's face twisted at the sight of him and stepped in between Hiccup and the old vizier. But her mother hadn't stopped Hiccup from trying to pull Anna aside.

Anna had refused to let that happen. Instead she'd stomped up to Elsa, sat beside her and held her hand, glaring defiantly at the old vizier. He had looked at them both.

"The suitors will not line up. They will fight to the death to father the next heir, and they won't care about your feelings."

Anna hadn't understood then. None of it. Her mother was too old to attract any suitors after her husband had died, and Anna's imagination had never been very lively. It stretched to her own experience and no further. Even if the old vizier described how Elsa was going to feel before the peak of mating season, Anna couldn't understand it as she'd never experienced it.

But the old vizier had spoken to Anna too.

"Princess. Only the one possessing the ice sprite have any pull that attracts other fairies. You, who can never possess even a trace of the sprite, will never have the pull. You will only feel it. Once your body matures, if your door is not locked, you will be pulled to Elsa's side, and if you cannot give her what she wants then, she will kill you."

Anna had walked in on Hiccup and Elsa, and her sister had snarled at her.

She hadn't noticed it back then, but now that she was here, head full of the warnings the old vizier had tried to instil in her back when she couldn't understand, Anna suddenly realized it. Elsa's eyes had been surrounded by black. Her teeth had been sharp.

Elsa would have kill her if she'd stayed.

Now, once again locked up inside her room by Olaf, Anna was hit with the realization that those warnings she'd always ignored hadn't been false. If she hadn't seen Elsa with Hiccup before, she would never have known. This empty burning between her legs and the thought of being naked with Elsa the way Hiccup had been would not have been so overwhelmingly frightening.

Because she wouldn't have understood Elsa really would kill her. Because she hit Anna. Because Elsa had been so angry with her for so long. If Elsa had never frightened Anna in so many ways, the princess thought she would be clawing at the door, trying to go to Elsa.

Anna's voice was hoarse from crying, her heart in so many pieces she couldn't understand how they had ever been able to fit together.


They were called suitors, but in actuality they were more like a swarm. The pull from the queen had been more insistent than ever, making even mature fairies answer to it, one of which were called Itzal. Itzal was mature, almost too old for mating at this point. He was also one of the special cases.

Every year the pull of the Ice Sprite called every single young male to the castle, and only those who could keep their wits about them would survive. The passionate, the greedy, the easily influenced. They always died first.

Itzal had been at the Ice Palace only twice in his life. The first time one of the other males had knocked him aside into the wall so hard he passed out, and that had saved his life. When he came to the queen had feasted enough to not kill indiscriminately. There had only been two of three other males who'd made it back to Fairy City that year. The second time he'd gotten stuck in the saddle of his mount and pulled into the human city, which had also been a very near-death experience. Itzal had very little respect for the human race, one he couldn't see the use of for anything other than being food. But that one time had taught him that even if they were only good for eating, they could still bite back.

The special cases, the survivors of earlier seasons, had all made up the rear of the convoy, and they had yet to enter the castle.

But Itzal was still a fairy, beautiful and proud regardless of age. He had the experience of several mating seasons under his wings, and smelling the blood of his fellow male suitors, knowing the queen had never found her match among them, knew that what she needed wasn't passion, fast or furious. The queen wanted quality. She needed him.

The older fairies were starting to line up for their chances. The younger generation were all dead.


Elsa never knew how long she spent in the tower, filled and displeased and hungry, but she knew when she remembered Hiccup. During the most intense time, she tended to forget about him, but as the ravenous hunger was slowly sated, she remembered him, the taste, the feel. Those sweet, sweet memories of his warm body, succulent flesh and perfect size made her increasingly impatient. She'd allowed a lot of them to fill her, and killed them just as fast. It didn't matter to her. If she was lucky she would have a heir soon and then this great annoyance would never have to happen to her again. She could leave all her responsibilities with Anna and the new spawn she'd birthed and spend the rest of her days with the man she loved.

There was a shift. Elsa noticed it. There was less ferociousness in the suitors now. They were slower, she could hear them speak to her. One pulled at her hair and arm, he was pleasantly sized, but the pieces of him flew in all directions when she turned on him for the disrespect. How dare he try to force dominance on her!

