AN: I know I have been gone for some time, but I would like to thank all the readers who waited patiently. I would like to also welcome all the new readers who have picked up this story recently. Updates will be sporadic, but I will not leave a story uncompleted so do not fret. Thank you to those who have not inquired about my absence. I can nor will reveal the reason for such. Anyway, enough with my babbling, this chapter has been long in the making. I hope its as good of a read for you as it was for me to write.

Chapter 14—…The End Result

Castle

08JUL24—1127 HRS.

Elsa POV

I followed Deadeye, but the sinking feeling in my chest wouldn't seem to disperse. I couldn't shake the feeling that Hiccup wasn't as fine as he seemed. Deadeye's deep voice brought me from my thoughts, "I hear some movement up ahead. Stay low and quite." He removed a small weapon from under his jacket top. That looks like one of those P90's Hiccup told me about. I followed his instructions to a T as we moved silently along the hallway wall. He stopped me and removed a small black cylinder from his interior pocket. In one swift motion he pulled the weapon back, screwed the cylinder on the barrel, and shouldered it. Moving once again, we came to a T shaped hallway.

Deadeye took a quick glance down the right hall, before glancing left. He whispered to me, "I think I found the source of the noise. Not friendly either." While looking ahead, he reached behind his back and fished out a small handgun. He gestured me to take it, and hesitantly I did. It felt extremely heavy in my hands, despite being made mostly of carbon fiber. I've never had to shoot anyone before. Deadeye whispered to me once more, "you know how to use one of those right? It's the same model Hiccup carries." I whispered back, "he showed me the basics, but I've never actually shot a gun before." He replied, "time to learn on the go. Basically, just follow what he taught you. The rest will come naturally."

If you say so. He continued on "that one has been modified a bit. It has a two-pound trigger pull; it won't take much for it to go off. Now, stay with me." He popped around the corner and fired two suppressed shots, which were followed by two solid thuds. Deadeye held up a hand as a still quite drifted over the hallway and waited for any signs of retaliation. Once he was satisfied there wasn't going to be a firefight, he signaled me to follow him. I moved along behind him keeping our conversation to a hushed whisper. "Where are we going?" He kept his eyes forward as he replied, "we're heading to the operations room. It's easily defended, and before you ask, your sister should already be there. We got her moving as soon as the shot rang out."

I could feel a wave of reassurance sweep over me when he said that. Another thought popped into my head "why is Hiccup not with us?" He paused for a short moment, almost as if he was hesitating, before replying "he stayed behind to direct the QRF. He should meet up with us soon." I wasn't completely convinced, but was stopped before I could voice my opinion. I received a shush as Deadeye came to a halt. Focusing on the sound in my ears, I heard several footsteps approaching our direction. Looking to my right I noticed a door leading into a drawing room, and gave nudge to Deadeye. The message was received, and the two of us made our way into the room.

He peeked through a small crack in the door's opening to assess the situation. As they got closer a few voices made themselves known. "My Queen. My Queen, are you here?" Instantly I recognized the voice as that of my guard commander. Deadeye also seemed to recognize it and yelled out a pro word, "blizzard!" Without pause the reply came back, "crown." A sigh of relief passed through both of us as we stepped out of the room to greet the guard commander along with five others. "General Starn, good to see you well." He gave a small bow as he replied, "you as well my Queen." I looked at him as he returned to eye level, and asked for a status report. He responded after a moment pause, "it's best we keep moving your Highness. I will provide your report in route." A small nod was all I offered as our small group began to move. He proceeded on, "my Queen, it seems to be a full-scale attack. The initial attack on your life failed, and in doing so sent a signal to several sleepers within the crowd. The castle guard did well in securing the gates, and filing the civilians to safe shelter. However, I regret to inform you there is still a small contingent within the premises. Currently, the QRF is working with the castle security to remove the threat, but we are unsure how far the enemy has infiltrated." I gave a silent nod as we moved on, letting the thoughts mull over in my head.

