To Thaw a Hero's Heart

Chapter Twenty-Four: Recovery

Chapter Twenty-Four: Recovery

Elsa sat next to Mathias's with her hand clasped together in her lap as she looked at his unconscious form. She been there since the other say when they said he'd been injured and out of all that, actually fought Hans and this made her wondered what had gotten in his head to do such a thing. She rested her hand in his open palm and wrapped his hand around hers trying to comfort both herself and Mathias even though he was unconscious. Kai and Gerda cancelled her schedule for a few days and even tried to get her to eat something, even telling her that everything would be okay and that he'll make it. Mathias stirred a bit but still remained unconscious as he slightly moved his right side away from the bed.

"Mathias, why did you do it?" She asked him as she brushed the back of her hand across his cheek in a caring manner. She continued to stare at him for a while, even inspecting his wounds time to time till one of her castle staff told her it was getting late before he left her alone with Mathias. She leaned over and kissed him lovingly on the forehead before standing up.

"Please wake up Mathias." She quietly pleaded before leaving his room, being careful not to catch any unwanted attention as she began to cry on the way to her room. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight as she entered her bedroom and prepared for a long night. She didn't even bother undressing as she laid on her bed her mind still worrying about Mathias till she slowly drifted off to sleep.

It was late the next morning when she awoke to the sounds of yelling out in the hallway. She thought it was nothing till an all too familiar roar had her awake fully as she knew Mathias was awake and by the sound of things he was absolutely pissed. With a new source of energy she got out of her bed not bothering to fix her her and bolted out of her room to Mathias's quarters. She arrived in time to see Mathias barge out of his room in a haste he stopped when he noticed Elsa a few feet away from him and calmed down as he rested his head against the wall. His bandage around his ribs was completely red as a little bit of blood oozed out of it. The physician came out and tried to get Mathias back in the room with difficulty.

"Young man you still need to rest, your bandages need to be changed before you get an infection." He said to the taller man but his attention was on Elsa for the moment before he willingly walked back to his room to get some clean bandages. She waited outside of the room patiently till the physician walked out and told her she could go in now before he left. She was about to reach the handle but paused for a few seconds before opening the door and slowly walked in shutting the door behind her as Mathias looked over and seemed surprised to see her. He let out a low chuckle as he sat back up with difficulty and smiled at her.

"That's a new look for you." He said leaving Elsa confused till she walked over to the closest mirror and saw her hair in a small mess but wasn't as bad as her sister's most of the time. She gave him an unamused look as she walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed and inspected Mathias's bandages and noticed they were replaced but now had a small spots of blood on them.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him as she moved over next to him careful not to aggravate any of his wounds. Mathias scooted over a bit giving her room as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"My neck is killing me. I didn't expect such a force to come from the animals bite till now." He said as he gently rubbed the bandage covering the wounds on his neck. Elsa remembered the woman telling her she was following Mathias through the forest till she lost him and stumbled upon the brown bear. The poor woman was still shocked about the outcome of that, even she was surprised when she told her that he broke the bear's neck in a swift motion. What shocked her the most was the fact Hans didn't take Mathias when he had the chance. He could've used him as a hostage or at least killed him but he didn't and this made her worry.