PLEASE READ THIS: I know that most people skip these little messages and get on to the story, heck I'm one of those people too. But just so none of you new readers become confused, there's a few things I want to mention:
1: I know that a lot of people have cameo characters of Kai and Gerda, which I am also having. Obviously. However, I've always seen Kai and Gerda as younger characters, possibly in their early twenties, since they were quite young in the actual fairytale. So none of you get confused when they come in, they are indeed younger characters. I will have a ref of them posted on my deviantART page and possibly tumblr in the near future.
2: I am going to assume there is plumbing. Like toilets and showers and such. In the actual movie of Frozen there were water fountains around so there probably are toilets. Especially in a classy castle like that. But just so you know.
3: And also umbrella's. They'll be useful in this type of fanfic.
4: Because this website is a little odd in the spaces between paragraphs, parts with these '~~•~~' refer to the changing of a scene.
5: And I'll also be adding little references or similarities from other Disney/Pixar movies so if you catch one and comment below, then you can win a free picture :) (probably Helsa related)(I'm an artist BTW)
(Reference found by RavenQueenFan2605! No one else can win a prize until next chapter!)
6: I also have a Music soundtrack for this fanfic that will be posted on tumblr somewhere. Songs for the chapter will always be listed in-between the authors note and the beginning of the chapter :)
Now, this is not a smutty fanfic. If you were hoping for some smut, I'm sorry go find an actual Helsa fanfic with smut in it. I don't know how to write smut, nor do I want to, plus in this type of story smut wouldn't make any sense. This is my interpretation of a Frozen sequel. A bit more violent, but still an interpretation. With Helsa. :D
I'll also be doing things at the end called 'Elsa's Diary', which she talks about things and her feelings from what had gone on throughout the chapter. Just a little thing I thought would be fun.
I'll also be making pictures for each chapter which you can find on my deviantART page: ARSugarPie :)
I believe I covered everything, and this will probably be the only chapter you needed to read the above author's message. Without further ado, here is my fanfic, and I hope you enjoy. :)
Moonlight - The Piano Guys
~ The exit closes only to open somewhere else ~
~~•~~
Fire raises up towards the sky, as it's smoke slithers through the kingdom of Arendelle. Townspeople's screams can be heard echoing between the buildings, which have flames infesting inside them.
"Hurry to the south side of Arendelle!"
Soldiers frantically run towards blasts of flames. One of the men directs soldiers in safe directions that aren't blocked by fire and rubble. One of the soldiers looks up to watch a huge blast of fire explode towards any buildings that still seem to be in decent condition. Soldiers run in many directions, however one stands in shock from the destruction seen. He hears the sound of pavement cracking just to the left of him. He looks just in time to see stalagmite burst from the crack and shoot towards him. He jumps away slamming into the pavement, as he lifts himself up with his arms, he shakes his head, then looks up to see an arm of fire shoot towards him. Covering his face awaiting impact, ice cackles up the flame dousing it before it reaches him. He looks up to see melted snow spread out in front of him, steaming. Turning his head he sees the queen. He gets up from the ground.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes," he nods his head, "thank you Queen Elsa."
She nods her head in reply.
"Now go help the others." She points in the direction behind her, and he runs in that direction immediately. Drawing her attention to the flames rising on the other side of some buildings, she's about to run towards them only to have her attention quickly turn to more arms of fire gunning towards her.
Elsa conjures up a wall of ice in front of her to stop one, then raising her hand commanding Ice to shoot at another. The final arm of fire extends at her, forcing her to dive out of the way. Quickly raising her head, she jolts up and runs towards a two-story building with flames eating out its side. The arm of fire she dodged thrusts away and glides in the opposite direction.
Elsa barges through the door to the building. Her eyes instantly search for the staircase. She needs some passageway up to the rooftop. Building a staircase of ice is too risky especially with everything happening outside. She darts for the staircase once she spots it. A burning beam falls from the ceiling just as she darts away. She stops at the bottom of the stairs, quickly looking over it to see if she can run up them. A few flames cackle on the walls, and holes decorate them from falling cannonballs of rock. She hears another beam of wood about to break off and fall, weakened by flames. She forces her way up the stairs before it caves in. Holding onto the walls to help her balance from the shaking of the building, she hurries to make her way up the staircase. Outside one of the holes, she can see an arm of fire quickly coming towards the two-story building. She quickens her pace, sees a window just a little ways up the staircase, and just as the side of the building makes contact with the arm of fire, she dives out through the window onto the roof, which is devastated from fire and rock. She watches behind as the walls collapse inside. Alarmed, she forces herself to stand. Flames roar around the surrounding area. Ice shot from her hands like gunfire, countering anything attempting to attack her.
Elsa frantically examines everything that is happening to her kingdom. On the street, pavement gurgles. Suddenly stalagmite blasts through impaling the sides of the building, battering through the weak walls and stretching through the roof. She dives out of the way, gets up, and runs to the other end. The building now enfeebled by the impact, begins to break under Elsa's feet. The last stalagmite shoots up to deliver the final blow to the building. Elsa loses her footing from the roof splitting apart, falling over the edge. The sound of her screams echo alongside the other citizens' until they suddenly fall silent.
