Cold & Dark ⇢ The Big Five Fanfiction

XXI

She'd grown accustomed to the fear that loomed in the building.
She was used to, even expecting, her racing heart, shaky hands, raspy breathing.
But what she wasn't ready for was when she stopped along the corridor, outside of the cell she had been stuck in many hours ago, and a scream echoes about.
A high-pitched, fearful scream.
But not just any scream.
Her sister's.
"Anna?" Elsa bites her lip, looking around wildly.
It seemed to come from all directions, surrounding her.
Worry fills the poor girl.
Another cry joins the first, but this time one of her mother's.
And then another. Her father's.
And they start to build up, overlapping but all hearable.
Elsa whimpers and stumbles backwards, walking into the open cell and crouching on the ground, covering her ears tightly in an attempt to block out the sound. Her eyes become watery, and a tear trails down her pale cheek, and followed by another.
Suddenly the voices stop.
Elsa looks up wearily, getting to her feet slowly.
She walks towards the corridor. As soon as she exits the cell, the screams start again, deafening.
Elsa leapt back, biting her lip tightly.
Nothing could persuade her to face that corridor again.
A snowflake, quite small, drifts into the cell.
Elsa's blue eyes follow it, her expression filling with curiosity.
It moves closer, and she finally can read two words scratched onto it.
'Get out'
Jack...
Elsa looks at the snowflake, before back at the corridor again.
It's a warning.. We need to get out. Or we might be stuck here forever.
She takes a deep breath to compose herself, and anxiously steps out into the corridor.
Screams pierce her ears, but this time she moves back. Back towards the doors, back towards the main bit they'd all come from.
She speeds up, and as soon as she stepped through the doorway, the noise stopped.
She sighs out in relief, but keeps up the pace, jogging back to the front entrance before taking the corridor Hiccup had taken. She looks around wildly, wondering what kind of state the fear had left him in, before noticing a slightly ajar door, and quickly pushing through it.
It was a canteen, or used to be. Tables and chairs had been thrown against the walls.
Hiccup sat alone in the middle, staring at the desk in silence. He looked near to tears.
"Hiccup?" She whispers, going to his side quickly.
He doesn't look at her. He looks ashamed.
"Hiccup, listen to me. What you're seeing or hearing isn't real. We have to get out of here," She whispers, putting her hand on his shoulder.
The brown haired boy looks up at her hesitantly, before glancing opposite himself again.
"Trust me," Elsa murmurs.
Hiccup nods slightly, pushing himself to his feet and watching the ground. "I'm sorry, dad." He murmurs.
Elsa leads him out, and back to the main entrance. "Go out to Toothless. Stay with him."
Hiccup nods again, going through the main doors out to his dragon.
Elsa goes down a third corridor.
She reaches a cell block, and enters, glancing around. "Rapunzel?" She whispers softly.
Her heart rate and her voice were surprisingly steady.
Elsa notices her curled up in one of the jails, quickly hurrying over to her, "Punzie!"
"How did you get in?" The girl murmurs, looking up to her, her face full of fear.
"What?" Elsa asks, tilting her head.
"How did you get past her? The woman standing at the door?"
"Punzie, there is no woman... Pitch laid a trap for us, I think. It's reasonable to assume we would have been stuck here for a while, if it weren't for.. never mind. Just.. it's not real. She's not real. There's no danger, okay?"
"Are you.. are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Elsa offers her hand.
The brunette hesitantly takes it, standing up and glancing at the empty bench one final time, before nervously following after Elsa, their hands still linked.
Rapunzel swallows as she stared at the door.
"It's not real, Rapunzel," she reminds her gently, moving forward beside her and opening the door. "See?"
Rapunzel nods and hurried through beside her.
Elsa sends her out to Hiccup and Toothless, before heading down the final corridor. It seems to lead to nothing, until her eyes glance over at a ladder.
She sighs out and quickly unclasps her dress' train, knowing it would probably trip her up, before climbing upwards, pushing up through the hatch.
As she reaches the top, she stands, brushes herself off, before looking around.
She seems to be on a roof, but she's not alone.
She hears her before she sees her. Elsa looks over to see Merida standing by the edge, sobbing.
Her eyes widen and she quickly moves over to her, grabbing her by the wrist and trying to tug her down.
Merida just pulls her hand back, crying still.
"Merida, come down from the edge. Please," She murmurs, watching her.
"My brothers.. they're.. they.. they fell... I.."
"No, Merida, no they didn't. What you saw? It's not real. Pitch is trying to scare us, trying to use fear to keep us here. Please, listen to me."
Merida doesn't reply, looking down at the distant ground.
"Merida, step down from there," Elsa tries again quietly, watching her.
"How can I trust you?" Merida whimpers slightly, staring down still. "After all you've done."
"I'm sorry, Merida. I'm sorry for what I did. I just wanted to save Jack. But that doesn't matter know. Because we need you, Merida. You are Autumn. You can't let fear hold you down. The group needs you, okay? I need you, and Rapunzel needs you, and the Guardians need you, and Hiccup needs you."
"Hiccup doesn't care about me.."
"Yes, he does, Merida. He's just too shy to admit it. He cares about you a lot."
Merida tears her eyes away from the ground, instead looking at Elsa.
"I promise you. Your brothers are fine."
"And Hiccup?"
"Hiccup is fine, too. Just come down." She murmurs.
Merida nods and quickly steps off, before wrapping her arms around Elsa in a tight hug.
Elsa's eyebrows raise in surprise, but she reacts quickly, hugging her back and holding her close in a comforting manner.
The two stay like that for a while, before Merida eventually pulls away and offers a small smile. "Lets go, then."

