When Ice Meets Sky
The sky was painted in shades of twilight, and the world had gone still—holding its breath, as if afraid to interrupt.
Elsa stood before him, her gown flowing behind like stardust, as though the wind itself had fallen in love with her and wouldn't let go. Her eyes shimmered with something ancient and powerful, but they softened the moment they met his.
Hiccup didn't say a word.
He couldn't.
He had flown through storms and across seas, through mountains and memories, just to see her again. Now that she stood before him—so close, so ethereal—his voice was lost somewhere between awe and the ache in his chest.
She smiled.
Her smile reached into him and loosened something he didn't know he'd been carrying. Fear, perhaps. Doubt. That quiet, gnawing feeling that he wasn't enough for someone like her—someone made of myth and snowlight.
"I didn't think you'd come," Elsa whispered.
"I didn't think you'd wait," Hiccup replied, his voice rough with emotion.
Elsa stepped forward, her bare feet touching the frost-covered earth as if she were born from it. "I wasn't waiting. But I kept hoping."
His eyes searched hers—eyes that had seen dragons and battlefields, fire and loss—yet nothing had ever made him feel so small and alive at once.
He reached out, hesitant at first, until his fingers brushed hers. Cold. Gentle. Real.
"I don't care what powers you have," he murmured. "I don't care if the world says you belong to something greater. I just care that you're here. With me."
Elsa looked down at their hands, her breath catching. "Do you know what it's like to be afraid of hurting the one person you want to hold?"
"I do," he said softly. "Because I'm holding you now, and I'm terrified I won't be able to again."
The wind stirred around them, lifting her cape like wings, wrapping them in a gentle hush of air and snow. She leaned in—not close enough to kiss, not yet, but close enough for her breath to ghost across his lips.
"Then don't let go," she said.
And he didn't.
Not when the stars emerged. Not when the frost bloomed beneath their feet like flowers. Not even when the world reminded them they were still a dragon-rider and an ice-queen from the worlds apart.
Because in that moment, all they were was his hand in hers, her eyes in his, and everything in between quietly falling into place.
by @faeliquerart