~~•~~
The queen's eyes flutter open to overlook the moon beaming down, and the trillions of stars dotting the sky. Laid on her back, she takes a deep breath, and weakly pushes herself off the ground supporting herself with her arms. The fall from the roof didn't cause much pain. Before she hit the ground a pile of snow accumulated to soften her fall. Evidence of snow and rubble is left around her. Finally gaining full consciousness of the surrounding area, she forces herself to a stand, and looks up at the edge of the roof she fell off of. Holes from stalagmite impaling its sides are left over, along with evident damage, however the stalagmites are not in the places they pierced through. They're not even visible, as if they've disappeared.
Elsa looks around at the other buildings. Destruction had been inflicted upon them, except their appearance looks as if they fell apart over many years. Burn marks and such are not perceptible, even though fire had been engulfing Arendelle. The streets look damn as if a sudden rainfall occurred while she was unconscious.
Nothing is new however. Everything that has occurred is just a repeat of past attacks.
For two years the kingdom of Arendelle has been enduring this war, yet there is no indication of who or what is causing the attacks. The war began right after the eternal winter of Arendelle. After it was over and Elsa was free to be herself within her kingdom, all the worries and fears she had were slowly disappearing. She began opening herself up to believing nothing bad will ever happen again.
But she was wrong. Elsa walks through her kingdom, looking at all the destroyed walls and houses, trying to hold back the wetness from her eyes.
"Papa!"
Elsa turns to see a little boy shaking a man's body that's lying on his stomach with his head turned.
"Wake up. Papa we gotta go look for Mama..."
The boy's sniffles can be heard throughout the street. Being too much to bear, Elsa cringes her head away, and starts walking in the opposite direction. More people can be seen walking about the streets now. Looking for people they were separated from, searching for important belongings. From some broken buildings, townspeople are still making their way out from the inside. Because of the sudden attacks, everyone needs to resort to some place for shelter.
"Elsa!"
The queen turns around to see her sister running towards her. With the sight of her sister, relief fills up in her.
She rushes up to Anna and they embrace.
"Anna," Elsa pulls away from Anna but remains holding her arms, "thank goodness you're alright."
Anna looks at Elsa's tattered clothing, damp from shooting ice.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. What about you?" Anna's skirt is ripped, and is also dirty from running around. Elsa turns her attention to something else.
"Where's Kristoff?"
"He's helping others still trying to get out from fallen buildings," Anna notices the worry in Elsa, "don't worry, he's fine."
Elsa nods.
"My lady."
Both Anna and Elsa turn to see a soldier walking up to them.
"I've come to report," he says.
"How is everything?" Elsa refrains from looking at his face. Knowing he does not have a look of relief means the situation is most dire.
"Destruction has taken place in a majority of Arendelle. Little of the housing is usable for the citizens."
Elsa's eyes remain viewing the ground, until she looks up slightly.
"How many deaths?" She doesn't want to ask this, but she knows she has to. The soldier hesitates; obviously he knows she doesn't want to hear it.
"We are still counting," he answers.
Still counting. She takes a deep breath, and straightens her posture.
"Thank you," she concludes.
He bows his head, and leaves.
Anna has been behind her the whole time. She heard everything. Walking up to her slowly, she places her hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Elsa?"
Elsa stands stiff.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she quickly answers back. She wipes her eyes, and then turns to face Anna.
"We need to help the townspeople," she immediately orders.
"What?" The sudden change in her sister makes Anna confused.
Elsa turns around and begins walking.
"If we want to be ready for the next attack we have to begin searching for things that can help us."
"Next attack?"
Anna tries to follow as Elsa nods at other soldiers coming up to her.
"Elsa," Anna calls from behind her. Elsa ignores her.
"Begin rounding up all the citizens that survived," Elsa commands a soldier.
The soldier obeys, and Anna runs up to Elsa and grabs her arm.
"Elsa!"
Elsa turns to Anna annoyed.
"What?"
Anna lets go of her arm, and looks at her worriedly.
"You don't know what you're doing, do you?"
Elsa's eyes widen. She looks down at the ground.
"No one knows when the next attack will happen," Anna says, "even if someone did, there's nothing we can find out to help us."
"I know." Elsa shuts her eyes.
Anna looks down at the ground also.
"Maybe, there is something we can do-"
"No there isn't," Elsa says sternly. Anna instantly looks up at her sister.
"Anna, we've been enduring this war for 2 years now," Elsa breathes in with a trembling breath, "like you said, we know nothing about it. We don't even know who or what is causing this." Elsa turns and begins rubbing her temples. She opens her eyes and stares out at the street.
"And you're right. I don't know what I'm doing. I've only been fooling myself and everyone else into thinking I do," she shuts her eyes and sighs, trying to hold back tears, "but I realize now that it didn't work."
Anna doesn't know what to say. Elsa opens her eyes but remains in thought.
