Calder sat outside the medical tent at the first break he got, head below his knees. As of so far, they weren't telling him anything about Ophelia's condition, more than a brisk 'No change' when he inquired.
Since the war had ended, in just a hour or so, he'd tried to heal more than fifty Vikings that came waddling in with lacerations, missing appendages, or wounds leaving guts hanging by a thread and holding in their palms. And they'd lost some too that he'd tried to save. With little medical background, he was a pretty awful medic, but caught on quickly. A mother who knew much more assured him that sometimes not even the best medic could have saved some of those souls and Odin was entertaining them in Valhalla for sure.
A cold tin glass pressed against his face, and he shot up to see Einar standing near him, holding out a goblet for him to take. Wordlessly, he scooted over on the bench and took a sip. Cool, pure water. It slithered down his throat uneasily, in the way that made his body clench at the unexpected treat of relief.
He noticed Einar was already bandaged in some places, but generally looked okay.
"You survived." He said.
"It was awful, you know? Most of those guys I grew up with. But..." He trailed off, frowning, "They didn't even hesitate to kill me, or try to. That's what made it bearable. Knowing I wasn't doing anything they wouldn't have done. You look unscathed though."
"I left early to help out here. After..." Calder's throat dried, even though he took a long drink of water, and his eyes slid to the side to where the entrance to her tent was. Einar nodded twice.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry, you know?"
Calder felt bile rise in his throat. He knew what Einar was sorry about. He wished he hadn't been so obsessed with finding Ull for all those years, but kept the time he had with Ophelia and all the rest of the kids living around there for as long as he could.
Instead, he just locked his jaw, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, staring out at the people still streaming into the middle area. Soon he'd be summoned to help again, and he felt a little bad he had few battle scars to show off. Yet he was well and alive, no question about if he'd make it or not. Which was really more important to have?
Both Einar and Calder startled as a man approached them. It took Calder a moment, but he recognized the man as the one who had met him when he was taking Ophelia off the field.
"You took Ophelia off when she was dying." He said evenly to Calder, who only managed a nod, "I'm Kristoff." He said, holding out his hand, and Calder shot up.
"You're her real father." It clicked, and he gingerly took the man's firm grip, "I"m Calder. Did you ah, find that man I told you about?"
"Who?" Einar whispered, curious.
"Yes." Kristoff paid little attention to Einar's question. Calder felt afraid to ask, like a feeling of anxiety bubbling up inside of him, but he did anyway.
"What did you do to...Unn?" He paused, trying not to look at Einar, but the boy's whole body tensed up too with anticipation, a mingled look of hope and terror switching rapidly between his eyes. It was similar to what Calder felt, honestly. He understood it. Even if Einar wasn't really his son, he'd been brought up as though he was, and they had a connection because of that. It would be harder for Einar to hear if this was bad news, though, since Calder did want him dead.
"I killed him." Kristoff said without missing a beat, and Einar swallowed thickly. He twiddled his thumbs, and Calder saw his eyes water with a bit of sorrow, and Calder no longer judged. You could tell yourself your father, or your brother, was the absolute scum of the earth but knowing they were dead, gone forever...you still were allowed to miss them. To feel sorry you wouldn't talk again. Thinking about how Einar felt brought back the image of Ull's body, his open-jaw and pale hands, and Calder felt sad and mad all at the same time again.
"How do you know my daughter?" Kristoff asked softly, and Calder let himself find his voice for a moment.
"We grew up in the same household. Hiccup took me in after my mom died. Hiccup and Elsa took us in."
"Hiccup..." Kristoff's eyes narrowed, and Calder watched as his mouth set into a frown. He spotted Hiccup with Elsa and Anna across the way and he made his way over to them with a hard expression and a walk that Calder saw as trouble already. Calder jumped up, and Einar followed, and he managed to dodge people and make it to Hiccup just as Kristoff had managed to hit Hiccup in the face, and there was a cracking sound.
"Kristoff!" Anna cried, and jumped in between him and Hiccup, "What in the world-,"
"No, no. I might have deserved that." Hiccup tried to amend, but Anna was fired up too far already, glaring reproachfully at her husband.
"You can't expect me to shake his hand and thank him, Anna." Kristoff defended himself hotly.
"I did!" Anna cried, "I mean, she fought for where she grew up, and she's an adult now. The very fact she's still alive is incredible! We thought she was gone forever, Kristoff." Anna scolded him, and Kristoff looked at her, shaking his head.
"Alive? You haven't heard then." He scoffed, and the three adults paled, "Ophelia's in that tent right now, hanging between life and death. Alive? Maybe not. The only reason she might have a chance is this kid brought her from the battle." He patted Calder's shoulder.
Elsa noticed him for the first time. Although her face was overjoyed to see him alive, it quickly switched to panic. She grabbed his shoulders.
"What happened?" She demanded.
"Unn. I was going off against him and Ophelia...she wouldn't leave to fight someone else. She jumped in front of us, for a knife meant for me. It should be me in that tent right now; you'd much prefer it that way, I know." He felt his lip tremble, and Elsa did something he didn't expect. She hugged him.
He hadn't been hugged by her in five years, and the motion paused him. She came back, looking at him, her hand on his cheek gently.
"Oh, Calder. Don't say such things. I would be jus as upset if you were in her position. You're like family." She said, and frowned, "Speaking of, where's Ull?"
Einar and Calder shared a look. Einar's eyes told Calder he wouldn't say anything Calder didn't want him to. Calder couldn't bear to imagine to look in Elsa's eyes when he told her he had betrayed them all, so he licked his lips and lied.
"He did out when we were trying to stop them. Me and the others all escaped, but Ull...he didn't."
Elsa gave an inhale of breath, touching her heart. He saw a tear trek down her face, and knew in the long run, he'd made the right choice. Hiccup looked struck, and was shaking his head softly. Anna's eyebrows furred.
"Oh, Elsa. I'm so sorry." She rubbed her sister's back.
"Let's focus on the living, can we?" Kristoff had a tinge of frantic fear in his voice, "Ophelia?"
"Yes, of course." Elsa wiped her tears on her sleeve, and the whole brigade went to the tent that Calder pointed out. Einar respectfully stood outside, and Calder waited until all the adults went in before he slipped into the shadows, unseen. He didn't want to be yelled at again.
"Elsa!" The nurse that had yelled at him exclaimed, hugging her, "You look so well in these clothes. There's something about it that makes it fit just right." She said.
"Well, Lina, I've had years to grow into them." She gave a small smile, but her eyes traveled down to Ophelia's body. Before she could say anything, a tiny dragon squirreled between everyone's legs and curled around Ophelia's arm, pressing against her frantically. The trap behind the woman shifted, and a great head poked in, moaning lowly. It was her second dragon, Achilles.
"I've been trying to keep these two out all day." Lina threw up her hands, trying to unhook the tiny dragon from Ophelia.
"It's better to leave them." Hiccup spoke up, "Unless they're in the way, in which case I'll intervene. But a human bonds deeply with their dragon...they're really worried for her. As are we." He added.
Lina looked ready to argue, but let it go.
"We took the knife out and stitched her up. We think it hit something inside her and started internally bleeding. Worse...there was poison on the blade, one I've never encountered." She looked to Elsa and Hiccup, "What sorts of plants are in your area that smell like this?" She picked up the blade, handing it gingerly to Elsa and Hiccup.
"I've never..." Hiccup couldn't even speak, "I don't know." He looked at Elsa helplessly, who shook her head too. Lina pressed her lips together and set down the knife.
"I've had someone go to fetch the doctor from my time to bring here, by God hopefully he can save her. Right now? It's just a waiting game. She's not seizing, but has a high fever. The poison might not even get to her, not if we can't bring it down." She said.
"So there's nothing we can do?" Kristoff stumbled forward, looking at Ophelia longingly.