Hiccup POV

I stumbled along the hallway with blood still seeping from the wound in my chest. I managed to close it up some, but at this rate I'm not going to last too long without attention. I kept myself calm as my breathing started to become laborious. I've got to make it back to the operations room. I suppressed a cough as I attempted to remain focused. Toothless can handle repelling the infiltrators. I need to make sure Elsa is ok. A small explosion rocked the castle. What the fuck was that?! I placed the earpiece to my radio back in my ear and listened to the comms chatter.

"…two hostiles with RPG's. The gates have been breached. We need support." I heard Toothless come over the radio, "in route to you. 3 Mikes." Shit, it's worse than I thought. I need to get moving. As I stood up I heard a pop in my right ear followed by the sound of something hitting the floor. Looking down I noticed half of my radio sitting on the ground by my feet. Well, so much for that. I gathered my resolve and set out down the hallway, trying to ignore the pain. It was a five-minute walk to the operations room at normal pace, but in my current state I knew it would be a little longer before I made it there. I have to hurry.

Elsa POV

We arrived in the operations room as an explosion rocked some unknown location nearby. Instinctively, I ducked my head and covered it with my hands; nearly dropping the gun in the process. Several higher officials were already standing off to the side of the room assisting with the militant operations. Voices flew all around the room in an organized version of chaos. I followed Starn and Deadeye in and around the map sitting on the table in the middle of the room. Instantly, I heard my sister's voice "where is Elsa?!" I could see relief flooding my sister as I made my way over to her and could see she was getting ready to go back out and look for me. Same old Anna. Better calm her down before this gets out of hand. The poor guard standing with her seemed shaken.

I intervened "Anna, I'm right here and just fine." Quicker than lightning she shot over and was in the process of hugging the air out of my lungs. "Anna…air…" She quickly let go and gave me a sheepish look along with a muttered apology. It didn't take longer for her to find her voice and begin babbling on. "Elsa, I feared the worst when I heard the shot ring out. I thought, I might have lost my sister." A couple of tears spilled from her eyes.

I took my thumbs and wiped them away as I replied, "it's ok Anna. Hiccup managed to get me out of the way before I was hit." She gave a small sniffle, wiped her eyes, and provided a retort, "that's good. Where is he by the way?" I attempted to answer, but before I could another explosion rocked the room. "That one was closer." A small box to the left of the map was acting as a speaker for all communications over the net. A voice, sounding like Toothless, came over, "counter-attack! The gates have been breached. Enemies have pushed friendlies back to rally point two. Need additional units to support from rally three." Starn and Deadeye looked at one another, both men schooling their facial expressions.

A non-verbal agreement had seemed to be made between the two. Deadeye looked at me as Starn walked off toward the other officials. "Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, it's imperative we get you two moved to a safer location." Anna jumped in and asked the question on both our minds. "What? Why? What's going on?" He heaved a quick sigh and replied "this meeting area is no longer safe. We're moving to a secondary staging area." I stopped him before he could continue, "What of the people here?" He hesitated momentarily before providing an answer "they will be evacuated to another location once the necessary information has been scrubbed."

I didn't buy it, and from the looks neither did Anna. There's no plan to evacuate from here for them. The same thought must have crossed her mind as she shot me a look. Together both of us looked back at Deadeye. "We will not be leaving here. This is our home, and it's our job to defend it." He attempted to reply "but Queen…" Anna jumped in before I could "you heard my sister. This is our country, and you are guests. It is not solely your job to protect this land or her people." I shot Anna a look of admiration, one that she reflected at me. I couldn't have said it better myself. In that moment I steeled my resolve, and without hesitation offered the 5.7 to Anna. "You've been working with Kristoff, right?" Taking the firearm, she gave a small nod of her head. I continued on "good, it's about time I showed what my powers can really do. I'm not about to sit back and allow everyone else to fight my battle." Turning back around I faced my general and relayed my orders. "General, withdraw all units back to the castle walls as fast as possible." "Yes, your majesty." With haste he made his way over to the command center radio.

