The Frozen Brave

The Reindeer with a Princess

Somewhere in the middle, about an hour later, the tired group felt the storm lessen. Snow was everywhere and it was still too cold for comfort so they kept their coats on.
“Thank goodness it stopped.” Rapunzel said.
“Yeah. Anymore of that and my whole body would freeze.” Hiccup agreed.
“Shhhh! Listen…” Merida raised her finger for silence.
They kept still.

“ELSA!!!” somebody yelled.

The three looked at each other and followed the voice.
In a clearing ahead, they saw a girl in a blue coat. She had strawberry-colored hair and was riding a big brown reindeer.
“Elsa! It’s me!” She continued yelling. “Come on Sven, we have to go a bit faster. She’s probably somewhere around here.”
Then her reindeer suddenly bolted forward and she tumbled backwards.
“Sven!” She yelled at the reindeer who simply shrugged.
Rapunzel quickly got off her horse and rushed to her aid. Hiccup and Merida followed.
“Hey, you ok?” Rapunzel asked. The girl’s eyes widened.
“Yeah I’m fine.”
Rapunzel help her stand and she brushed the snow off her dress.
“Thank you.” She smiled at us. “I’m Anna and my reindeer’s name is Sven.”
“I’m Rapunzel, my horse’s name is Max. That’s Hiccup with his dragon Toothless and Merida with her horse Angus. Who are you looking for?” Rapunzel asked.
“I’m looking for my sister Elsa. Well, Queen Elsa actually. Have you seen her? She’s still wearing the same clothes since coronation a few months ago so-“
“Wait, wait, hold up!” Merida raised both her hands to stop Anna. “Queen Elsa? Your sister? Wait, so you’re-“
“Princess Anna of Arendelle." Anna finished and curtsied sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn’t like making introductions about myself.”
Rapunzel, Merida and Hiccup looked at each other.
“In this case, I think we need to introduce ourselves better. I am Princess Rapunzel of Corona. This is Hiccup from…” she looked at Hiccup.
“Berk.” He supplied.
“Hiccup from Berk and Princess Merida of the DunBroch clan.” Rapunzel finished.
“I think we should rest soon. The storm may spread quickly here. How far is your kingdom from here?” Hiccup asked.
“It’s very far but we can look for a cabin or something.” Anna led them through and they followed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Farther across the snowy grounds, they saw a wooden cottage.
“That’s good enough.” Anna said and led the group to it. She noticed light coming from inside it. She leaned her ear to the door. Someone was singing.
“I think we should knock.” Hiccup suggested. Anna took a deep breath and knocked twice. The singing stopped. Footsteps could be heard and the wooden door opened to reveal a man wearing a thick fur coat with a red belt tied over it. He hid his golden hair under a matching hat. His eyes gazed at Anna and her company.
“Who are you?” He asked.
“Ummm, I’m Anna and these are my friends.” she said. “Do you mind if you share your shelter and food with us?”
“There’s nothing to share here. I can’t even buy carrots for a stew and you’re asking me?” he replied.
“I’ll buy them! Where can the store be found?” she volunteered and Merida pulled her back.
“Whoa, time out! Where do you suppose this money will come from? Thin air?” she told Anna who gulped. Rapunzel pulled her away from Merida.
“Quit it, Mer. You’re scaring her, shutting people up like that.” Then she turned to Anna. “Sorry. She does that all the time.”
“I kinda understand. My sister does that all the time to me too. It seriously hurts.” Anna’s eyes turned gloomy but she regained courage and walked back to the man who was about to pluck away again on his ukulele.
“Where is this store?” she asked him.
“Somewhere down the left.” He replied.
“If I buy them, will you share your shelter?”
“Maybe.”
“Anything else?”
“A long piece of rope.”
“Is that all?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’ll go.” Anna said and walked away.