"At the moment, wait. Pray. Sit with her, we don't know if it's the last time you'll be able to." Lina said and a sob ripped from Anna's throat.
Elsa looked just as distressed, and Hiccup couldn't even form words.
"Come, Calder." Hiccup said, motioning for Calder, stringing Elsa along, "Let these two with Ophelia alone. They've waited years for this, awake or not." He said, and Calder threw one last desperate look over his shoulder as the heavy curtain was closed in front of him.
All he could do was wait.
OMPHALOS
If someone had asked Hiccup to list how many hours it had been since the end, he wouldn't have been able to give them an answer. Things sped up after Drago's death, and time slowed to non-moving after seeing Ophelia lying there...so pale, and being told there was nothing he could do.
Elsa was collecting the rest of the children to tell them about Ophelia, and while he knew in the back of his mind he should be there, he just couldn't bring himself to face it. Not yet, at least, not when there was so many other things to mourn right now.
His metal foot sifted morosely through the ashes at the top of the hill of what used to be his home. When he said there was nothing left, it wasn't an exaggeration. Toothless was shuffling around, trying to claw out anything he could find still intact, and kept looking up hoping to see Hiccup seemingly happier. While Hiccup was so happy even some things could be saved, looking at the meager pile of the possessions left to him made his whole body clench. He'd spent so long making this house his and Elsa's, and now, it was just...gone.
Other houses had taken damage, true, but the burning of his house had been intentional. It was a bitter reminder that even thought they might have won the war, there were some battles you just couldn't save.
"I don't know if it's even worth it, pal." Hiccup sighed, edging around the damage to rub Toothless' nose, "We have to start. All over." His voice quivered. Elsa didn't even know about the house yet. How could he tell her, when she was so distraught over Ophelia, and also trying to reconnect with her long-lost sister, while all the time feeling guilt for letting this happen, indirectly, to their daughter.
His daughter, he reminded himself harshly. Ophelia was his daughter as much as theirs. They had formally adopted her. Her last name was Haddock. Sure they might not have signed her away, but rules of civility like that hardly existed in this time period. By any record's standards, Anna and Kristoff had ceased to be her parents years ago.
And to think he might never have another night of staying up late, drinking apple juice and eating cheese- both items that were traded and reserved for them- talking about life, the meaning of things, philosophical questions...it hurt.
The idea of loosing her was so intense, he felt his legs weaken, and he dropped to the ground in front of the ruins. He noticed something half-charred but colorful, and felt tears spring to his eyes when he realized it was the painting he'd made of Ophelia when she was young and Elsa before they were married all those years ago. It was almost perfectly preserved, if only a little burnt around the corners.
Seeing Ophelia so carefree, young, and vibrant was hard to deal with.
There was footsteps behind him, and he turned. Try as he might, and although he knew Elsa was right, a tiny part of him did wish it was Calder in there instead of Ophelia-he liked the kid, had raised him the best he could- but didn't consider him a son, not like he thought of Ophelia as a daughter.
Yet, he banished those thoughts swiftly. To wish that upon anyone was an awful thing to image, especially a kid that looked so forlorn about the whole ordeal anyway. It wasn't like Calder disliked him either, as far as Hiccup knew. The kid had great respect for him, like a mentor more than a father, and it was because of his knowledge that made Hiccup rise and regarded him carefully.
His hands were shoved in his pockets, and his eyes were downcast. Calder was usually so confident in everything he did, eyes raised almost judging above everyone that to see him so meek like so was a moment of vulnerability Hiccup recognized from his own youth.
Calder's eyes shone with tears looking over the house.
"It...it's all gone." He whispered, "Home..."
To hear him think of the place as his home made Hiccup even more sad than he was before; oh, Odin, what would Yvonne and Swain and Are do when they found out? Rika too? And Bjorn was still too young to remember but it would be an awful thing to have to be told growing up they lost their first magnificent house to a war because their father was trying to do the right thing. And Ull-
Hiccup almost slapped himself. Ull was dead. It was a hard ball of bile to swallow.
He turned and picked up a small and slightly singed stuffed dragon from the pile of things remaining. He handed it to Calder, or at least attempted to, but the boy shut-down upon seeing it, and it was a long moment before he took it.
"When we have the funeral, since there's no body, we might put that out there." Hiccup said, looking at the dragon, recalling how it had been Valka's first experiment into sewing. It wasn't awful looking, a bit lopsided, but in his youth it had been Ull's favorite toy, "Ull died a hero, we all should remember him like that."
Calder just looked like he'd been run over by a ship and told Isis had died.
Finally, Calder spoke.
"He didn't...die a hero." His voice was soft, soft enough Hiccup narrowly didn't hear. Instead of making a big deal about it, mostly because he wasn't understanding what Calder meant, he calmly looked at Calder. He was fidgeting a whole lot, and Hiccup lead him to two chairs that had mostly survived.
Calder had to put a pile of charred wood underneath one leg and Hiccup's seat was half-gone but it still worked, and Calder seemed more relaxed, at least until he threw his hands over his face, letting his whole head sink into his palms.
"I have to tell you the truth; I respect you too much to lie. And it's eating away at me...someone besides just my friends need to know, someone like you."
"Tell me everything, Calder." Hiccup encouraged softly, and so he did.
He started far from the beginning, back about how even at home Ull had this weird thing about Unn being dad, back when Ull was all odd about the searching and the partners and everything. He told him about Jor getting kidnapped and all the things Ophelia put together, but it was just honestly too late. He told him about the dragonesse, the past, and everything he'd seen- including Ophelia's wound and how he'd tried to get her to stay away- and about how Ull was such a bad person underneath it all but he never meant to kill him, it was never his intention.
By the end, Calder was sobbing again, and Hiccup was silent.
It was much to process, and another low blow under the belt. Ull had been more of a son that Calder, just because he'd always seemed more...exuberant and loving of them. And he felt stupid for not seeing the signs earlier- because, Odin, they had been there.
"If you feel you need to hold me responsible for what I did...I accept." Calder whispered, "I...I'm a murderer."
"There's a thin line between protection and murder, and you didn't cross it." Hiccup sighed, staring at him, "But I do think it's best everyone else thinks he died on the ship, still with us. Some secrets are better left buried. And besides; no one else will tell, right? Dead men tell no tales."
Calder lifted his head, now his time to stare at Hiccup slacked-jawed.
"I don't think you're a bad person, Calder." Hiccup continued, "I think you did the best you could, and sometimes you have to accept it's not enough. Take it from a guy that knows- you could be angry your whole life, feel guilty and hatred and develop a darkness from something that you have to realize you could't control, even if you wanted, or you could accept this now, and let yourself live without that blackness holding you back." He said these words to comfort the boy, and also because he wished someone had been there to tell him this after the death of his father.
"I just...I'm always going to replay that maybe I could have moved my foot to the right, swung lower and I wouldn't have-," He pressed his lips together.
"It's a natural thing to ponder late at night, I still do." It was true; he still occasionally went through the scene again, with better solutions and angry 'if-maybe's' that did nothing but aggravate him. He hoped after this war, ending Drago, he could burry those vices.
"Unn is dead too. Kristoff killed him for what he did to Ophelia."
"I can't disagree with that." Hiccup was momentarily jealous that Kristoff had been the one to get his vengeance for her, but he was glad all the same someone did, "It was time he was gone anyway. We could have stopped this years ago if we had been smarter. If I had been less diplomatic and more Viking." He admitted ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck, and in that moment, thought of Astrid. She would have stopped this nonsense at the bud, not let it grow into that deadly flower.
He thought of her often in these hours too, wondering where she went. It wasn't hard to deny her, but it still stung. It was years overdue, and therefore it had festered until it was dangerous and said without emotions, for he'd rehearsed the moment in a thousand different ways and still nothing went right during that talk.
He vanished those thoughts away too; Astrid would come around in her own time...wouldn't she? Either way, it was useless to linger on such thoughts.