A small chuckle entered the room through the door just off to our left followed by a crass voice, "'bout time your majesty. I thought you were going to let the Yanks have all the fun." A quick glance revealed Jack and Sherrie walking in from the room's south entrance. I shot him a smile followed by a quick retort. "Please, Mr. Overland, I was just letting all of you muscle bound adrenaline junkies get a head start. Now watch and learn." Almost as if on que, Starn looked over at me and relayed a message "My Queen, all personnel have made it back to the castle." Good timing. I gave a small nod and closed my eyes in concentration. I pictured the layout of the castle in my head. No detail was left unchecked as I felt my power flurry from my chest, down my arms and finally to my fingertips. I could feel the surge as ice danced from finger to finger and hand to hand, almost as if it was in anticipation of what was to come. These men have defiled my home, uprooted the lives of my citizens, and cost the lives of many others. There will be no forgiveness. With that thought alone it felt as though my power increased one hundred-fold.

With resolve, I took a deep breath and focused with a concentration that would have made Michelangelo jealous. I pictured row upon row of ice spikes sprouting from the ground; not unlike the ones I accidentally created when I first publicly revealed my powers. The ice sprung forth, covering ever area between the castle walls and the main retaining wall with deathly sharp frozen spikes. A small glean of sweat built on my forehead as I manifested a large-scale attack from thin air. Within a minute the change was noticeable as the noise level outside diminished substantially. Once I could see the spikes reach the wall in my mind, I allowed my eyes to open and my arms to drop like lead. I gasped for another large gulp of air as I felt the strain hit me full force, and the blood rush to my head.

It took a moment for the ringing in my ears to settle, but when they finally did the first thing I could hear were cheers from around the room. Jack shot me a smile "well, you were right your highness. That was quite the display. Radio chatter is coming in from all over the grounds; the groups are cleaning up the ones and twos that gave themselves a few extra minutes of life." Anna took no time giving me a huge hug and complimenting my skill. "That was amazing!" I felt a small smile grace my lips at the perceived win.

Hiccup POV

I heard footsteps moving up on my six in a quick pace. I took no time in spinning around and getting close to the floor. I could hear the footsteps slow to a stop not far from me, but the individual was cased in the shadows in a similar fashion. I could hear the slight move of their arms up to the ready position. Simultaneously, I readied myself for a firefight and took aim toward the location most likely to contain the threat. However, I was slightly caught off guard by the next thing I heard, "blizzard!" A flood of relief came over me as I responded "crown."

A shuffling was heard as the individual moved closer. Finally, their face moved into the light as Kristoff continued his trek toward me. "Damn Hic, you look like shit." Looking at him, I noticed he was sporting blood all over his uniform, most likely from the enemy, and had some small rips and tears, but overall looked ok. I felt a chuckle rise into my throat as I replied, "yea well, you aren't exactly a looker yourself. May want to wash before you see Anna. Looks like you just lost a bull fight." He shot me a look followed by a small laugh and a retort, "I don't imagine Elsa would be too happy to see you in your state either." God, if Elsa saw me like this she'd heal me up just to kill me herself. That thought brought a small smile to my face.

Kristoff helped me up and slung my good arm over his shoulder as we proceeded toward the Operations Center. "Better be glad I'm strong or else I wouldn't be able to lift your heavy dead weight ass." As we started moving I shot back a mumbled "fuck you", to which he gave a throaty chuckle. We moved a short distance in silence before Kristoff decided to fill me in on the most recent update. "Did you hear?" I only replied with a no as he continued, "don't you have a radio? You should have been able to hear everything." I held back my sigh as I replied, "you know I have a hole in me, right?" He followed up with "and your point is?" Once more I had to restating myself as I answered, "if you took a second to use that T-triple C knowledge you learned, you'd notice it's a through and through. Meaning my radio was hit upon the bullet's exit." He had the decency to look ashamed, "right, I was just testing you."

I gave a quick eye roll as I spoke, "anyway, you were saying?" He kept his eyes scanning as he briefed me. "It was amazing! One minute we were taking fire from all directions, and the next a call was out to withdraw to the castle walls. The next thing I know, ice sprouted from the ground and neutralized almost every assailant. The ones who survived were quickly mopped up by the awaiting allied force. Seeing the western sector was secure, I informed the Arendellian guard to hold fast and await a counterattack. Lucky me, I find your bloody carcass on the way back to secure the inner castle." I bit back a groan as a wave of pain once more shot through me. "The inner castle still isn't secure?" He sighed, "it seems that way. We've lost all contact with the northern sector. Last report we got was that Pitch had infiltrated from there, and that was over thirty ago."

