Love That Thaws

Chapter 20

People begin screaming as the fire spreads from one to the next and all along the forest floor. "Get back everyone!" Shouts Yelena. "Get to the river!" Shouts Mattias.

"Go to the river." I push Anna in the direction of the river. "Go go!" I'm running along with them when I look over my shoulder to see Elsa fighting the fire. "Elsa!" I run towards her but a giant wall of fire erupts in front of me. I dive out of the way as the fire lands right where I was standing moments before. The fire seems to lick at my heels as I sprint from the blast. Trees erupt in flames around me. I appear to be trapped before I feel a cold gust of wind and I see Elsa's ice coating the ground where the fire was. 

I sprint towards Elsa and hug her tight, "are you alright? What are you doing?" 

Elsa puts her hands on my shoulders, "I'm fine but the forest isn't. We have to help these people." Elsa holds my gaze, her eyes filled with determination.

I nod, "Okay. But we need to be careful." Just as I said it I notice a tree falling in our direction. I pull Elsa out of the way, "Watch out!" I throw my hand out in instinct, not really sure why.

I hear chirping and see Gale push the tree so it lands to the left of us. Elsa quickly puts out the tree. "Was that you?" She asks. I shake my head, "I-I don't know." Whatever happened seemed to piss off the fire spirit. More fire rages around us. The flames chase me as I run. Elsa frantically puts out the fires as I run around. Elsa puts out the last of the fires chasing me and I pause to catch my breath. 

In the distance, I hear coughing, I turn and see Anna holding her cloak in front of her mouth while kneeling down. "Oh no, Anna!" Elsa sees and covers the ground in ice causing all the flames to go out around Anna. Kristoff and Sven come running through. Kristoff lifts Anna up onto Sven and takes her away. "Get her out of here," Elsa says out of breath. Anna reaches toward us, "No! Elsa! y/n!"

The fire spirit zips past us leaving a trail of flames in its wake. Elsa puts the flames out with one swipe of her hand and gives chase to the fire. I'm close behind her. I see the flames approaching the huts of the Northuldra people. "Elsa the huts!" 

She creates barriers of ice between the fire and the huts as the fire spirit tries to outrun us. We finally corner the spirit in a little cropping of rock where he can't set any more things on fire, well except for himself. As we stomp closer I notice the spirit looks like a small lizard. Elsa strides forward with her hands raised ready to summon more ice if she needs to. 

However, she pauses and lowers her hands as she looks at the fire spirit. The little guy looks scared and angry. We share a look before kneeling down to get a closer look at the fire spirit. The fire spirit backs up before shooting fire at us like a mini dragon. We duck out of the way as the fire sails over our heads and hits a small tree behind us. Elsa quickly puts out the fire with the wave of her hand. 

The fire spirit relaxes a bit and looks at us curiously. He tilts his head while staring at us with big eyes. I remember the name Gale told me, "Bruni?" I ask. The spirit looks at me and steps forward, tilting his head the other way. I gingerly reach my hand out and Bruni steps closer putting his head against my fingers. I laugh, "Hello."

Bruni looks at Elsa who smiles and lowers her hand for him to climb on. Bruni does so. "Ow. Ah. Ow." Elsa moves Bruni from one hand to the other like handling a hot potato. Bruni makes himself comfortable in Elsa's hands and quite literally cools off. I look around as all the remaining fires die leaving behind not even burn marks. 

I chuckle softly as Bruni spins in Elsa's hand. She holds her other hand above him and creates a small flurry of snowflakes. Bruni smiles and catches one on his tongue. Bruni then looks at me and jumps to my shoulder, "Oh!" I laugh startled before raising my hands for him to sit on, "Hello Bruni."