He clasped Calder on the shoulder.
"Let's go back to the main village. Hiding out here won't do any good."
OMPHALOS
To say that the younger children had taken the news of Ophelia and Ull bad was an understatement, although it was half-way to be expected. They all got their time crowding around Lina and Ophelia in the small tent, eyes swimming and redness blotting around their face. Anna had taken the time to meet each individually, and made comments to Elsa about who got each of their parent's features.
"Are has your face; for sure. And little Yvonne has your hands."
"My hands? That's the best you could come up with?" Elsa chuckled, and Anna grinned.
"When you meet the rest of mine, you tell me exactly what each has." She assured.
"Tell me about them. You probably know more than you ever thought you would about mine, but I have no idea who your children are."
"Will I get to meet them?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.
"Last I heard, that portal was still open. Besides, I'm sure the kid would open it again if you asked."
"What?" Elsa frowned, shaking her head.
"Oh...you don't know." Anna smacked her forehead, "Silly me! I guess I thought it was common knowledge!" She explained the whole affair of the dragon showing up in her living room and all, and how it could jump and she got more excited by each statement. Elsa was stunned; a dragon came back to it all, once again?
"You can come home, to Arendelle." Anna finished, and Elsa imagined visiting the castle she'd left so long ago.
"Oh, Odin..." She whispered, "That sounds..." She let a smile creep up her face, "Lovely."
Anna was in the middle of telling Elsa all about her own children when someone tapped Elsa's shoulder. She turned to see Gnaw, his face still muddy and his face bright.
"Gnaw!" Elsa jumped up to hug him, "You're alive!"
"Yeah, almost wasn't too." He showed Elsa a wound that went right above his heart, grinning with pride, "Something to show my son tonight." Then his expression fell.
"What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't be all too sad; I hated my wife. But...she didn't make it fighting on the other side. I just unearthed her corpse. How am I going to tell him that his mom is dead?" He whispered, shaking his head.
"He's old enough to begin to understand she didn't want to fight with you, but I wouldn't overwhelm him with the pressure to hate her, to dislike her for what she did. Let him chose that option on his own, but give him all the facts." She instructed, "Even the ones you don't want to admit."
Gnaw gave a slow, labored nod. He glanced around Elsa.
"Where's...ah, Rika?" He asked cautiously.
"She's in there." Elsa nodded to a medical tent, and Gnaw almost jumped out of his skin he moved so quickly, but Elsa stopped him, "She's fine, Gnaw. It's...Ophelia."
Gnaw relaxed, but his face contorted to pain.
"Great Loki, Elsa. I'm sorry." He said, shaking his head, "But Rika's...totally okay?"
"Stayed the whole time in the Dragon Reserve with the others." She insisted, and Gnaw nodded again.
The door of the medical tent flapped, and Elsa saw Rika poke her head out.
"Do I hear my name, mom?" She asked, and her eyes widened when she saw Gnaw. He began to backtrack, nodding out but Rika tore from the tent, "Wait!" She called, making both Elsa and Gnaw study her with question.
"What is it, honey?" Elsa asked, and Rika bit her lit nervously. She shifted on one foot from another, inhaling deeply.
"You're my real dad, aren't you?" She blurt out, all at once, and Gnaw gave a harsh cough.
"What?"
"I...I know. I figured it out a while ago." She played with the hem of her shirt.
"Why didn't you say anything to me? Ask me?" Elsa asked. Rika shrugged.
"You hadn't told me so I guessed I thought you never would. And I didn't want to be hurt by my real mom. But I also might have heard that she died...and I'm sorry but I don't feel bad." She finished in an exhausted breath, and both Gnaw and Elsa exchanged surprised looks.
"Well...yes." Gnaw took a baby-step toward her, "That's all true."
"In a perfect world, you'd be able to tell me it was all a bit misunderstanding and my mom actually loved me and I'm wrong but I know that's not true. I know she didn't want me." She said, and Gnaw's face turned ashen, "But it's okay!" She continued, "Because Hiccup and Elsa were the best parents you could ask for, as a second place." She said, winking to Elsa, who was still very much speechless.
"So what now?" Gnaw looked at Elsa helplessly.
"I don't know." Rika was the one who answered, "I think it would be a little quick to move back with you, but maybe one...day?" She looked questioningly at her mother too. Elsa somehow knew this day was always going to come, Rika leaving, and somewhere deep inside she knew it would be Gnaw to reclaim her too, but it still stung a bit. She deftly pushed it down, and nodded to her.
"Whatever you want sweetie." She assured, and Rika grinned widly.
"Maybe we should...go and talk?" Gnaw suggested uneasily, sending furtive glances to Rika, "It's been a long time, and I still don't really know you."
Rika looked a bit scared for a moment, but she quickly nodded. They left to go to a tree, both sitting, and Elsa turned to Anna. Her face was almost emotionless, but that's how she knew everything from that look.
"Ophelia will wake up. You'll get that too." She assured her, and Anna frowned.
"I"m constantly terrified she won't, though." She shook her head.
"Have faith." Elsa patted her shoulder.
"Oh, Anna!" The pair turned to see two men Elsa didn't know, but they looked more modern than her own men. Also, calling for Anna was a pretty obvious motion that they were from the future too. Or well, Elsa's own time, if she was being totally correct.
"Aldrich! Cyril!" Anna went and embraced them, "How did you two fair?" She asked, examining them each like a nagging mother. Aldrich pushed her away, sputtering.
"We're fine, Anna. We're grown men, quite able to look over ourselves." He insisted firmly, and Anna blushed.
"I can't help it. I'm just so glad to see you alive. I didn't really think either of you could fight, you know?" She said, giggling.
"Well, I wouldn't say we kicked-ass, but we managed." Cyril drawled, shrugging. Elsa saw his eyes catch something across the way, and Elsa turned, squinting. All she saw at the end of the clearing was Ragnar loping up, talking with Hiccup and Calder.
"That can't be..." Cyril let out a long breath, "Impossible."
"What?" Aldrich was equally as confused as the ladies, "I..."
Cyril suddenly took off, yelling loudly, "Alfred!"
To her greatest surprise, Ragnar looked up. He too was frowning in concentration for a moment before he began to laugh, "Cyril!"
"What?" Anna cried, "Aldrich?"
"I don't know how he knows that man." Aldrich was standing, mouth-gaping. Elsa watched as the two men met each other in the middle in a brotherly hug, and Hiccup made a motion between them that was clearly asking a question. Elsa made a helpless motion back.
Ragnar and Cyril came back, arms loped around each other, grinning and looking at each other.
"Cyril, what in the world?" Aldrich questioned.
"Alfred, my brother." He poked Ragnar in the stomach, who laughed.
"Brother?" Both Anna and Elsa asked in incredulous unison.
"Well, sort of." Ragnar shrugged, "We were both in the same orphanage and were dropped off on the same day. We were thick as thieves until, well, I fell to here. It's 'Ragnar', by the way, now." He told Cyril. Cyril ran the name over his tongue.
"Alfred?" Elsa asked, deadpanned.
"Well, you didn't think my real name was so Viking-esque, did you?" He questioned.
"You should be proud, Cyril?" Hiccup looked at Anna to confirm the name, "But...your 'brother' is a chief, now."
"What? No way!" Cyril batted his arm, "I always told you you'd do better in life than I did."
"I think living in a castle is pretty good." Aldrich tried to stick up for his husband, but Cyril rolled his eyes.
"Alf-I mean, Ragnar- this is my stuck-up husband, Aldrich." He looked at Ragnar uncertainty, and Elsa wondered if back in that orphanage, Ragnar had known he was gay.
"I always knew you liked men, Cyril." Ragnar chuckled, "It was pretty obvious. I think I might have known before you knew. Which, ah, you might want to talk to my son. I don't know how to bring it up, but...I can tell with him too."