The northern sector? Pitch? That cant be good. Wait! I snapped my head around as I looked at him. "Isn't that where Doc was?" A short pause, and the lack of an answer confirmed my suspicion. I continued on, "Pitch will not get away with what he's done. He will pay for his crimes." A small silence passed over us as the Operation Center doors came into view down the long hallway. Still about a two-minute walk, but the end is in sight. If the northern sector was breached, then his target must be the ops room. He's going to finish the job personally, but why? What's his play?

"Kristoff, hold up." He stopped and shot me a look as I continued. "Pitch, his goal is the ops center. He's got some ace up his sleeve if he's making the push himself. You need to proceed on ahead and warn the others." He looked at me, "Hic, you know I'm not going to leave you here. We don't work that way. We'll…" I didn't let him finish, "Fuck that! The more time we waste here, the more likely it is that Pitch makes a move on the room and completes his objective. It's also likely that Elsa…and Anna haven't evacuated yet. If the display of power you mentioned earlier is anything to go by, then they plan to make a stand. You know as well as I do the northern entrance provides not only the most direct route to the room, but also the most cover. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel for him." He looked hesitant as I drove home the final nail and my face softened. "Look, I've been hit in the chest. I'm not going to be much help, hell, I'm honestly surprised I'm even still conscious. You need to go, I'll catch up….and yes, that's an order."

"Fine…but we'll be waiting for you in the ops center." He leaned me against the wall, took one last look at me, and then shot down the hall toward the room. Damn, I'm going to be hurting after this. I slowly started to make my way along the wall and toward the room.

Elsa POV

All heads in the room turned to the western entrance when the door started to open. A gruff voice flowed through the door, "easy, don't' shoot." I saw Anna's eyes widen as Kristoff came strolling in. She took no time in meeting him halfway, and although he was glad to see her I could tell he had other things to worry about. Anna threw her arms around him and began mumbling incoherent things through his vest. Well, he looks like he sure took a beating. His voice projected over the room's remaining occupants. "Listen everyone! We lost touch with the northern unit. Last call puts Pitch on his way here. We need to…."

Before he could finish, the northern doors came flying into the room, taking out two guards nearby and finally sliding away. Immediately, bullets came ripping into the room from the darkness of the hallway. I threw a thick ice shield up to protect Jack, Starn, and myself from the deadly projectiles. Deadeye sprinted to the right and proceeded to return fire, but the enemy tracked his every move. Unfortunately, he didn't make it in time as a round hit him square in the chest. I could tell in an instant that he was no longer with us in the world of the living. I don't have time to dwell on that we need to act. Anna needs….ANNA!

I took a frantic look around. I could see Anna sitting behind an overturned metal table as projectiles skipped off into directions unknown. The most unsettling fact was he bloody face of Kristoff sitting in her lap. She was covering his face with a torn part of her dress to stem the blood flow. I didn't have long to ponder over Kristoff before Jack pulled me down behind our own table. As he did, the ice shield I erected earlier shattered to pieces from the repeated beating it took. Starn had already moved to an adjacent group of stacked hard sided case and began returning fire. I dared a peek around the table and saw about thirty individuals carrying various weapons enter the room and take up positions of cover. Two had attempted to break off right and were quickly dispatched by Starn. Jack was making quick work of a small group who had attempted to move to a closer covered position.

Starn, in a quick move, switched from his current position to a slightly closer position behind a concrete pillar. Jack stayed at his position near me as both men were making fast work of the small army near the door. Thinking quick, I conjured up a flat piece of ice and moved it slightly to the edge of the table. Not far enough to be easily seen, but not so close that I couldn't see passed the table. With my other hand, I created several ice spikes and floated them up over the top of the table. With a target for each in mind I mercilessly fired. I could see the reward of my work from the small mirror in my hand, as five people dropped from the fight. Another two were injured and would likely not make it from this room alive.

