I'm Afraid of What I'm Risking if I Follow You

Part 12

I'm Afraid of What I'm Risking if I Follow You

Chapter 12

She didn't know if it was the sudden kiss, her need to see Bruni moving again, or something else entirely that broke the ice. Elsa also didn't know just how long they'd been stuck like that, pressed to him in some intimate, dare she think it, beautiful statuesque figure. All she knew was, when the ice broke beneath them and they fell through, her lips were still on Hans's.

Worse, Hans's eyes opened the moment they were in the water, and he certainly noticed that Elsa kissed him. They were so beneath the surface... Elsa kicked, grabbing Hans by the collar and moving him toward the surface. Once Bruni realized where they were, he gulped and grasped onto Hans's shirt, his huge eyes worried.

Damn, damn...! She didn't know how much longer she could hold her breath, and that surface was looking further and further...

To her eternal gratitude, the Nokk, noticing them struggling, dove over to Elsa. She made sure her grip on Hans was strong as he pulled her out of the surface.

The waves were relentless. It was nighttime now, and Elsa and Hans barely had a moment to breathe before they were pulled under again, only for the Nokk to bring them up once more.

Once she had enough strength, she made a rein for the Nokk and climbed on his back. "Hold onto this!" she demanded, throwing it to Hans. He took hold, and Elsa knew he could handle it as she frosted the Nokk over, creating an ice block under him so he wouldn't sink immediately.

"Get on!" And Hans climbed aboard against the waves, gripping tight to Elsa's waist. She could feel him shiver; the water must have been cold, and he didn't have the layers like before, given he sold everything to Oaken.

"Elsa, I—" he started.

"Not. One. Word," she hissed as they took off, back toward the Northuldra. She needed to think. She knew he wanted to apologize, knew he wanted to talk, but she needed to think. And she needed to concentrate on riding back across the Dark Sea on their ice trail, making sure they stayed above water. Elsa could feel a warmth just behind her shoulder, and figured Bruni had set himself on fire just to dry himself off.

Hans thought freezing himself in Ahtohallan to find the truth would probably free Elsa from all his problems. Would free her from having to deal with him. She knew that laugh had been cryptic as hell, a cautionary foreboding of his plans. He'd been counting on her to be exhausted, thinking he could just run away without any consequences to her...

No, she didn't owe him a thing. But she was in too deep with this mystery, and now that she pretty much had all the answers... the key to breaking his curse might just have to continue with her. With the spirits all in disarray, with how his absence made them all go berserk... She could think of the terrible feeling she had in the pit of her stomach, like with him gone, there was no new purpose to her direction.

Hans wasn't the only one, that's what Pabbie had said. Didn't Hans owe it to himself to at least think about the others in his situation? To break his own curse by helping them? Why was she being left with more questions than answers?

Why was she drawn to the idea of trying to find these other individuals?

Elsa rode the Nokk as fast as she could across the Dark Sea, perhaps taking a few of her frustrations out against the ice she was forming beneath them. She could breathe, finally, once the shore was in the distance, grateful she didn't have to work as hard once they reached land.

All she could hear was their labored breathing, especially from Hans, who huddled closer to Elsa for warmth. She supposed she couldn't mind it; she did just save his life, after all.