"You have a son?" Cyril chuckled, "That one, I never guessed."
"A daughter too. They're from the future as well. My son's name is Randolph."
"We met him!" Anna squealed, happy to contribute anything to the conversation, "I mean, he's really nice."
"And he swings for my team?" Cyril asked, rolling his eyes, "That was a motion of fate, there, you know, bud?"
"Yeah, I know, I know." Ragnar batted his head, "I just don't know how to talk about it."
"Well..." Anna said, flagging Kristoff down, "I think we all should have a proper place to reacquaint ourselves. Back in the castle, maybe?" She looked at Elsa.
"Do you have the room?" Hiccup asked, and both Anna and Elsa laughed.
"Oh, Hiccup. They have the room."
OMPHALOS
Anna finally got to break out their 8,000 salad plates. Never before had any singular event really needed so many, not even at her wedding. She and Kristoff had preferred a smaller ceremony with just a select few...besides, not everyone could take talking rocks and a reindeer included in the ceremony without questioning. Even at her own coronation, and although it had been a close second, they kept the guest list to the minimum, as she was still swimming in grief about loosing Elsa and Ophelia. Yes, indeed, this might be the singular time in history she was able to use all 8,000 dining room sets.
Everyone was invited; any Viking, any Souther Isles man, anyone from Arendelle who'd fought. Many people in the village heard the commotion and wondered what kind of raucous party was occurring, a little miffed they weren't invited or in the know, but the gates were sealed tightly, and more food was ordered than Anna had ever requested before. All staff was ordered to leave, and chefs were not allowed out of the kitchens, for Anna and Elsa realized it might be difficult to describe why over 5,000 Vikings had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was eating slabs of meat like it was the most delicious thing in the world.
Rooms were filled with pockets of people, and Arendelle guardsmen were eager to show the stone-age like Vikings all the modern things that the future held, relishing in the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the gathered crowds. In return, Vikings were letting men pet and attempt to mount dragons, being kept in the stables and woods, laughing as they were kicked to the snow or flew only a few feet to hear the men squeak.
And in the laughter, the talking, the sharing of food and good spirits, Elsa saw changes. She saw the realization that she had made years ago that although 1,000 years separated their acts, they were all the same. They both laughed at stupid jokes, both had families, both told stories...and it was clear on both parties faces the look of shock and awe to think that perhaps they were looking not only at someone who might be their great to whatever degree grandfather, but also a person they could identify with as a friend.
Elsa, Hiccup, Kristoff, and Anna were sitting at the head of the table, respective children lined up by each set of parent. Elsa was studying Anna's remaining children with great attention to detail, and pointed at each.
"Dante, Virgil, Austen, Ellis." She listed, pointing at each, "Right?" She looked at each expectantly. There was either a hum or a nod of agreement, and she assumed Ellis was correct for he was her namesake because of his snowy-white hair and he was too young to make any sort of verbal confirmation. Perhaps it was good enough that he just gurgled.
"I think we found Bjorn a playmate." Hiccup leaned in, chuckling, and grabbed Yvonne's hand as she tried to lunge across the table to take a leg of chicken, "Let me do it, dear. You'll knock it all over."
"Sorry, daddy." She pouted, slumping back into his chest. Since reconnecting with his children after the incident at the house with Calder, Yvonne hadn't let go of him at all. She'd clung to his neck like a monkey, and when they sat to eat, wouldn't sit anywhere but on his lap. Hiccup didn't seem to mind so much. He rolled his eyes, grabbing the whole plate for her.
"So, you don't have dragons. Like, any?" Are was asking Dante. They were also about the same age, but Are was a little older, which threw Anna completely for a loop, since in the way she saw it, Are had obviously been conceived after Dante. But then again, it was taking everyone more than a moment to adjust to the idea that Ophelia was about three years ahead than everyone else, so was the whole of Berk as a community.
"Dragons don't exist. Obviously." Dante rolled his eyes, "Do you really only read fiction?"
"Then what's this?" Are raised his arm to where Hubert clung, the only other person that could take the dragon away from Ophelia. They all agreed it might be best if Ophelia was only with the doctor, so Toothless was consoling Achilles, and Are took Hubert. Although Dante's eyes bulged, he shrugged.
"Not a dragon?"
"I'll show you not a dragon!" Are said, flinging Hubert his way.
"It's illogical! Dragons don't exist here, anyway!" Dante defended himself, and both boys were shushed by their mothers. The cousins glared at each other.
"We've seen stranger," The little girl sitting to Dante's left told him soothingly, "I think I believe in dragons."
"Hard to be unsure when it's literally eating your potatoes." Are pointed out.
"Mom! Can I have a dragon?" Austen poked his mother repeatedly, "I want a big one!"
Anna gave Elsa a half-glare, half-chuckle her way, and turned to Austen, "We'll see, okay?"
"Give the kid the dragon." Kristoff chuckled, and Austen bounced up and down on his seat at the thought, "Ophelia will be bringing her two back; we can't very well tell her they have to be left behind."
Elsa and Hiccup shared a nearly unperceptive glance at each other. Elsa almost looked ready to say something, but Hiccup's hand gently tapped hers underneath the table, quelling her urge. Ophelia was her own person and could, and most certainty would, talk for herself when she woke up.
Elsa hadn't even wanted to come; how could she, when Ophelia might die any second they weren't with her, and she'd feel awful forever? But Anna had insisted.
"It's not that I don't think about her all the time, worry, but I've been worrying for a decade. I think loosing Ophelia the first time taught us that we can't let our worry consume us; there are other children, other people that need to be taken care of, and they deserve our attention to. We ourselves even deserve the attention, to be good to ourselves. We just won a war. And you deserve to come home."
It was in that moment that Elsa had realized her sister was truly a queen. She was so far past the awkward and stumbling princess she recalled, and it was a bit shocking to think she'd grown up all by herself without Elsa at her side.
But her words had been eloquently put, and so they came. Besides, they were excited for the cousins to meet each other, and Elsa couldn't help it, but she was itching to see the castle.
She turned to ask Hiccup something, but saw his gaze glancing far away, past everyone. It brought Elsa to where Astrid sat with Snoutlout and the rest of her old friends.
Elsa wasn't even upset, for someone else had told her after overhearing their conversation after the war. She knew he picked her, but she did understand his forlorn gaze. It was obvious he missed her; not the loving parts, but just the friendly parts. And she was acting so cool to him, so icy, she knew all he wanted to do was talk to her again...just once.
"She'll come around." Camacazi assured him before Elsa could say anything, also following his gaze, "You know how she is. Years and years haven't changed that." She chuckled.
"We all need time to morn." Elsa added, and Hiccup blinked, realizing the truth. Everyone would be mourning for years to come.
It wasn't even the destruction of his land, which he wasn't sure if any crops would grow for years to come, but the people they'd lost as well. Although a great majority of his side Hiccup didn't know, that didn't he hadn't lost anyone.
He had, indeed. Lots of those from his own village, including friends. He wasn't even sure how Ruffnut could sit there beside Eret without breaking down crying, because she'd lost her twin brother. Kari sat beside her aunt and uncle, looking lost too, now an orphan, after loosing her mother to dragon sickness two years ago. Asmund had lost his best friend, another young child trying to help, and he sat quietly and softly by his newly found mother. Hiccup didn't know what he'd do if Camacazi had been lost. His own uncle, although he wasn't close to Snoutlout's father, had died from the injuries he'd sustained, and Hiccup had been there when he passed.
The only leader from the other team to make it out alive, as all the rest had been found, was Sewyn, but Hiccup wasn't sure what he'd be taking home. Thanks to the help of the future armies, the enemies had almost been decimated. Those that had fled weren't even Vikings to begin with, and if anything, Sewyn had a small ragged group left, likely too hurt to fight. To think that he'd ever try to take on the Vikings here again, or even show his face by Thor, was preposterous.