I chanced another glance at Anna to make sure she was still safe. She placed Kristoff's head down gently and removed the firearm from the holster on his hip. After checking to make sure a round was chambered, she looked me in the eyes. I was almost taken back by the pure rage that seemed to seep from her very being. In a swift motion she peeked around the table and fired off six shots before taking cover back behind the table as a few bullets bounced off her cover. I saw four assailants drop from view as their friends attempted to return the favor. Jack sat back down next to me reloading and took a breath. "Hell, hath no fury like a woman scorned."

I shot off a few more ice spikes and managed to drop another group of five from the fight. A strong grunt from my left caught my attention. I looked over to see Starn had been hit and was slumped unresponsive against the pillar. Anna popped off several more shots, but only managed to hit three other people before her gun stopped working. She gave a frustrated sigh, placed the firearm down, and proceeded to pull Kristoff closer to her. Jack once more joined me behind the table to reload. I wasn't even paying attention to him. Focusing on his gun he spoke to me, "I'm almost out of ammo, and Pitch has yet to even show himself. I'm concerned there might be another group we don't know about."

A dark laugh echoed through the room followed by an almost demonic voice. "Fret not little Brit. I will make quick work of you and the Queen there." Jack made a move to leave cover, but before he could a small object, about the size of a baseball, landed between our feet. "DOWN!" he yelled as he quickly kicked the object around the table and away from us. The resounding concussion made my ears ring and pushed the table hard against us. I chanced a look at jack as the ringing died down and noticed he was slumped. "Jack?" No response. "JACK!" Still noting. That's when I noticed a huge dent in the table behind where his head would have been. Damn.

The gunfire started up once more, only this time it was continuous and directed at Anna's table. Reaching down, I grabbed my ice mirror once more and looked at the situation. I saw three of the original group still standing. Two were holding what looked like rifles of some sort, and the last had a large belt fed looking weapon. Standing in the middle of the group was Pitch. He was wearing an odd looking black suit that seemed to be distorting the area around him. Maybe I can end this quick. In a flash, I fire two ice spikes directly at his chest with incredible speed. However, before they reached him the spikes melted into water. Is that suit producing a heatwave?

I place one hand on the ground and willed the frost through the marble floor toward his feet. I stared at him in the mirror as I concentrated harder. I noticed the ice start to solidify around his feet and progress up to the rest of his body. He let out a laugh as he removed his hands from behind his back. "Very good Queen Elsa. You know, you and your sister don't have to die in vain. You could join me. Together we could be a force to be reckoned with." I shouted back, "I'd never join you!" In the mirror I saw the smile slip from his face as he clenched his hands into fists. In a flash the ice I created around him became nothing more than a puddle on the ground. "Wrong answer! See the thing about this suit is that I designed it specifically to fight you." I saw him start to walk toward me as the other three stayed in their original position.

Hiccup POV

I made it to the western entrance door a few moments after the sound of a belt fed machine gun reached my ears. The door was slightly ajar. Thank you, Kristoff. The sight inside dampened my mood even further. On the ground behind a table closest to me were Anna and Kristoff, the latter of which appeared to have been hit in the face. Tears ran down Anna's face as she cradled Kristoff's head like a piece of fragile porcelain. A stovepipe shown from Kristoff's sidearm which lay useless next to Anna. At a table slightly further from me and off to the right side of the room sat a slumped over Jack and a fearful looking Elsa. Both appeared to be rather unharmed, but the dent behind Jack's head told me he was going to be out for a while. A pillar slightly ahead of them and almost directly in front of Anna contained a slumped Starn. The man appeared to have taken a round early in the fight and finally passed out from blood loss.

Making his way across the room toward Elsa was Pitch. What is that weird suit he's wearing? Judging by the puddles of water around the northern door, I would assume it's something to specifically combat Elsa's power. If that's the case, then a suit like that must contain some kind of cooling element for the operator. Possibly even a power source to produce the required heat, but where is it? I scanned over the suit as he continued to walk towards Elsa. Come on! Where is it?!

