Winter Dream (Bernard the Elf x Reader)

Chapter 23- Mine

I groaned as I kicked against the wooden door, desperately trying to bust it down. After I was captured the night before, the toy soldier locked me inside a log cabin in the middle of the woods. After scouring the house top to bottom trying to find a way out only to fail miserably, I resorted to trying to break the door off of its hinges, which proved to be more challenging than I initially thought.

Besides being far away from the elf village, making it impossible to communicate with the outside world, all the windows were boarded up from the exterior, and there were no tools that could be used to aid my escape. I had only been locked in there for a little over thirteen hours, but I was practically losing my sanity.

The cabin was nice enough as prisons go, but it still wasn't great. The cabin looked as though nobody had been there in years, which made me question how toy Santa knew about this place. Dust was touching every surface, and the air reeked of a strange mix of wet wood and peppermint. The floorboards were unstable and would let out creaks of annoyance whenever I strode across them. The wooden walls were aging, causing the whole cabin to be extremely drafty. The subzero winds occasionally nipped at my skin, making me shiver and long for a warm cup of cocoa.

There was hardly any furniture inside, besides an old couch, a rickety table with two mismatched chairs, and a bed that was uncomfortable enough to make me sleep on the sofa.

Besides a few tin cans of beans and corn which looked to be decades old, there was absolutely no food. Seeing as I had no clue as to how long I would be trapped in this place, I began putting aside the cans to ration them out, while also praying that toy Santa would take pity on me and have the soldiers send me fresh food.

All I could think about was the list of worries I had. My elf ears had completely reverted to my original human ears, all of my magic was gone, Dad may or may not have found a wife, Charlie might have still been on the naughty list, all of the elves were stuck with toy Santa and his army of toy soldiers, Bernard would have no clue what happened to me and was probably worried sick, and on top of all of that, Christmas was only a few short days away.

I finally gave up trying to break down the door and made my way over to the couch that was placed in front of the fireplace. I collapsed on the hand-woven cushions and sighed in defeat. I traced my fingers along the delicate stitching as I glanced around the dusty and chilly cabin. A shiver ran across my skin, and I slowly stood up.

I grasped a couple of logs that were in the corner of the room and tossed them into the fireplace. As I began trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together as I saw in the movies, I heard heavy footsteps on the porch outside of the cabin, and the muffled sound of shouting. My heartbeat picked up in anticipation, hoping that someone had located me.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and to my surprise, Bernard was roughly shoved into the cabin. "You're gonna regret this! Just you wait!!" The head elf threatened as he toppled to the cold floor with an ugly sounding 'thud.'

I winced.

Just as soon as it had opened, the cabin door once again slammed shut, trapping both of us inside the wooden prison. I quickly darted over to my boyfriend, who was slowly trying to pick himself up off of the floor. "Bernard!?" I couldn't tell if I was happier or more upset to see him again. I took his hands and gently helped him to his feet. "Are you alright?"

Bernard didn't make eye contact with me. "I've been better."

I gently cupped his cheek in my hand to turn him to face me, and he hissed in pain. I quickly removed my hand. "What happened?"

Finally, Bernard looked at me and I gasped. A large red spot had appeared on the side of his face; it was a bruise forming. Bernard sighed. "Toy Santa created those soldiers and started ordering the elves to stop making toys and give the children of the world coal. When I stood up to him, he ordered the soldiers to take me away." He looked at his feet. "I tried to escape them, but I only made it worse."

I didn't need any more explanation. I got the idea. My heart broke for him. Bernard stared at me with defeated eyes as I lead him to the couch and sat him down. "Stay here," I instructed, already running to the loft of the cabin. I opened one of the windows on the top floor, and although it was boarded up, I was still able to stick my arm through one of the cracks in the boards. My hand felt around me for an icicle, and I finally felt the cool chill of what I was looking for. I broke off the icicle and brought it back to the bottom floor. Breaking it in half, I wrapped it in a cloth and passed it to Bernard. "You can hold this against the bruise to make it feel better. I'd heal you, but my magic's completely gone." I sadly admitted.

Bernard gave me a gentle smile and held the ice against his face. "Thanks, Snow Angel."

We sat there in silence for a moment or two, before Bernard piped up. "So, how'd you get caught? Toy Santa told us that you left to go visit Charlie, but I knew he was lying."

"He said that? I would never leave you guys! Well, at least not without telling you first." I sighed. "I got caught last night. I woke up with a bad feeling and ended up wandering into the mechanic room, where I caught toy Santa creating his toy soldier army. He captured me when I tried to stop him and tossed me here."

"He didn't hurt you, did he? If that heap of rubber did even so much as lay a finger on you, I'll...I'll-" Bernard balled his hand into a fist as he spoke.

I gently placed my hand on his shoulder. "I'm okay, B. Promise." I gently kissed his forehead and sat beside him. "The only thing you should be worried about is getting better. We'll find a way out of here once you've rested and feel a bit better."

"But what about toy Santa? What about Christmas?"

"Bernard, the only thing I'm worried about right now is you." I gently spoke. "I love you. You mean the world to me. I'm putting you first."

He softly smiled. "I don't deserve you, Snow Angel..."

My cheeks turned a light shade of red. "Bernard..." I scooted over and patted my lap, gesturing for him to lie down.

Bernard gently laid his head in my lap, and I carefully removed his signature beret and set it aside. My fingers slowly began running through Bernard's black curls, smiling at how soft they felt. A small grin spread across my boyfriend's face as I played with his curls. Bernard took my free hand in his own and intertwined our fingers. Raising them into the air, we both stared at our hands together, as though we were studying how it was possible for them to fit together so perfectly.

"Thank you for choosing me." He suddenly spoke. His voice came out in a whisper.

I looked away from our hands and down at his face. Bernard was no longer staring at our hands, but he was staring at me. My eyes met his brown ones, full of love. "Thank you for being mine."