"If this continues any longer, everyone will have to be relieved."
Anna's eyes widen and she begins shaking her head.
"No," she steps up to Elsa, "you don't actually mean-" she begins breathing heavily, "Elsa you can't."
What other choice do I have? Elsa wants to say this but it won't come out. She turns her head to look at Anna, whose face is beginning to turn red from the tears she's trying to hold back. The silence rises between them causing more pain than it intends to.
"Anna. Elsa." The Arendelle royals turn their heads and see Kristoff walk up with a few of the kingdoms citizens. His clothes are tattered and torn, and also dirty.
"What do we do now?" Kristoff looks at Elsa. Once his question sinks in Anna looks away and faces the ground, pulling her arms to hug herself. Elsa's breathing intensifies. More citizens walk up awaiting an answer from their queen, including a woman holding the hand of the boy from earlier. Both their eyes look swollen.
"Well?" A man calls out from the crowd. Everyone's eyes fall on Elsa making her feel heavier.
"I- uh," she slowly moves backwards looking from one citizen to the next. Frost begins accumulating on the ground with every step she takes. She can't hold back the tears.
A trail of ice follows her to the castle. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Anna watched her run as citizens begin whispering to themselves. Once Elsa was out of sight, Anna turned back around looking at the ground before she looks at Kristoff. He returns her look with the same question running through their heads. What are we going to do now?
~~•~~
Her heels click as she glides through the corridors of the castle. Wrapping her arms around herself, she remembers the faces of the citizens staring at her. Should I give up? What will happen if I do? She shakes her head. She doesn't want everyone else to face the consequences if she decides to surrender to the war. As their queen, they look up to her; expect her to know the solution, as they should.
Elsa stops for a moment to remember which part of the castle she's in. Looking around, her attention is drawn to a painting on the wall of men and women dancing at a ball. Snowflakes start to fall making her look up. Realizing frost will gather, she takes a deep breath and begins walking again.
If snowflakes fall simply because she wants everyone to be happy like in the painting, then how is she going to get through this war? She's scared too. Just like everyone else. But as queen, she has to wear a mask that's been chipping away ever since the attacks started. Frost trails behind her making her even more upset.
"Don't feel." After she thawed the eternal winter, she never thought she'd need to tell herself to try pushing her powers away again.
"Don't feel!" She raises her hands to rub her temples. Saying this has never helped. It makes it worse. However, saying it over and over again when she was younger caused it to be a habit. Elsa comes up to a corner in the hall. As she's about to turn, Gerda, one of the castle maids comes around the corner at the same time holding a vase with roses.
"AH!" Gerda jumps at the sight of Elsa, while Elsa hops back at the sudden yell from the maid. Gerda takes a deep breath and places a hand on her chest.
"Heh- I'm sorry my lady, you startled me," Gerda says nervously.
"It's alright, I wasn't sure if anyone was up," Elsa looks at the vase Gerda is holding, "With everything that's happened today I couldn't be sure."
Gerda looks at her with a crooked smile. She's the type of woman that seems nervous all the time. She's also very shaky. Nonetheless, she's still very sweet. Gerda notices the frost that followed Elsa.
"Is everything alright?" Gerda looks at her worried. Elsa nods her head.
"Yeah just- stressed," she gestures towards the vase, "fresh pick?"
Gerda looks at the vase.
"Oh," she looks back up at Elsa, "yeah, Kai told me to switch out the ones in your bedroom." Gerda gives a nervous looking smile.
"Well they're lovely, thank you," she smiles lightly, "odd though, since I figured our crop fields and gardens were destroyed."
Gerda shrugs. "Kai gets the roses. So I don't now where they come from."
"Ah." Elsa looks down at the floor.
"Anyways," Gerda says making Elsa look up at her, "I should take these to your bedroom now."
"Right," Elsa nods. Gerda walks past her, only to stop suddenly and turn around.
"My lady?"
Elsa turns to look at her.
"Yes?"
"Where are you heading anyways?"
"To the library. Then to my study."
"Would you like me to leave you some tea?"
"Tea would be lovely," Elsa smiles.
"Okay." Gerda turns around again.
"Don't stay up to late!" Elsa calls to Gerda.
"Same to you." And the darkness for the night engulfs the maid making her no longer visible.
Elsa stands in place looking in the direction Gerda left. The quiet lies still within the air. It's quite late to be taking flowers somewhere in the first place, but if it's something to take their minds off of the attack that happened earlier, then they can. Elsa is about to continue walking until a black figure runs past her. She freezes in place, until she stands up straight and continues walking down the hall, quickening her pace.
~~•~~
The flame of a candle flickers as Elsa searches through the bookshelves of the library. She's come here countless times seeking anything that has information on battles and wars. Even storybooks. Arendelle has never been part of any wars in the past. Elsa can't be sure though. Even if Arendelle had participated in a war, it would've been a long time ago, in which the kingdoms books of its history would not have covered them. Taken into consideration, Elsa plans to avoid anything on Arendelle's history. She grabs a few books that could be useful, some she's read through before, but decides to read through them again to see if she missed something that could possibly be useful. She sits down on the sofa placing the pile next her, then begins looking through the books one by one, picking one up from the pile, reading it's title, then placing it on the other side of her.