Then came first a caress.

She turned to tear that one apart too, but missed.

"You must be so tired of these inexperienced youngsters."

Elsa looked up. The tower was still filled with males. Fewer than there had been at the beginning, but still a lot of them. There was a distinct difference though.

These males were older.

Elsa relaxed a little and glared at them all. "Fill me up or die."

The males all brandished their wings at her, tried to blind her with their colours. Not a single spot of the beautiful reddish brown of Hiccup's hair or the dark green of his eyes. But as she slashed her way through them in dissatisfaction, there was one… Oohh, he felt good…


"Jack!"

The teen startled at the shrill cry of his name coming from far off, but for the first time his reaction wasn't to run towards Bunny's voice. Rather, he might have tried to hide in the vizier's arms. Unfortunately, they were occupied. As the cold intensified Miguel had been herded into the burrow by Jake and Phil and, to Jack's absolute astonishment, the boy had crawled right into the vizier's embrace like he owned it, and the vizier hadn't even batted an eye!

Running footsteps and hands batting against the walls came closer, and so did Bunny's voice. The stablemaster was pressed tightly against Jackson's back, in turn pressing him against Miguel. The result was that Jack had his chin on the boy's crown and his nose against the vizier's hairy cheek as the man pressed forward to reach around all of them.

He smelled like fire and smoke.

"Diggers! Please, is Jack here? I can't find him!"

Jackson closed his eyes, his throat and eyes burning despite the intense cold. "I'm here, Bunny."

His voice sounded rough and hurt even to his own ears, and there was no immediate answer.

"Burrow down here for now, Bunny. I don't know how bad this freeze will get," the vizier suddenly ordered.

The man Bunny so happily called a monster was the first to offer protection from the present danger. Jack closed his eyes tightly. He couldn't let the tears fall, couldn't let his nose run. The greatest danger right now wasn't just the cold, it was the moisture inside him that would freeze the moment it escaped.

"Jack. Jack, why are you here? North has ordered everyone to gather in the common room to dance."

It was true that staying still was probably a bad idea, but while Jack was so cold his teeth was clattering, there was also a steady warmth flowing through his blood from where he had bodily contact with the vizier. The stablemaster's head was resting against his neck and Mulch's and Bucket's breathing from above the human group along with the rest of the yeti was a safe barrier between him and Bunny. But the older builder had been his father for thirteen lights. He'd made sure Jack was fed, had clothes, knew the trade. Bunny had watched over him and every other child like a guardian whenever he could, however he could. Of course, there had been little things, little disagreements, opinions Jack had never dared to voice or had and Bunny had rebuked and scolded him for.

And the fact Jack had never been able to talk about his parents with Bunny, to share memories, had always hurt more than anything.

"Are mom and dad gone just because your wife…" Jack couldn't say it. Not so crassly. It was one thing to know a person was dead when you'd never known them, another to say it to someone who had been there and held them as they grew cold.

There was a long, long silence from Bunny. So long that Jack wondered if he'd actually turned around and left.

"Jackson, listen to me. You know what it's like to lose someone, just like me. Jokul never had to lose anything in his entire life!" The last words echoed with the way Bunny's voice raised, his jealousy and frustration beating against Jack's heart until he was gasping for air.

Astrid's hand moved, and Jack felt it against his arm, searching it until it found his hand.

"Is that why you're here, Jack?" Bunny demanded. "Whatever lies the vizier has fed you down here, you know better than to believe him! He's just like Jokul; someone who has no idea what it feels like to lose everything and then be viewed with pity everywhere you go!"

Jack couldn't open his eyes. He felt the stablemaster's hand against his own, the vizier's head shifted slightly to rest more firmly against Jack's over Miguel's head.

"I'm here because you're not protecting me," Jack answered, his voice barely above a whisper. He breathed in. "I'm here because you weren't."

A sudden, intense drop in temperature had even the yeti gasping, but it receded just as fast.

"What's happening?! Jack, come to me!" Bunny growled, but his voice shuddered with alarm and cold. "What's going on out there? The ice queen can't be doing this!"