At least they'd taken out the enemy, since people like Tuffnutt couldn't be here now, enjoying the feast.
And those were just to name a few. Yet he had to be so grateful for those he didn't loose; he still had Elsa, he still had Valka, and even Ophelia wasn't dead yet, and he had a feeling she'd pull through. She was strong like that.
"You guys can all stay here, obviously!" Anna was chatting a mile a minute, "Anyone is welcome, of course!"
Telling Elsa they'd lost the house had been one of the most difficult things he'd ever done. It burned in his chest like someone had set it on fire, the thought of having to re-do everything. The thought of all those memories engrained in the wood merely...gone.
"You're room is still how it was when you left, Elsa, although you might want to make some updates, and all. Still a bachelor's room." She giggled.
"Oh, I'm sure it will be okay for the time being, Anna." Elsa shrugged, "We just need a couple beds for the children, and we'll all fit."
"Well, don't the children want to personalize their own rooms?" Anna questioned, tilting her head.
"It's not like we're staying forever. They can do that to their new rooms." Elsa shook her head.
"But aren't you?"
The question paused all the conversations on this side of the table. Even the younger children sensed something had been said that perhaps shouldn't.
"What?"
"You're staying. This is what we've looked for...forever. You to come home. This is your home, Arendelle. It's time to come home."
All her little throw-ins of home hadn't missed Elsa before, but she had assumed it was cause of habit. But now, she felt her fingers lock.
"I'm not coming back forever, Anna." Elsa tried to keep her voice steady, "I have my life there."
"But you're a queen here!" Anna said, "I love being queen, of course, but it's your job. I've just been holding it for you since you vanished."
"I can't, Anna." Elsa said softly, and looked at Hiccup, "I made a life over there. I love my husband, and my people. I might not be a queen, but I am still their leader. And I couldn't expect my children to move."
"But..." Anna's lower lip trembled. She stood, suddenly, jerking away from the table, and storming out.
"She's a little sensitive right now," Kristoff muttered to them, a meek apology, before jumping up after her, calling her name in exasperation.
"I don't know how she thought..." Elsa turned to Hiccup in shock, trying to ignore the prying glances of about half the room that now was looking to her.
"She's been single minded about finding the two of you. Ophelia is not awake, and I think she just needs someone to come back, or wanted to." Hiccup said softly, rubbing her back, "I think she'll realize soon her thought was incorrect."
"I don't want to hurt her," Elsa shook her head, "But...I can't let her entertain these delusions. I've created a whole life for myself that I love. I don't' think, I truly don't, that we were meant to be here together. I think, in a weird way, we were both meant to be queens. It will be hard for Anna to accept that, that even after all these years, I choose to leave."
"Don't feel guilty." Camacazi cut in sharply, "She needs to realize you aren't children; you can make your own choices in life, you know? And the portal can stay open for who know s how long. I don't think you'll never see her again."
"I know." Elsa swallowed, "But I still...I'm going to go find her."
As she passed the table where Calder and everyone else sat, she gave a small but encouraging nod to him. He couldn't find the strength to reply.
"Wonder what happened there?" Lyal questioned, stroking his chin. As Elsa passed, she nodded to Ragnar also, who was sitting up by the two men Anna brought with her.
"I always heard dad talk about Uncle C, but I did't ever think..." Randolph let out an exasperated breath, "Life is weird."
"Yo, someone hand me that basket of buns." Fulla said, nudging Lyal and pointing to something down the table.
"What's that, your fifth plate?" Lyal chuckled.
"I can't even eat." Sigrid announced, pushing aside her plate.
"More for me." Fulla muttered through a mouthful of food, taking her plate, "Fries? Chocolate cake? Cheese that isn't moldy? Odin, it's going to be hard going home."
"Ophelia's dying and you're stuffing your face." Sigrid said curtly, turning away.
"Ull really is gone." Randolph reminded her, sending Calder and apologetic glance. Calder took all his strength not to clench the plate too hard. All the sorries and mourning for Ull was getting harder and harder to nod and smile. Not when he knew what he did. Einar pushed around his foot with his fork meekly.
It had taken a long time to convince Hiccup that although Einar had been raised by Unn, he'd since been disowned, and had fought for him. It took eight men out in the field to help Hiccup be totally sure that Einar was reliable, but had threatened him with a low tone. Not that Calder was surprised, if he'd heard it once, he'd heard it a thousand times; Hiccup's only fault was he was far too trusting, he liked to imagine the best in people. Sometimes, it didn't work. Now, he was being overly cautious.
"And Gustav." Jor added quietly, and Calder frowned.
"Shouldn't you be with him?" He asked, but she just gave a shrug.
"They said there's nothing I can do. And...well, I need you all...the living." She looked up, her blue eyes glimmering with tears.
"We survived the war." Lyal murmured, shakign his head, "I don't know if we'll survive this."
"What do we do?" Fulla finally set her plate down, "If they don't wake up?"
"Continue on." Jor wrapped her arms around herself as though she was cold, "It's the only thing we can." Fulla pressed her lips together, groaning softly beneath her throat, and turning to Calder with a quiet look of expectation and longing.
"Did it hurt...when Ull died? Did it hurt him?" Fulla asked frowning, "I"m not heartless, you know." She added sharply to Sigrid when the girl gave her a hard look, "I had...we did...I can't believe he's gone." Her voice became progressively more shaky, each stumbled explanation given more and more broken, until she just finally stared at the ground, tears down her cheeks.
"Me neither." Calder agreed, "And he..." he looked at Fulla's broken face, and found another lie slither out of his lips, "He hardly felt it. Swift, easy." He assured. All the lies he told of Ull to keep the world sane, he thought. Yet it was far easier than the ugly truth. Fulla wiped her tears, nodding.
"I pray to Odin I'll see him again someday." Fulla said softly, drawing her plate closer to her. For some strange reason of possession, Calder looked at Jor. She seemed struck by Fulla's words, as though they strung a vibration deep within her.
A nagging thought in the back of his mind tried to gasp to the surface, yet it was buried beneath everything else the dragonesse had shown him, all in just mere seconds, entires life stories it had seemed. It was much to recall, and even still he was getting blessed glimpses of things he hadn't recalled before.
He wasn't too concerned with it; if it was meant to show itself, it would.
"Miss?"
A voice behind them startled everyone, even those facing outward-Fulla- who had been too withdrawn to notice someone approaching.
"Oh, you." Jor said, relaxing, "He was the leader of some of Arendelle's men, we ah...met." She shrugged.
"Aren't you a little young?" Sigrid raised an eyebrow.
"You're the group that went out to single-handedly stop more than 8,000 men. Aren't you all a little young?" The man fired back. Now that Calder looked at him, he did seem still fresh, perhaps only a few years older than Lyal or himself. But there was also an air of authority to him, the kind that made great leaders.
"Fair enough." Sigrid agreed, titling her head.
"I wanted to apologize..." The man clasped his fingers together, looking red, "I think I might have been a little curt and unfriendly when we met, assuming, if you will." He directed his tone at Jor. Jor nodded softly, taking it in. Calder was itching to know what he said, but he wasn't going to pry.
"I accept. It was a war, and you just traveled back 1,000 years. A little bit of an attitude is reasonable." She said.
"But I feel as though you mistook me as arrogant. I just wanted to make amends." He said, "Uh, enjoy your meal." He stuttered softly, backing away. All eyes turned to Jor.
"Did he offend you?"
"Well, he thought I wouldn't speak his language or simple terms. I was a bit, but I hadn't thought about it. It's nice he gave the effort to come over." She said, sipping on her tea.
"He's cute." Fulla giggled.
"Didn't notice." Jor replied.
Calder stood, "I need to find the bathroom. You okay?" He asked Einar, who hadn't spoken the entire time. He was still holding his egg, but his leg was shaking a mile a minute.
"Yeah, just taking it in." He glanced around.
