Icebound

❄ twenty three

❄

Hiccup.

Snotlout erupts in laughter when he sees the new captive being brought into the cell was Hiccup.

"Knew he was still alive." He tells Ruffnut, who has been wearing a scowl for the past ten minutes.

Hiccup picks himself up from the ground after Rorke's men throws him off. He looks around the dungeon, separating prisoners with bars as thick as Northern ice.

Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs were at the same cell as himself. Almost the other cells were all full of Elsa's guards, servants and most loyal subjects.

"Hiccup, why didn't you tell us you and Astrid broke up?" Ruffnut suddenly asks.

"I'll answer that question later but right now, we gotta get out of here and evacuate everyone." Hiccup responds.

"Wait, what?" Spoke Fishlegs. "Hiccup, you said our only business here in Arendelle was to 'unite nations' and then we're done and now, you want us to save people who ain't even ours?"

"I'm with Fishlegs here." Snotlout interferes. "Hiccup, we should leave. This isn't our fight, this is someone else's."

That made a big stubborn lump of throat inside Hiccup's throat. They didn't know about the other agreement they have had made.

"You should leave without me then."

"Without our Chief?" Exclaims Tuffnut.

"Yes. If you so desperately want to leave then go. Nothing is stopping you, heck, I'm not daring myself to stop either one of you."

"Are you freaking serious, bro?" Snotlout retorts. "Why do you want to help this kingdom anyway? All for what? For the queen you left Astrid for?"

Hiccup almost had the urge to throw him a relentless punch. Sooner or later, they needed to know what was going on. "Yes, for Elsa."

Everyone was speechless for solid ten seconds, while nearby maidens were gossiping about Hiccup's confession.

"Is that Toothless?" Everyone turns their attention to Fishlegs who was looking out of the barred window, the only connection they had to the outside.

Hiccup walks over upon the mention of his dragon's name. Looking out, Hiccup's eyes widen when he sees a recognizable silhouette looming out of the evening sky. It was growing closer and closer.

"Everyone, get back!" Hiccup shouts seconds before the wall explodes in front of them.

Debris shoots through every direction but luckily no one was injured.

After the fog of smoke clears up, Elsa gets off Toothless. "Elsa." Hiccup almost grinned at the sight of her. "How'd you find us?"

"Toothless's instincts." The queen answers as she looks around the dungeon. Her smile falters when she sees some of the prisoners are her people. "Where's Rorke?"

"Up there, sitting in your throne I bet." Sneered Snotlout.

Elsa ignores this. "I need to confront him, immediately before he declares himself King." She was about to blast the door with her powers when Hiccup blocks her path.

"No, not alone."

"W-We're not going up there!" Fishlegs exclaims out of fright.

"Fishlegs is right." Both the twins agreed.

"Sorry, Hic."

"We just don't wanna deal with a war that isn't ours anymore."

"We should go home to Berk-"

"Go then!" Hiccup snaps, shushing everyone in abrupt. "Besides, what's the point of running away from a war that will soon be ours too if we don't end it now?"

A comforting attempt to calm her lover down, Elsa gently keeps a grip on Hiccup's hand. He flinched but soon his malice disappears when he gave her a small smile.

"You don't have to go." She says in a whisper in which the two of them are the only ones who can hear.

"I swore an oath to you." He replies, taking both her hands, ignoring the fact that all eyes were on them at the moment. "I'll fight by your side no matter what."

Elsa could feel her heart melting in his words. "Let's go then."

❄

Elsa.

After ascending the only passage connecting the upper floors to the dungeon, the two managed to escape without attracting attention from any of Rorke's men along the way.

Elsa scowls from a corner, eyeing five mercenaries gambling and crowding the table in the mess hall. The table was full of half-emptied bottles of ale.

"Ignore them." Hiccup tells her from behind as he tries to lockpick the door heading to the grand room.

They still haven't located Rorke yet, though they're trying to. Elsa keeps eavesdropping on the mercenaries in hopes of getting intel on where the general was, but most of them were speaking other languages such as German and Russian.

When they got inside the grand room, it was empty and dark. There were only two people in the room, and they seem to be fully occupied and naked.

"Let's go upstairs." Elsa says, hurrying out with discomfort from what she has seen.

Closing the door behind him, Hiccup jumps and stops Elsa before she could open another door leading to the main corridor, where mercenaries were at full alert.

"We gotta take the high road." He says. Elsa is puzzled for a moment until he asks, "can you climb walls?"

"Are you insane?" He was serious, but she forced a stifled laugh out.

He shakes his head up and down. Hiccup walks over to the windows and pushes open another one. The night greets him with a breeze as cold as an ice dragon's breath.

He hoists Elsa up to the windowsill as he held her waists firmly. He does the same to himself after.

Elsa looks down at the hundred foot drop in utter awe, forcing Hiccup to hold her by her shoulders. "If you want your kingdom back then you have to be brave."

"I am brave!" She huffs childishly, causing him to smirk and peck her cheek. "I've been taking care of myself ever since my parents died when I was a teen. And, I'm a queen nonetheless."

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