The Royals and The Cool Kids

Distrust

Elsa's POV

I woke up to an eyeful of blinding white lights.  I could feel that I was lying on something firm.  Someone had put something around my neck.  I reached up to feel it.  A neck brace?  Someone gave me a neck brace?

The pieces clicked together.  I was in a hospital.  Someone must have found me after the attack and brought me here, but who?

I could hear raised voices outside of my door.  I sat up and looked towards the door just as it opened and Rapunzel slipped in, followed by a burst of sound in a Scottish accent.

"HE'S THE ONE WHO BROUGHT HER HERE AND YA THINK HE'S THE ONE WHO DID THA' TO HER?  WHAT DO THEY PAY YOU FOOLS FOR IN THIS STUPID HOSPITAL ANYWAY?"

The door clicked shut and Rapunzel offered me a bright smile.  "Hey, Elsa. Glad to see you've come around."

"What's that all about?" I asked as Rapunzel moved further into the room.  She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"The hospital says your injury looks inflicted, and they think maybe Jack hit you.  All they want to do is do a quick interview, and he's perfectly willing, but Merida got a bit upset about it.  They're going to escort her off the premises if she keeps making this racket."  She hesitated.  "What happened to you?"

I glanced at the door.  "We might want Merida in here to talk about it."

Rapunzel's face fell but she opened the door and stuck her head out. "Mer? Could you come in here for a minute? Let Jack go do his interview, it's not actually that big of a deal."

She stepped back and allowed Merida to enter the room. The door clicked shut as Merida threw her hands into the air.

"It's stupid!" she growled. "Anyone who looks at Jack knows he couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."

She seemed to notice I was awake for the first time and her expression brightened. Rapunzel's next words killed her excitement.

"Elsa said we should be together to hear what happened to her."

I took a steadying breath, watching the expressions of the two princesses in front of me. "It was the Black Arrow. They tracked me down somehow and one of them attacked me. She had powers."

"What I want to know is how they found you," Merida mumbled as Rapunzel sank into a nearby chair, face pale.

"Do you think it was because Kristoff wasn't there?" Rapunzel guessed. I grimaced.

"His heart is in the right place, but I'm not sure how much he actually does to stop the Black Arrow."  I hesitated for a long moment.  "If they found me, it doesn't mean they've found you.  I could leave and maybe they'd leave you alone . . ."

"Don't be silly, we're sticking together," Rapunzel pledged.  Merida didn't look so sure.  She, at least, was considering it.

"What I want to know is what this Black Arrow is after," Merida said.

"It's impossible to know that without being kidnapped ourselves," I responded.  A feeling of hopelessness began to creep in on me and I reached automatically to tug on my gloves, only for my fingers to brush against bare skin.  He throat tightened.  Where were my gloves?  What had happened to them?

Rapunzel and Merida had gotten into a discussion over what the Black Arrow's goals were as I examined my hands.  They didn't seem dangerous or deadly.  They just seemed like normal hands.  But looks could be deceiving.  I had to get out of here as fast as possible, before the frost started spreading.

The hospital room door opened and Rapunzel and Merida fell silent.  Hiccup and Jack entered.  They shot the girls a quick glance.  It was obvious they knew that a conversation had abruptly ended on their behalf.

"How did it go?" I asked, hoping to deflect the awkward tension which was beginning to grow.

"It was fine," Jack replied.  "I told them what I saw, they believed me, and here we are.  How are you feeling?"

"Fine.  What's with the neck brace?"

"They thought you might be sore afterwards.  It's really just a precaution.  If you feel alright then we can ask them to take it off and go home.  You just rattled around your brain a bit and gave me a good scare."  He hesitated for a long moment.  "Who was the person who attacked you?"

"Just some mugger," I answered.  Was my reply too quick?  He didn't look like he believed me.  Hiccup didn't either.  But would they press me for details?  Probably not.  Jack watched me carefully, and I could have sworn that his eyes lingered on my hands.

"Let's get going," Merida said.  "I hate hospitals."

I couldn't agree more.