"You guys are going to be nice to him, right?" Calder asked sharply, and Fulla shrugged, before reply for everyone.
"Unless he tries to punch me, I don't see why not?"
Calder realized it was the best admission he was going to get, and wandered the castle. He didn't really need to use the bathroom, but he just needed a moment alone. To think about it all- Gustav, Ophelia, Ull...those three names replayed in his mind constantly, just a stream one after another. It was starting to make him go mad. Every room he came across, though, was occupied by large groups or jubilant couples trying to get some alone time- ew. He thought he finally found one, until he opened the door to see Elsa and Anna standing apart from each other, and he backed away.
Urg, he wouldn't want to be either of them.
In the room he'd just disturbed, there was a sullen feeling instead of an angry one. Kristoff had just left the two moments ago to give them some time alone to talk, citing that Austen likely needed someone to watch him anyway, lest he poke a Viking or steal a Southern Isles sword.
"Anna..." Elsa sighed softly as the door clicked behind them.
"I just don't...understand. Don't you want to come home?" Anna asked.
"That's complicated."
"It's a simple yes or no, Elsa!" Anna hissed, turning around.
"No, you know it isn't. Home...when I hear that word, I think of Berk. My house there..." Or what was left, she internally added, "It's been years since I thought of the castle when someone said home."
"But do I want to come back here? Yes...I've dreamed of the halls too many times...but even standing here, It's so clear I'm not meat to stay here. It's no longer...it doesn't feel right."
"What could be more right than me and you...together?" Anna asked, frowning.
"We've grown up, Anna. It's natural for siblings to grow apart."
"We were not natural. I hardly knew you growing up. Is it so awful to imagine I want to see you in this life?" Anna argued.
"No, but we both have families. Responsibilities...everyone I've talked to says you're a great queen, maybe even better than me...Anna, oh, don't cry." Elsa said frantically, embracing her sister as she began to sniffle. In times like theses, Anna seemed so young, maybe as young as the little girl standing alone at her parent's grave.
"I'm just emotional, you know?" Anna whispered, "I can't stand the thought of losing you again...not a third time."
"I don't know what we can do. The portal hasn't closed yet, you know. And now we know what makes them. Randolph already said he'd re-open it if it ever closed."
Anna was deadly quiet. "I get it. Your life always sounded so wonderful in your letters, but I couldn't help but hope, sometimes, that it was just to make me feel better. That you'd come back to us. I'm selfish, aren't I?"
"No, you're a normal sister." Elsa assured her, "There was a time where I told Hiccup if a portal opened up, I'd leave him, pregnant or not. That was a selfish thought." She amended.
"Hiccup seems to really love the kids, I can't imagine what he'd do. I've never seen such a dedicated father."
"But Kristoff is so worried about Ophelia, and he was wonderful when she was young!"
"He changed, after she vanished. Detached from the others. I mean, he loves his girls. Loosing Ophelia...It was harder on him, I think. It's killing him now, eating him away that he can't see her. But it will all be okay soon. I have to think she'll wake up and come home and her bedroom will be so beautiful and Lord knows he'll pamper her!" Anna laughed, and Elsa felt a feeling bubble inside of her. Instead, she slowly nodded, but locked her jaw. If she opened her mouth, she might say something she would regret.
"Elsa, don't look that way. She'll wake up!" Anna insisted, mistaking her expression for doubt of survival, not the thought of Ophelia leaving her and Hiccup to come back here. But Elsa didn't argue. Instead, she merely nodded, forcing a smile.
"You're right. She'll wake up, and everything will work itself out."
Anna hugged her.
"I really missed you."
"I know. Me too."
OMPHALOS
Days flew by quickly after that, and Calder found himself caught up in a little bit of everything. He worked with the women and the doctors at the med camps, doing things here and there, checking on the still silent and unmoving Ophelia every chance he got.
He went with Einar or other kids around his age to survey their land that had been burned, usually coming back sooty with grim expressions. He helped dragons that had lost riders cope, and took them around to at least give them the feeling of another person on them. He helped Southern Isles men and Arendelle men match with dragons if they so pleased, usually those that had lost their first men in the war, and gave them a little crash course on dragon care. He helped return lost items to people, and helped build make-shift shelters that housed three families at a time until better things could be built.
Rika told him she guessed that it was because he'd spent so much time away from the community he was now giving it all back. All he had. It was an interesting theory to entertain, but Calder didn't think much of it as it were. He was pretty sure he was throwing himself into things so he didn't think about Ophelia all the time.
It had been a week and a half and the portal was still open. In the precious free-time he had, he decided to seek out Randolph, as everyone was currently staying around Berk island. He found Randolph peeling an apple near the cove, and he nodded to his friend as he approached.
"So the port-,"
"I don't know why it's open so long, I don't know when it's going to close, I actually know anything about it, and no- I won't change the location." He spurt off before Calder could say anything more, with a tinge of irritation, throwing his hands up. It had answered his question, but it left Calder with more.
"What? I wasn't asking about the portal." Yes, he was, but he was going to lie. He covered it quickly, "I was going to ask why you were sitting by the ports."
"Oh." Randolph rubbed the back of his neck, "Literally everyone I run into asks about the damn portal. I'm a celebrity or something. And I don't know a thing. If I have one more person ask about how it works or tell me I put it in the most inconvenient spot, I'm going to have Sappho eat them."
Calder was glad he didn't tell Randolph he asked him about the portal. Sappho did look like she could swallow him in one gulp.
"Ah."
"Sure you didn't say portal?"
"Nope."
"Damn, I'm going crazy." Randolph ran his fingers through his hair, "How's Ophelia?"
"Still not awake." Calder pouted, sitting next to him, "I'm beginning to lose hope, you know?" He admitted in a moment of weakness.
"Gustav woke up."
"Yeah, but he's still not...ok." Calder sighed, but was secretly glad he had, even as annoying as he was. You didn't just go through something like they had without forming even a small bond.
"She's strong, eh? She'll come around." Randolph said, patting his shoulder, offering him half the apple. Calder took it, and they ate in silence, both enjoying the sound of just the sea, looking out at the frothy waves.
Someone was running toward them. They both turned, and saw Fulla springing at them. Calder threw his apple core to the ground, and stood. Fulla got to them, eyes wild and hair flying everywhere. She wiped her whole face, and took a deep breath.
"Gustav died."
"What?" Randolph jumped up, "How? He seemed okay? He woke up!"
"I don't know. I don't know." Fulla said, her voice reaching a point of desperation, "I just heard. I just heard." She repeated herself, as though she didn't believe it either. She put her hands on her knees, and then she just crumbled. She sat on the grass, shaking her head, "It's Ull all over again."
Calder helped her up.
"Poor Jor." Randolph frowned, "Is she okay?"
"She seemed shocked more than anything." Fulla answered between sniffles, "I was there...when we got the news. It was awful!"
"We should go find her. Do Sigrid and Lyal know yet? Einar?" He added Einar in hesitantly because he'd been accepted into the group grudingly, but also because he hardly had known Gustav.
"They all do. You're hard to find." She said, cracking a smile, and inhaling her dripping nose, "Oh, Odin."
"Let's go back to the village." Randalph said, and shook his head slowly, "We're getting smaller and smaller, our group." He whispered. Calder gave a cut nod.
"I know. It sucks."
They found Jor at the cliffs. The group spent a silent vigil together that night. Jor offered no words, and no one else filled the void with mindless chatter. There was nothing really to say. Besides, everyone still a little taken aback. To go from awake, smiling, to dead? It seemed impossible.
As they were leaving the next morning, Lyal whistled, making the comment that Jor hadn't seem as upset as he had thought he should be, and received a loud slap from Sigrid that left a bright red mark on his face. Sigrid was the only person that could get away with that, but both stormed away from each other.