The man shrugged but went back inside his cottage, leaving the door open.
“I’ll come with her.” Rapunzel left and joined Anna. When they were out of sight, Merida turned to Hiccup.
“Well, let’s just stand here freezing.” She said.
Toothless suddenly grabbed Hiccup and placed him under his wing. Hiccup was shocked for a moment. Then he looked at Merida.
“Come on Merida, join us.” He said. She only shook her head.
“Bud, let her in.” he told the dragon who turned his head away.
“Bud? No dinner for you then.” He crossed his arms. Toothless’ head shot up at the mention of dinner. He snorted at Hiccup.
“Absolutely, you know it’s very cold.” He snorted again in response.
“She could die out there!” Hiccup exclaimed. “Don’t you care?”
Toothless shook his head. Hiccup glared at him. He glared back.
“No it’s alright. Besides, I’m quite used to the cold. There’s that one time when mom and I went to the ancestral mountain to get flowers for -“ Merida was too shocked that she froze.
Toothless had grabbed her suddenly and tucked her into his wings. He crashed her against Hiccup and tightened his hold. If this was another instance and it entails her being this close to him, Merida would definitely blush. But this moment, she knew she was turning red because of Toothless squishing them both.
“To-Toothless!” Hiccup gasped. Merida struggled to break free but the dragon only held them tighter.
“Ok, ok, you’ll get your dinner but please!” Hiccup groaned.
Finally the dragon loosened his hold and the two relaxed.
“Don’t you ever do that again!” Hiccup glared at Toothless. Then he turned to Merida.
“Sorry about that.” He smiled shyly at her.
“It’s ok. I’ve faced worse things than death hugs.” She replied.
They both laughed but stopped when Toothless tightened his grip again.
Merida was thinking too deeply to notice though. For a moment, memories flashed on Merida’s mind, everything about the ball at Corona. Something crossed her mind but she was unsure whether to let it out.
“Hiccup, I was wondering…” she trailed off when she saw Rapunzel and Anna approaching with a bag of carrots and rope in hand.
“Got’em!” Anna exclaimed and rushed inside to give it to the man. Rapunzel bent down to look at Merida and Hiccup’s faces clearly. She smiled.
“Hi! See you got yourselves stuck tight.” She said.
"No, we're just...uhh.." Hiccup struggled to get away but Toothless squeezed tighter.
“Yeah you are stuck. And I know just the trick for Toothless to let you go.” She said.  The two looked at each other with uneasy faces. Rapunzel clapped her hands together. “You just repeat after me. Say: ‘I love my best friend’ then add the name of the person beside you.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary.” Hiccup tried to wipe away the idea but Rapunzel shook her head.
“I bet Toothless won’t let you go. Right, my dear cute little Night Fury dragon?”
Toothless nodded with a smile.
"Night Fury?" Anna asked as she walked over.
"I know a thing or two about dragons, like I know that it won't let the two lovebirds go that easily." Rapunzel chuckled.
"Aha ha ha, lovebirds?" Hiccup nervously laughed.
“Well, I’m not saying it.” Merida said.
“What? Wait, isn’t Hiccup your boy friend? Your best boy friend? Or your friend boy, if not best, which do you prefer?” Anna asked.
Merida threw her a angry confused look.
"Best boy friend kinda works." Rapunzel laughed.
"Can we stick with friend boy? Just to make it understandable. We don't want any misunderstandings between us, right?" The blushing Merida desperately nodded for Hiccup to agree with her. Hiccup got the message and nodded desperately as well.
"Oh yeah, yeah! Right, we wouldn't want that. So...Look, just let us go Bud and you’ll have your dinner.” Hiccup said and struggled to break free but Toothless squeezed them.
Merida grunted. “Just stop moving before it gets worse!” she exclaimed, struggling to breathe.
“Saying it wouldn’t hurt.” Anna said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, and it's not like you can stay here for the night like this. Just say it." Rapunzel added.
“Fine! I love my best friend Merida!” Hiccup yelled, desperately.
Merida looked at him with disbelief. Anna laughed while Rapunzel smiled. Toothless let Hiccup go but when Merida tried to follow, he tightened his embrace.
Hiccup blushed. Anna strapped an arm over his shoulder, saying 'good job, Viking boy!' as they both headed indoors.
Rapunzel now focused again her attention on Merida.
“Do I have to?!” Merida yelled at Toothless.
Rapunzel chuckled. “How hard can it be, telling the truth I mean?”
Merida leaned closer. “Hey, this is supposed to be a secret between the two of us.”
“Now, it’s the three of us actually. Now Toothless gets it.” Rapunzel nodded to the dragon. “And wouldn’t it have been better for this dragon's buddy to know?”
“Well, not for me.” Merida glared at her. Then she turned to the dragon.
“Okay ball of fire, if you do not release me, I will kill you.” She said dangerously. Toothless only smiled in return.
"Hang in there, Toothless. She's bound to say it any second now." Rapunzel laughed. Merida then realized the two will never let her go without her saying it.
“Ohhhh fine! I love my best friend Hiccup!” she yelled.
Toothless finally let Merida go and she immediately headed for the cottage. Rapunzel laughed hard at her retreating back.
“Seeing as how loudly you shouted it, secret is already out!” She yelled.
Merida only glared back at the two and continued on.