Jack was in the corner when Pitch appears again, anger in his eyes, and his fists clenched at his sides.
"I don't know how the hell you did it, Frost. But somehow you warned the Seasons. They escaped. Nobody's ever escaped before," He fumed.
Jack smiles slightly, and Pitch moves forward, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him off the ground.
Then he threw him against the wall, and Jack doesn't allow himself to wince, just shrugging and sitting up again.
Pitch glared strongly at him, the cogs in his mind whirring.
Jack could practically see his thoughts.
If he's able to communicate with them, my whole plan could be ruined.
Pitch moves towards him again, grabbing him and using the shadows to appear once again outside. "You can go, for now. I don't need you anyway. But don't worry. I'm just letting you go so when I kill you it will be more satisfying." He snaps, before vanishing again.
Jack grins, noticing his staff on the ground nearby, quickly scooping it up. He sighs out slightly, glad to finally have it back.
He looks up. "Wind? Take me to Elsa!" Immediately he is thrust up into the skies, and he lets the wind control his direction for a change. It doesn't take long until he spots a black dragon in the distance, landed on the ground across the seas from Australia. The four Seasons were discussing something.
Elsa seems to realise something, and looks up towards him. Then she smiles, and just that smile light's up Jack's face too. He flies towards them, before landing smoothly on the ground before them.
"Jack!" Elsa smiles, quickly moving towards him and hugging him.
Jack hugs her back. That same spark they felt before floods the two of them, significantly stronger now. They pull back and grin at each other for a few more seconds, before snapping back to reality. Jack turns to the other three, leaning against his staff, and nods to them. "Hey. I don't think we've properly met yet."
"I'm Hiccup." "The name's Merida." "Nice to meet you! I'm Rapunzel."
Elsa looks at him, smiling to herself still. "Thank you for your snowflake. We definitely wouldn't have gotten out otherwise... actually, talking about that, how did you get away from Pitch?"
"He got salty that I tipped you guys off," Jack shrugs before looking between them.
Merida watches the white haired figure in front of her uncertainly, "We need to defeat Pitch."
"What do you suggest we do?" Hiccup pipes in, standing strangely close to the redhead.
Jack looks back to Elsa, who nods a little.
"Well, the Guardians and the Seasons aren't the only 'good' immortals. I say we get some help."

Yay guys! Another slightly longer one! Yay! Also, hope you enjoyed some Jelsa and just a lil bit of Mericcup.
But yeah you can probably see why I almost split up the two prison bits into two chapters - else it would have been just under 3000 words long! Or just 1000 but like, a much worse version.
If you're wondering about Mericcup by the way, they might but probably might not get together by the end of the book - I just feel like them two are more cautious and slow moving than the two Winter Spirits who are quite literally soulmates, and neither want to get hurt or anything. So any mention or suggestion of any sort of relationship between them will be low-key, and very gradual, which will make it less patronising for readers that don't ship those two.
But yeah. Hope you enjoyed!
- Wolfie xx