Calder hung back, letting everyone wander away from where Jor still sat, looking out over the ocean. The memory the dragonesse had given him about her had returned during the night, and it had been biting away at his lips since then.
Jor seemed unsurprised he had stayed behind, and patted the ground.
"How did this happen?" Calder asked, and his voice sounded cold and foreign from disuse.
"They say it sometimes works like it does. They seem be be all better, making great recovery, and then they die. They say it happens often." She recited, "Infection, they think. His blood just couldn't fight it. I didn't see it coming. He didn't see it coming." Her voice was monotone.
Calder frowned, nodding. What an awful way to go.
"You didn't love him."
Jor turned to him, a raised eyebrow, but did not argue.
"Not in the way he deserved. I might have, seeing him dead and pale and all before the war, but I still cant decide if it was just feeling sorry or a rush of something I can't explain. I think had he lived, I might have been able to love him. I can hardly tell Sigrid that; she'd wonder why I could agree to marry a man I didn't love. Seems antiquated to her, I'm sure."
"Because you loved another." Calder supplied swiftly, and Jor bit her lip, looking down.
"Yeah."
"Did Ull know?"
He had seen a shared kiss between them before this all happened, and the way she'd been captured on the boat. He was about 99% sure his brother had loved her back, and her capture had been all an accident. But his will to be accepted by Unn had overthrown the thought of letting her go, although he had seen him try...and almost fail. After that, he'd flown back with Ophelia after she found him.
He'd seen quiet moments between them on Berk, around the town, such a tenderness to his brother that made him question how he could ever have been a cold-blooded turncoat.
"Yes. He said he loved me back. During the expedition, it kept me going. Now? I think Gustav dying was my punishment for loving a traitor that everyone else keeps honoring as a hero." Her words were tinged with deadly venom, a tone he'd never before heard her use.
"He really did." Calder tried to assure her, but even he was only guessing from the glimpses the dragonesse had shown him. Now Ull was dead and he couldn't ask him, "Don't say things like that, either. Gustav dying was as it was, nothing more."
"I think I'm cursed then, at the very least." She scoffed, "Ull being a traitor will go to the grave with me, of course. It's right I suffer the truth in silence, as you will." She said, reading him perfectly.
They were silent for a moment before Jor began to savagely rip up the grass from the ground.
"I'm so of regret right now, you know? I hate myself that I didn't see it coming-either of their deaths or Ull's real side, and that I got caught up in the whole debacle as a prisoner and almost died and Ull didn't try, I'm upset that I wasn't actually in love ith Gustav when he loved me so much, and most of all I'm going to hate myself forever that I never told Gustav I loved him, because even if it wasn't a real passion love, I loved him like a friend and he died and he never knew...because I was stupid. I was afraid." She said, angrier than he'd ever seen in all the years of knowing him, "Don't be stupid like me, Calder. Just freaking don't, okay?" She said, "Promise me."
"Okay! I will, I will." He held up his hands, trying to decipher what she meant. Then, she turned around placid again.
"I think I'd like to be alone now." She told him, and Calder didn't argue. No words were needed.
He wandered back to the medical tent to see a group gathered. Fear thundered through his veins as he pushed through just curious onlookers into the tent. He caught the end of the doctor's words.
"...Prognosis isn't good. She's dying. How soon? I'm not sure, but I doubt she's going to make it the night."
Calder backed out before he heard anymore, and broke into a run. He ran past Einar asking what was wrong and Rika with Are who both turned back to the medical tent with fear and past the whole town until he was at the abandoned ruins of his old house, far away from the village and people who might hear.
He screamed, kicking everything he saw.
He understood what Jor had meant in a rush of clarity as choking as someone's hands at his throat. After his throat could not make noise anymore, he curled up in a ball against a tree, biting his fist to keep his sobs from making too much noise. A gentle coo at his side told him Isis had found him, drawn by his sadness.
She nuzzled underneath him and he buried his face in her embrace.
"Ophelia is going to die tonight, Isis, and I'm helpless. And such an idiot. She's everything to me, and 1,000 years in the future of medicine can't even save her. She'll never know. I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid." He told her between his hiccuping tears, and felt her shift. She looked at him, questioning, "Yes, I really do feel that way about her. I have forever, but I just realized it. I'm so stupid." She nudged him again.
He looked into her eyes, and shook his head to what she was saying.
"There's nothing you can do, Isis. I wish there was." He whispered, his voice nearly gone.
She got up, giving him a look of 'just you watch', and he tried to pause his tears to follow her. She strode confidently through the camp, and he followed behind her, jumping around people to try to keep up with her. Elsa was with Ophelia's siblings, both sets, outside the tent, although the ones from Anna's side seemed more shocked than upset. It was hard to feel sympathy for a person you were only supposed to have felt something for.
Lina was squawking as Isis barged into the tent, and almost took up the whole space. But a look she gave the woman just pacified her, and Lina backed out of the tent. Isis found a knife on the on the ground, and nudged it toward Calder, whining. Calder looked at Ophelia, and felt her pulse. None. Fear froze in to the spot until Isis' insistent sounds brought him back.
"Cut you? What?" Calder said, shaking his head, "Isis...I don't...understand." Isis picked up the knife and dropped it in his hands, nodding to her skin, pleading. Still confused, he made a incision at the bottom of her foot, just as she'd motioned. She hardly moved. Then, Isis bit apart the pant leg on Ophelia, leaving the skin bare, before running her tusk up it, leaving a wide scar.
"What the hell?" Calder tried to get between them, but Isis easily battered him away. She then pressed her own wound to Ophelia's, leaving Calder on the ground, jaw swinging open.
It seemed like eons, but was likely only a minute, before Isis swayed, falling on the ground with a reverberating thump.
"Isis, you don't look so good. Are you okay? What's wrong?" His voice rose in pitch each question, as he hovered around his dragon, who lay on the ground looking so small now. Isis nuzzled him affectionately, and motioned upward.
Ophelia!
He sprung up, looking, and felt himself stumbling out of the tent once again.
"Hiccup! Elsa! Come into the tent, come on!"
The wound had healed itself.
OMPHALOS
Ophelia felt dizzy. Even before she opened her eyes, she felt dizzy and something was really off. And she was cold, really cold. Like the kind of cold that clung with you, even with a million layers of clothing on.
Anna sat in the shadows, uncomprehending. They had told her her daughter was going to die tonight, and now...now what? It was hard to grasp, even with all the magic she'd seen just in the past few years.
Ophelia tried to decide what was so different. Her fingers felt light...like snowflakes. Her whole body thrummed a different beat, so it seemed, and it was odd to adjust to.
The war!
This made her snap her eyes open.
The tent was dark; it was night outside, she figured. Her eyes strained in the darkness. Where was she? She didn't hear screaming, so was everything okay? Was everything horrible? What was happening?
Something shifted in her vision, and she saw Elsa enter the tent, looking left, but she didn't even follow Elsa's gaze. Pure, undulated happiness filled her bones, and she let out a sob.
"Mom!" She cried, and Elsa startled, looking at her like a deer in headlights. Ophelia slid off the cot, stumbling toward her on unsteady legs, throwing her arms around her, "Mom, oh my god, I thought you had died. I thought I was dead. I remember the knife, I remember it all going black." She cried, half-happiness, half-confusion.
The tent rustled again, but it was someone leaving. She looked at her mother, who was still silent, "Who was that?"
The world spun beneath her and Elsa helped her back onto the cot.
"That was Anna." The words seemed innocent enough, but it took Ophelia moment to connect why Elsa looked so hesitant and what' she'd said.
"Oh." She winced, "I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, but I just...I was so scared, and looking at you, that's all I could think about saying. You are...sorta." She tried to say, as if it would fix it all. Elsa pattered her knee.
"You don't have to say anything to me. I'm just glad you're okay. Of course." She said, eyes shining with tears, "But...Anna and Kristoff have been waiting for you. Kristoff killed Unn after hearing and seeing you almost dead." She said.