"The goblet and its master," she begins reading out. She puts it down. Takes another.
"King of the North. Half past the moon's rising." Elsa looks through book after book, until she picks one up pausing to read the books title.
'Battle of Arnon.'
She looks at it for a moment; suddenly a dark figure runs across the room behind her. Frantically looking around at every corner of the room. The door's shut, and there's nothing but her shadow dancing from the flickering of the candle behind her. Becoming slightly nervous, she puts the book down, blows out the candle behind her, and gets up to walk over to the door. She opens it and begins to step out. Before she shuts it, she takes one last look around the room. Nothing moves in the light of the moon pouring in from the window. She takes a deep breath then finally shuts the door. Before she lets go of the door handle, she glances down the dark corridors a few times. Eventually, she let go of the door handle and quickly begins heading in the direction of her study.
~~•~~
The feeling that something or someone is watching makes the halls eerier than they should be. Including that the hall to her study seems all the more, compared to all the other halls and corridors. She really should have gone to bed. But with all the weird things she's been imagining and all the frustration from earlier this evening, she's trying to avoid sleeping since she won't sleep anyways. Finding something to do would be more productive then lying in bed having the problems and worries attack her head on. Elsa comes up to the study's entrance. Before she opens them to allow herself in, she pauses. Something in her feels like she was meant to come here. She's come anyways. Still, there's something making her become very cautious and worried. Should she leave? Turn around and avoid whatever is making her uneasy? Her hand begins turning one of the door handles.
She's going in. Whatever is making her feel this way she has to know why. Even though she can't guarantee she'll be thankful she did, or regretful. Elsa walks into her study to find the lights doused and the doors to the balcony wide open. She was right, something seems suspicious in here, but there's no sign of movement or anything. Closing the door to her study, she takes a deep breath, and walks towards the balcony doors. There is hardly any wind outside so the glass doors couldn't have opened themselves. Grabbing the handles, she silently shuts them.
"Ugh this tea is vile. How can you drink this?"
A streak of terror explodes inside her. She immediately spins around to find a man standing over at the tea set Gerda mentioned earlier. However, this isn't just any man. He places the teacup and saucer on the table.
"You must have a really weird taste in tea." The man turns over to face her, fright obviously shown in her face.
"Nice to see you again Queen Elsa," he says smoothly. Her eyes widen.
"Prince… Hans?"
"Not 'prince' anymore," he shrugs, "a little precaution they took when I returned."
He turns around and picks up a table ornament.
"You know I don't ever recall being in this room last time I was here," he says as he examines the ornament.
Elsa stands frozen with her back pressing against the balcony doors. Her breathing becomes heavier.
"You- how did you- " Elsa stutters with every word, "you can't be here- you were to be executed!"
Hans puts the ornament back on the table, hesitating before turning around.
"You did get that letter? Oh good, I was starting to worry you didn't," he raises his eyebrows, "you never replied to it, so…"
Elsa stands petrified.
"And about my execution; I escaped," he answers bluntly.
"Escaped? How could you have possibly-"?
"Someone took my place. Not exactly sure who, man by the name of Charles Hentleigh. Sound familiar?" He shrugs turning around, "the name sounds familiar to me, but I can't quite place it. We look similar apparently."
Hans picks up another table ornament and begins looking at it. He looks over his shoulder at her.
"If it helps, he's done worse criminal acts then I have," he turns back around and puts the ornament down, "that's why he was on the run."
Elsa begins seething from everything he's been saying.
"And how do you know this?"
"The captain that was paid to smuggle Mr. Hentleigh elsewhere told me, along with some of the crew." Hans begins walking around the room. Elsa keeps her eyes focused on him.
"Anyways, the captain mistook me as Hentleigh, said he'd take me to the sun kingdom of Corona as planned, but instead, I asked to be brought here," he stops and crosses his arms, "I told them to go back to wherever they came from when we arrived. I've been staying in some shack near the shore trying to figure out a reason to confront you."
Elsa fumes as she glares at him.
"And what reason brought you to confront me?" Elsa speaks in a calm tone even though anger is filling inside her.
"It should be obvious, like you'd forget about everything that happened earlier today," he points out, "with what I've seen it looks like you need help."
"Arendelle doesn't need help. I have everything under control," she furrows her eyebrows. In a way she feels like she's lying to herself. He turns to her.
"Like you did today?"
She's shocked by his reply, until rage inside her fills up again.
He raises an eyebrow at her.
"Get out."
"What?" He drops his arms, "you don't even want to hear what I have to say?"
"Get out of Arendelle. Now," she clenches her fists, as she marches up to him.
Hans hesitates as she comes closer.
"Yeah, I don't see that happening since all of Arendelle's ships are destroyed,"
Elsa halts for a second. She forgot about the ships. The last of Arendelle's ships were destroyed. Her anger pastes on to her face again.