"This is indeed the queen, Bunnymund, and I hope you're grateful to all the dragons who shed their scales everywhere over the years because this freeze would be much worse without the ground being more or less made up by them at this point. Imagine if you were out there. As for why, all I know for sure is that the queen has found a match and is currently conceiving the next queen." The vizier's voice was solemn.

"What does that mean for us right now?" demanded the stablemaster with a harshness so close to Jack's ear he flinched in surprise.

"For us right here, no sleep before the chill recede. North better keep up the dance out there and the diggers have to leave as soon as we open the doors to go eat a few proper meals. That said, the death toll of this lockdown has gone up considerably. The frost has probably reached even further down in the castle, but the chamber should be safe."

Jack couldn't help but try to turn his head to Mulch, worried. While the young builder wasn't very educated on the matter of how the yeti could radiate heat the way they did, he could figure out the link between food and physical health easily enough. Nobody was immune to the cold regardless of what kind of armour against it they were born with.

Mulch caught Jack's look and just smiled.

"Jack… are you cold? Please come to me," Bunny said again, gentler now.

In a world that was dark more often than not, Jack was very familiar with all noises Bunny made, which probably went both ways. Right now Jack couldn't tell what his adoptive father felt. Couldn't tell if it was a plea or a demand.

"Jackson?"

An acute yelp of pain and Jack felt a shove of pressure against him that almost broke a rib.

"Shit! Belle, I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?!" Bunny cried out over Beast's roar and the pressure let up. Astrid was wiggling behind Jack.

"Bunny, did you just step on Belle's wounds?!" she demanded, and Jack could at least tell she wasn't happy.

"What… oh, ice, I forgot. Belle, I'm really sorry!"

Jack buried his face against Miguel's neck. It occurred to him with sudden clarity, that throughout his life, he'd never once heard Bunny say to Jack that he was sorry. Not even when he told him his parents were gone. All he'd ever said was "don't worry". From the very beginning, Bunny had established himself as Jack's guardian, someone who protected him.

What about love? What about respect?

Holding in the tears was getting harder.

"Be angry instead."

Jack's eyes flew open. The words, breathed right beside him, surprisingly came from Miguel.

"It will hurt less if you're angry."

Jack swallowed. He was angry, livid even. But… maybe it didn't look like that from the outside? The boy between him and the vizier, the stablemaster behind him, the man and the yeti wrapped around them. All of them had listened, but… Jack hadn't put words to his feelings. There were too many of them! Yet, Miguel was right. He was hurt. Above all, Bunny had hurt him. The fright had hurt, not daring to speak to Bunny hurt, being supressed hurt.

And the people and yeti surrounding him understood at least that.

With some surprise Jackson only now realized he was in the middle of the tightly packed bodies. A protective wall of flesh between him and Bunny that would step aside the moment Jack asked them.

It made Jack take as deep a breath he could despite the thin air and the constriction against his chest.

"I'm not going back to you, Bunny."

"Jack?"

It felt like ages, but the day the vizier had barged into their guild house was clear in Jackson's mind. Especially now. Because Vizier Haddock had cracked Bunny's defences open and Jack had found himself caught by only the vizier's gaze, and his words.

"The princess caught quite a liking to you, young builder."

"I… I rather go to the castle and be the princess's friend… than go back to you."

"J-Jack? No, wait. You don't understand!"

"What do I not understand!" Jack snarled. He would have screamed if he could but couldn't quite get enough air into his lungs for it and he had quite a lot of ears in close proximity.

"I… you need to… the guild needs you!"

A huff blew hot air brushed past Jack's cheek and a familiar, nasal voice filled the space. "I hate to cut into your family squabble, but if you're worried about your crimes, Bunnymund, there's nothing I can lawfully do about you now. Punishment has to happen within a certain window of time to have any effect."

Rules. Jackson had grown up hearing that the vizier couldn't be trusted, but that he upheld the rules with a viciousness fit of the wildest of dragons. Even here and now, the man was talking about the rules and laws.

Jack couldn't tell if he was just astonished the vizier would even bring it up at this moment, or glad that he did. Because the long silence from Bunny solidified an idea he'd tried not to think about since the vizier brought it up in the main room.

The reason Bunny had escaped punishment was because he had a newly orphaned child in his arms, crying he would take responsibility for him.

"Once we're out of here, I'm going to the castle."