"I thought Calder would have."
"He carried out out, saved you. Twice." She added, "I think."
"How am I alive? I thought I saw Valhalla, I swear."
"You did die. Calder said it was likely less that a minute though. Calder saved you, with Isis. I don't know how."
Isis...a thousand memories flushed through her mind all at once, and she realized, they were all of Isis' own memories-not her own! Suddenly, everything was clear, it was all clear.
She needed to find Calder! But first, she thought, looking at Elsa...perhaps she deserved to see Anna and Kristoff.
"Can you get my real mom?" The words felt weird on her tongue, forced, "And dad? I want to meet them."
"I'm sure there's noting they'd like more. After, I'll bring Hiccup in, and the children." She assured, answering Ophelia's next request before she said it.
Ophelia swayed her legs from the table, itching with anticipation and uncertainty. She'd messed up, calling Elsa mom, although she didn't regret it. Maybe if Anna hadn't been there...she sighed. She didn't know what she would have done, what she would have. She'd said it, alright, and now she had to fix it as much as she could.
They came into the tent quietly.
"Uh...hi?" Ophelia was at a loss of where to start.
"Your hair." Kristoff whispered, and Ophelia picked up a strand, looking at it. Snow white. She'd seen it in Isis' memories that it would look like this, yet seeing it on herself did still surprise her. It was going to take some getting used to.
"Yeah. Side effect of saving me." She shrugged casually. She turned to Anna, "I'm really, really, really sorry." She whispered.
"That's okay." Anna whispered, coming closer, looking at her as though she was a rare artifact, "You've been with her for thirteen years. She's raised you to be a beautiful woman, a brave strong one. Maybe I still thought...oh, that shouldn't matter."
"But it should. I never forgot about you, either of you." She fished in her shirt, "I had Hiccup draw this when I was really young, and I've carried it every day since."
She handed them their portraits, and Kristoff chuckled.
"That kid is good at drawing, at anything." He whispered. Anna was fingering the yellowed paper tenderly.
"Everyday?" She asked.
"All the time, I would look at it." Not a full truth, admittedly, but not a full lie.
"I have this." Anna held up something that glimmered in the lamp light.
"My necklace!" Ophelia sprung up, holding up her hair, "Put it on?" She asked hesitantly, and Anna took a moment but obliged. When Anna's hand brushed her skin, Ophelia didn't even flinch, which she was proud of.
She turned around.
"Hiccup and Elsa raised me, and I love them. They were sort of, no, they were my parents while I was here, and I'm going to love them like that as I can. But I know you both never stopped looking for me, and the fact that you're here and the fighting has stopped tells me that you helped us win the war. You saved my friends, and I will never be able to thank you enough for that. And I would like to get to know you. You are my mom and dad." She said, and Anna's face was in a wider smile than Toothless' gummy grin could ever be. Kristoff looked stunned.
"Why don't you come home after you feel better, and we'll do just that?" Anna asked. Although when she heard the word home she thought of the cozy tree-house with Hiccup and Elsa, she knew Anna was speaking of the castle. Still, it thrilled her to imagine seeing the place she was born and the woods she'd run around to find Toothless' dragon scale when she was so young. She wanted to see it all, and so when she nodded enthusiastically, it wasn't forced.
"I would love that."
They talked of non-important things for awhile, like her favorite foods or colors or what her two dragons were like, and at least started to mend, although she knew seeing these two as her parents the way Elsa and Hiccup were would take time. They seemed so genuine and happy that it was hard to not try her darnest though.
Hiccup came in next, hugging her so tight she thought she'd crack in two. He seemed not surprised at all when she informed him that she was likely going back to Arendelle for a bit, just nodded warmly. It was then he told her he'd be there to, since their house had been destroyed. That left a bitter pill inside of her, something that fizzled with pain and longing. Before she had time to say anything else, four figures had launched themselves onto her.
"You guys!" She laughed, trying to get them all off. Rika kissed her head, getting off willingly. Swain and Are both jumped off, as if realizing what they'd done, but Yvonne clung tightly to her.
"You look just like me!" She squealed in joy.
"I'm uh...glad you're okay." Are sniffled, wiping the back of his hand across his nose, and she saw his eyes were red and puffy. Seeing right through is tough-act, she grinned.
"I'm sure you never cried once, right? Needed to seem strong for the littles." She teased.
"I cried!" Swain admitted, "I missed you a ton, Ophelia. So did Are."
"Did not." Are cried, then blushed, "Maybe a bit."
"Awe...come here, you guys." She said, and they all climbed onto the cot with her, and she just let them all embrace her for a long time, and no one but Yvonne- who couldn't have been shut up if they sewed her mouth shut- did all the talking. About everything, Gustav, the war, the casualties, her friends, the food she'd eaten, the animals she'd chosen to bring with her to the Dragon Reserve- all of it. For once, her incessant chatter didn't bother Ophelia. She hoped she would never stop talking.
But it was far past their bedtime, and soon Elsa collected them to go back to Arendelle through the portal where they'd been sleeping. Yvonne was apparently staying in Ophelia's old room, which was perfect still for a girl her age. Ophelia was glad she was enjoying it.
"How do you feel?" Elsa asked, handing her a ladle of water.
"Stiff. I need to take a walk." She shook off her bones. A small dragon scurried under the tarp, "Hubert!" She cried letting the little dragon curl around her arm enough to cut off circulation. It was his way of saying he was happy to see her.
"Achilles is in Arendelle. He's in good hands, but will be excited to see you. Be back soon, and Anna will take you over there. She's excited, you know."
"I know. I am too." Ophelia admitted, "Uh... Mom?" She was no longer going to apologize for calling Elsa what she did. Life was too short. She could have two mothers and fathers, that was okay, "I might have questions later...about all this." She motioned to herself and picked up a curly string of hair.
"Of course." Elsa realized, eyes widening in understanding, "Whatever you want to know."
"Good...maybe tomorrow, okay?" She said.
"Anything you want, dear. Have a nice walk." Elsa kissed the top of her head.
The entire town, and everyone else lodging here, all greeted her with joy as she passed. She supposed being Hiccup's daughter meant everyone knew, of course, and everyone was glad to see her. She even saw Jor off in the distance, and while she knew she'd need to to see her friend before the night was up, she was looking for one thing.
A person, in particular.
Calder was standing, looking out at the ocean, shoulder slumped. He looked tired.
"Calder?"
All the tiredness vanished from his face as soon as he looked at her.
"Ophelia..." His voice was the most beautiful she'd ever heard. He ran to her, hugging her with both arms clasped around her back, his head nuzzled in her hair, "You're alive..." But his words were weighted with sorrow, a question. She pulled back.
"She was an alpha, and an alpha gets what and alpha wants." Ophelia said, but saw him still look confused, "Her blood was that of magic, different. She could blow ice, not fire. She was a natural leader...and she loved you enough. That's the biggest thing. An alpha will sacrifice themselves to save what they love most. And that's you, and by extension..." She looked away, shy for no reason at all she told herself, "Me. I feel her essence inside me, you know. I have all her memories, her power, her confidence. She's still here. Right here." She took Calder's hand and touched it to her heart, "I don't know if she gave all her life force to bring me back or if my blood tainted hers. I don't even know if she truly understood that, but it was an instinct deep inside of her, for you she did this. That's pretty big, right?"
His swallow was loud and thick.
"I already miss her so much, but you?" He took her face between the palms of her hands, staring at her right in the eyes, "I...I love you."
Ophelia stood on her tip toes, knitting her fingers into his hair, pulling him down to kiss him. She'd only dreamed of this in her most private thoughts, but feeling him melt against her and pull her close was better than any fantasy, especially after what he had just said. Her mind repeated it over and over and it was so...beautiful.
She pulled back, grinning.
"I know." She said, nodding to her head, "Isis' memories. But I love you too."