"Then find a way!" She shoots her hand out pointing to the side directing him to leave, "I don't care how. I'll send you off on a glacier if I have to."
He thinks to himself.
"Wouldn't that still be helpful to me? Really a regular human can survive up to 40 days without food as long as they have water, which you'd basically be giving me."
Elsa can't take the frustration anymore. She can feel the ice accumulating on her fingertips. Hans takes notice.
"Be careful," he grins slightly glancing at the floor, "you don't want your powers to go crazy again."
She jolts towards him but he doesn't flinch.
"Don't make me-"
"Do what?" he interrupts, "freeze me with your magical fairy ice powers?"
Her glare remains on him. He glances to the side, chuckles then looks at her again.
"You really think that'll work on me?" he sneers. Elsa's glare fades, and her eyes widen. Hans glides past her leaving her standing there.
"If you honestly think shooting ice at me will really do damage, then you're quite mistaken," he turns around to see her back still facing him but with her hands lowered and her head looking at the floor, "then again you might not be thinking clearly right now."
"How would it be a mistake?" Elsa remains looking at the floor.
"As Anna had said, and I will quote; 'the only frozen heart around here is yours'. That's a misconception."
Elsa turns to view him. He has his hand on his hip, looking at her.
"Really if I did have a frozen heart, freezing it again won't do anything. However I don't have a frozen heart," he smirks, tilting his head downwards but keeping his eyes fixated on her, "I just don't have one in general."
She stands petrified.
"Why did you come here?" Her voice sounds shaky, but she can't control it. The atmosphere around her feels cooler and she knows he feels it too.
"I came to offer you a deal," he calmly says.
"What deal?"
Hans looks down smirking.
"Obviously," he begins, "Arendelle has no experience when it comes to war." He looks back at her.
"Usually in this case, you'd ask for aid, especially from a country that actually has experience," Hans begins pacing, " the best choice of a country with outstanding military expertise would've been the Southern Isles, am I right?" He stops in place and tilts his head to rest his eyes on her.
"Be that as it may, you can't, at least not anymore. One; Arendelle's ships are destroyed, and any chance of rebuilding one is a lost cause. Two; because of my 'actions', you cut off the trade partnership between Arendelle and the Southern Isles."
Elsa's eyes widen. She directs her attention to the floor as if to admit he's correct. He smirks lifting his head.
"I'm spot on aren't I?"
"I already know this," she keeps her eyes fixated on the floor, "why are you bringing it up?"
Hans takes a deep breath.
"A trade partnership with a neighboring kingdom isn't just sending foreign goods to each other. It's an alliance. So when you called off the trade partnership with the Southern Isles because of my wrong doings, you called off the alliance between the two kingdoms."
Elsa lifts her head up to look at him.
"However with the Southern Isles military, all royalty must be drafted in at least three to five years," he sighs, "fortunately for me, I was in the military for ten."
Both remain eyeing each other. Elsa realizes what he's getting at.
"My deal," he pauses, "is that I will help you with this war; being combat skills, battle tactician, planning, you name it. I have the knowledge with this sort of thing. I've been in battles before. So I have the experience."
Her eyes watch him.
"And what do you want in return?"
The corner of his mouth lifts on his face.
"You know what I want."
Anger fills inside her. The cold on her hands feel thicker.
"Like I'd hand over the throne to you."
Hans looks as if he's lost. His eyebrows are raised and he has a goofy smile. His eyes look around the room as he lifts his hand to run his fingers through his hair.
"Okay- you don't know what I want. Uuuh," he takes a deep breath, "since you got the first letter I figured you had gotten the second one."
Elsa is confused by what Hans is saying.
"What second letter?" she asks. Hans pauses as he blinks at her. He takes in another deep breath in realization that he has to explain more.
"In the event of an execution in the Southern Isles," he begins pacing, "if the one to be executed did any offensive acts of any kind towards another kingdom, a letter will be sent out to that kingdom asking if that kingdom would like to punish the man or woman themselves."
Hans bobs his head slightly before he continues, stopping in place holding out his hand towards her.
"Since you didn't reply to that letter in the limited time that was given, the Southern Isles took the liberty of deciding my punishment," he begins pacing again, "since I'm supposedly 'executed' there, another letter should been sent out asking if my actions be forgiven and forgotten," he explains.
"I find it completely ridiculous, but that's the law," he says to himself.
"And why is this significant?" Elsa asks.
Hans spins around to face her.
"With that letter… I want you to sign it confirming my actions be forgiven." He sounds more serious then he was before. However she won't take him that way.
"So, what? You can go to some other kingdom and try to steal their throne?"
Hans gives an annoyed look. He begins shaking his head.
"Why do you automatically assume I want to try stealing a throne? Doesn't anyone ever wonder why I tried to steal one in the first place?"
Elsa ignores him.
"Then why do you want me to forgive your actions?"
"Because with my actions forgiven, Hans will merely cease to exist. I could go somewhere far away, change my name, everything, and actually live a life."