About halfway to Elsa, Pitch turned and shouted an order to the men by the door. There! On his back was a small cylinder about the size of a coffee thermos. The amount of heat that suit is generating would probably melt my rounds before they could even hit it. It looks like his gun is in a special cooling unit on his hip, but even still he's going to have to drop the heat some in order to draw and fire. I'll have to time this just right. I checked my 5.7. Eight shots left. I'll have to neutralize the pack on his back then quickly transition to the men by the door. Pointing the barrel at the crack, I drew the pistol to the center of my chest and took a breath. Pitch came to a stop in front of Elsa. Fuck! He's still at too much of an angle to get a good shot. Steeling my resolve, I took a breath.

Elsa POV

Fear crept over my whole body as Pitch stopped in front of me. Oh God. This is it. God, please let Anna make it out of this at least. Time seemed to slow down as I saw Pitch flex his hand, draw a fire arm from his hip, and move to take aim on my chest. The western door flew open as my eyes tracked Hiccup enter the room and fire off five shots into Pitch's back. He lurched forward into a small stumble. Hiccup turned slightly to his left and fired off three more shots toward the north door. The continuous gunfire from the door stopped. In the short span of time Pitch spun around to face Hiccup. Hiccup, in turn, tried to meet Pitch but was lagging behind. I watched as Pitch's arm moved up to Hiccup's chest to fire. NO! Willing everything I had, I shot an ice spike a Pitch's back….right as his gun went off.

Time seemed to return to its normal flow when Pitch reached down to the spike sticking out of his chest. Blood flowed like a river onto the floor below his feet as he collapsed. The last thing to ever come from his devilish lips was a curse to me. "Bitch." Looking back up I saw Hiccup standing there with a smile on his face. I shakily stood letting a smile grace my own lips. My world was shattered in a moment as I watched Hiccup fall to the ground. No! No way! He was hit when Pitch fired. In a smooth motion in moved over to him and dropped to my own knees. He was bleeding from two wounds on his chest. Wait, two? No. He took the first round shot at me, didn't he? I could feel the tears spilling from my eyes as I looked down at him. His face only looked back up a me smiling. A small trail of blood leaked from his lips.

"Idiot. You senseless idiot. Why did you put yourself in harm's way for me?" I could see he was struggling to keep his eyes open, but still wanted to offer me an answer. "Over my time here.." He let out a wheeze and continued, "…I've seen different sides of you…each one more magical than the last…" A cough followed this time brining forth some more blood with it. "…This became more that just a job…" I heard some noise behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to look away from him. "…I made it my personal mission to make sure you made it out alive…" A faint shout of "MEDIC!" could be heard, but my attention never left Hiccup. "…If only to see you smile…" Another cough and more blood. "…It told me one thing…" Footsteps could be heard making their way toward us. "…That I had fallen in love with you Elsa…" A hand landed on my shoulder, but I fought to hear what Hiccup had to say. "…So for me…one last time…pleas just smile." Despite the treacherous tears that spilled down my face, I mustered up the smile he requested.

Hiccup POV

She graced me with her beautiful smile once again. I did my best to return the gesture as another cough racked my body. Looking up at her, despite my fading vision, I saw a glow coming from her. Almost as if she was shrouded in a mystical light. I slowly began to lose feeling in my toes and finger as my body began to grow colder. I closed my heavy eyes, only to have my sleep disturbed by an incessant shaking. Reopening my eyes was a strain, but this time the face of Toothless was staring down at me. The blackness around my vision began to eat up more of the light. Vaguely I could hear Toothless call my name, but my lazy eye lids and treacherous ears failed to deliver the message. Once again, I tried to enter the blissful realm of sleep, only to again be disturbed by a round of shaking. This time I could only see what was directly above me as lights moved in a blur. I could no longer feel pain, or anything for that matter. My body felt as light a feather, almost as if I was moving on a calm breeze.

This time my eyes closed, and they would be damned if they were going to be denied once more. I feel free. Weightless. I'm sorry Elsa that I couldn't spend more time with you. I'm sorry Anna that I couldn't protect Kristoff. I'm sorry Kirstoff that I robbed you of your chance at happiness. I'm sorry Toothless that I won't be around anymore. A bright light seemed to erase all the blackness. So, this is it huh? I'm sorry everyone.