There was a tinge of curiosity in what he says, but Elsa brushes it off. They stand in silence eyeing each other.
"We haven't received letters recently. Just like you pointed out. All of Arendelle's ships are destroyed, so how could we have received anything?" she questions.
Hans looks away and shrugs slightly.
"Well unlike the first letter, the one I want you to sign doesn't have limited time in which it has to be replied to. So signing it right now isn't a priority," he pauses, "and you should probably consider that Arendelle doesn't need a ship to receive a letter. The kingdom sending it would need one. If anything, the letter would have been delivered by the same ship I was on. Since I asked to be taken somewhere else, the captain would have gave notice and anything needed to be sent here would have been taken from that ship," he lifts his hand to his chin, "if that makes sense."
"And how long ago did you arrive?" Elsa has been wondering this for a while, but couldn't find a good time to bring it up.
"I've been here for maybe the past week," he admits bluntly, "everything seemed normal here, until today."
"A week?"
"Yep."
"What have you been eating?"
"Well it's not that hard to steal an orange from a box that's left out in the open."
Elsa stares at him with an annoyed expression. He takes a deep breath.
"Like the box wasn't going to get destroyed anyways, and the rest of the oranges wouldn't have been wasted," he says.
Elsa sighs, closing her eyes and lifting her hands up to rub her temples.
"No. No. You're just another hallucination," frustration fills up with every word, "you can't be here!" she throws her arms to her sides and shoots a glare in his direction.
"Another hallucination? You've been hallucinating things?" Hans is confused as he watches her rub her temples again. He becomes curious, placing his hand on his hip.
"Let me ask you something. If I'm really an hallucination, do you think an hallucination would say it isn't one?"
Elsa looks up at him, a little worried than frustrated.
"If you aren't one, then what about this letter you speak of? How do I know you're not lying?" she asks.
"I guess you're just going to have to find that out for yourself," he smirks.
Elsa's eyes widen. She slowly draws her attention towards the ground. Hans watches her, then finally straightens his posture, and begins walking towards the balcony.
"If you have any questions, or decide to accept my offer, I'll be in that same shack by the shore." He passes her and is halfway to the balcony.
"Uh- wait!" Elsa yells.
Hans looks over his shoulder. Elsa hesitates.
"What if you just forged the contents of the letter?" she accuses.
He chuckles.
"One of the differences between me and my brothers is that my writing is completely different compared to theirs. And to prove it," Hans walks over to her desk, grabs some parchment and a quill dipped in ink, and writes something down. He lifts it up to reveal it to her.
'Long Live Queen Elsa'.
"Besides, wouldn't forging the letter myself just make it seem like I want to help you for nothing in return?"
He drops the parchment and quill on her desk, and continues walking towards the balcony doors. Elsa looks away considering all that's happened. Hans has opened the balcony doors, and sat up onto the rails.
"Oh and by the way," he begins.
Elsa glances over at him. A smirk is pasted on his face.
"You look as lovely as ever." With that, he hops over the balcony making Elsa run towards the railings immediately. She watches him make it to the ground and dash across the courtyard. Once he makes it through the gates, she turns around and runs straight out of her study. Making her way through the dark hallways, only one thing running through her mind. If that letter is real then so is he. Just as she speeds around the corner at the end of the hall, someone slowly comes around from the other side. Without warning, Elsa and the man slam into each other and fly backwards. Elsa sits up and holds her head from the whiplash. Why does someone always come around the corner at the exact same time?
"My lady?"
Elsa looks up at the man sitting in front of her.
"Kai?"
"Yeah," he stands up and straightens out his vest, and then offers a hand for the queen. She doesn't accept it however. Ice is layered atop the palm of her hand, and doesn't want to freeze his. She quickly stands and smooth's out the skirt of her dress. Kai notices she's tense.
"Why were you running?" he asks. Elsa looks up at him.
"Kai? Have we received any packages or letters recently?"
He's taken aback.
"Uh... there was a small bag of letters that was found… so possibly-"
"Show me where that bag is!" she interrupts.
Kai's confused but doesn't question.
"In storage," he points down the hall in which he came and they begin running, "this way!" It's obvious to Elsa that he is completely confused but he'll find out sooner or later. Their footsteps pound against the floor as they rush down the hall.
~~•~~
They come to one of the storage rooms in the lower levels of the castle. Most of the letters and packages sent to Arendelle when the war started have been thrown in here and have been disregarded since. Mountains of letters and packages hide the shelves and tabletops. Kai brought her the bag he mentioned, and she began frantically searching through it. Finally she comes across a letter addressed to; 'Queen Elsa of Arendelle', in the same handwriting that was written on the first letter The Southern Isles sent. She pulls it out of the bag and tears the envelope open. As the parchment inside unfolds by her hands, her attention is immediately drawn to the words; '… execution was successful…' Reading the few words before that, her eyes widen and her grip tightens on the parchment. Kai notices but remains quiet. Elsa's eyes glide further down the writing, and the words she feared would be written down stare at her. Re-reading the paragraph fully, the letter writes:
'… Former Prince Hans' execution was successful. Within the law of our kingdom, we ask if his actions be-' she hesitates, '-forgiven and forgotten.'
She stares at the letter petrified. Kai looks from the letter and then up at her.
"My lady… you look like you've seen a ghost."
Elsa raises her head up slowly, but glares off into nothing.
"I have."
~~•~~
In an upstairs room, fire cackles on top of burning wood. A little snowman sitting a safe distance away but still has the view of the fire, reads through a little book.
Snow from a little cloud above him gently drops snowflakes. Suddenly, a frantic knock comes upon the door making the snowman look up from the book's pictures.
"Who is it?" he asks.
"Olaf it's me."
Hearing the familiar voice, Olaf immediately realizes its Elsa. He hops off his seat and waddles quickly over to the door to allow her in. Once the door is open, he sees the terrified look on her face. Elsa quickly walks in fiddling her fingers, a piece of parchment crumpled between her thumb and index. She stops just behind the snowman.
"I'm sorry for coming in so late Olaf but- you're the only person I can really talk to about this- I-" her words stumble. She's come to Olaf in the past because he can give her a bit of understanding, which others can't.
"It's alright Elsa," Olaf shuts the door and turns to her with worry in his eyes, "what's wrong?"
Elsa turns around.
"Read this," Elsa shoves the crumpled letter towards Olaf. Olaf takes it and reads through it.
"Hans was executed? That's sad… but" Olaf looks up at Elsa's worried face, "what does this have to do with anything?"
"He's here. In Arendelle." Elsa still can't believe she's actually saying this. Olaf's eyes widen.
"He is?" Olaf considers what she said, "did he try to do something to you?"
She shakes her head.
"No he offered me a deal."
Curiosity comes over the snowman.
"What's this deal?"
"He," she hesitates, "he said he'd assist with this war, if I sign that letter agreeing to forgive his actions."
Olaf glances at the letter again.
"I don't actually know his motives, in which he'd want it to be signed, so I-," she pauses, "I don't know what to do…"
Olaf reads through the letter again.
"I think you should accept his offer," he says without taking his eyes off it.
Elsa is surprised by his suggestion.
"What?"
Olaf neatly folds the parchment, and then raises his head to look at her.
"You said it to me before Elsa. You've tried everything, and you don't know what to do anymore. If Hans is any chance for Arendelle, you should accept his offer."
Elsa raises her finger to her mouth, and bites it. Could Hans really be the only chance for Arendelle?
~~•~~
Rocks and sand crunch beneath her feet as her and Olaf make their way along the beach. They finally came to the farthest corner of Arendelle, and just along the shore lay broken docks for fishing boats and a supply shack. They both stop and consider what they're looking at.
"Is this really where he'd be?" Olaf questions as he looks up at Elsa. She pulls her shawl around her.
"He said he was staying in some 'shack by the shore'."
Elsa and Olaf look at each other thinking 'we won't know until we find out'.
Elsa cautiously opens the mossy dark door of the shack, allowing it to open the rest of the way. It's eerily dark and smells of seaweed. All around the inside hang old barbs, harpoons and rusted hooks, torn fishing nets and moss-covered oars. Elsa slowly walks in and vigilantly look's around.
"So you decided to accept my offer?"
Startled, she spins around and looks up. A figure sits up on one of the beams, leaning against a post the beam holds on to. The figure hops off the beam and lands on the ground, straightens up and walks into the light Elsa stands in from the open door. Elsa backs away slightly. She can see Hans' face now.
"That is why you're here isn't it?" he asks.
"Possibly," she answers.
He raises an eyebrow.
"You came alone?" he looks impressed.
"Olaf is with me."
Hans's eyebrows immediately furrow as if to say 'who's Olaf?'
"Hi Hans!"
Hans jumps back from seeing the snowman next to Elsa. Both Elsa and Hans didn't notice him next to her. Hans has his arms up as if to protect him. With one hand he points at the snowman.
"There's a talking snowman…"
"Yes…?" Has Hans never seen Olaf? She thinks to herself. Brushing that aside, she folds her hands together.
"We will discuss more of this in my study." She turns and calmly walks out the mossy door. Hans looks down at Olaf, only to see Olaf looking up at him also. Finally, Olaf waddles out of the shack, and Hans follows.
~~•~~
Elsa stands hunched over one side of her desk, scratching her quill across a sheet of parchment. Kai stands on one side of her, with his eyes locked on Hans. Soldiers and guards are placed throughout the room, Hans stands in between a soldier and Olaf, with his wrists cuffed. Another guard stands on the other side of the little snowman. Staring at his cuffed wrists, Hans begins tugging his hands in opposite directions of each other, making loud noises that fill up the room. Elsa's quill stops and she becomes irritated. She lifts her head and glares at him.
"Something the matter?" she calmly asks. Hans stops and holds them out to her.
"Are these really necessary? I've seen you twice when you were practically alone, but once guards are around I have to wear them?"
Elsa's eyes remain on him. Without wanting to openly admit he makes a good point, she looks back down at the parchment and begins writing again.
"Take the cuffs off," she commands.
"But my lady-!" one of the soldiers begin.
"Just do it," she commands angrily.
Hans smiles smugly. He leans towards the same soldier.
"You heard her…" He lifts the handcuffs up towards the soldier. The soldier unlocks them and takes them off. Hans rubs his wrists as he looks back towards Elsa.
The scratches from her quill stop and she places it down.
She stands up straight and looks directly at Hans. In the light filled study, she can see him clearly. He has a bit of beard stubble and his hair is messy, greased with dirt. His clothes are tattered and she can easily tell he and his clothes haven't been washed in awhile.
"I will accept your offer, however, to make sure you keep your word, you must sign this contract once this matter is taken care of. If any of these regulations on the contract are violated, the deal is off. Understand?"
Hans remains looking back at her.
"Perfectly," he says.
She bends over picking up the quill and dipping it into ink.
"Certain aspects involving you will be written on this contract," she scratches against the parchment with her quill, then looks up.
"First off, since you will probably be staying in Arendelle for awhile, you will be considered a citizen," she pauses, "except some of your rights as citizen will be taken away, added or adjusted," she explains.
Minutes pass as the men and Olaf remain listening to Elsa introduce adjusted rights for the contract.
"Taking into consideration of Arendelle's ships being destroyed, there is only one right that I will be removing from your citizenship. Every citizen has the right to leave; however, with the right, the citizen needs permission from someone of authority. This right will be taken from you until the war is over-"
"-And if I haven't died," Hans interrupts.
"…Yes," irritated, Elsa continues, "only until the war is officially over, you will be given the right to leave." She has been writing everything down on the contract with her quill. Dipping it in ink once more, her hand halts above the inkbottle.
"Any requests?" she asks, lifting her head to look directly at Hans.
Hans raises his eyebrow.
"Yes, actually," he gestures with his hands, "first; no guards following me around. You should have the insight to realize that I wouldn't be able to lay even a finger on you-"
"And why is that?" Kai cuts in.
Hans takes a deep breath. He turns to Kai.
"I'll give you 4 good reasons. One; I have no need to harm her in any way. I find revenge to be utterly ridiculous since I came to Arendelle in hopes of stealing the throne, and if I was caught or I failed, I face the consequences. Not her," he points at Elsa, then continues "I'd also like to point out that there's no way I can receive the throne now." He turns to looks at Elsa.
"I only came here to have you sign your name, and you're the only one that can, since I highly doubt there's anyone here that can forge it."
He turns back to look at Kai.
"Two; doing any harm will draw attention to Arendelle, especially from the Southern Isles. That being said, where would I go since I am assumed dead there?"
"Three; since I am assumed dead in the Southern Isles, I don't have any expectations and labels, so to speak, to uphold. As I said, I only came for her signature.
"And four;" Hans pauses, "I wouldn't even be able to get near her without being impaled by ice. The only reason I had the chance to attempt anything back then, was because she was suffering mentally and she wouldn't have expected something like that from me." He rolls his head back to look at her.
"Now, she'll obviously have her guard up whenever I'm around. Am I right?"
Elsa keeps a glare upon him. Hans turns back towards the direction of Kai.
"Does that answer your question?"
Kai is silent, but it's obvious he doesn't believe anything he says. Hans straightens up, and faces Elsa.
"Continuing with my requests, my second is that I be allowed to train whenever I see fit. I don't care if I have to train in a specific place. As long as I can."
The colliding glare between Elsa and Hans causes the room to feel tense and quiet as everyone waits for the queen's answer.
"I accept your requests," she says.
Everyone is shocked except for Hans who is somewhat pleased, but isn't easily shown.
"My lady you can't possibly-" Kai begins but is cut off when she raises her hand to him.
"I will accept your request for training, however," she continues, "for your request for no escorts, I will instead leave Olaf as your supervisor. Meaning he can check on you when he sees fit. Is that clear?"
Hans looks down at Olaf. Olaf looks up at him also.
"The snowman?" he questions, glancing back at Elsa.
"Yes. The snowman."
Hans takes one more look at the snowman, sighs and slowly turns his head away.
"I guess he's better then guards," he says to himself.
"Continuing on," she looks down at the contract, "you will also be given a curfew, in which during the time from when it begins and when it ends, you need either myself or Olaf to escort you places."
Hans chuckled to himself.
"So that means you'll need to escort me to the bathroom in the middle of the night?"
Elsa was piqued. From Hans comment, a few men giggle to themselves but immediately stop when she throws an irritated glare their way. They clear their throats and become silent. Hans smirks to himself.
"The room you will be staying in will have a bathroom so that won't be necessary," she says. Hans looks to the side.
"Oh okay then," he becomes confused, and turns back to her, "wait. Room?"
Elsa ignores him.
"Olaf? Can you awaken Miss LaBeau and ask her to wait in one of the bedrooms down the hall from my own?"
"Can do, Elsa," Olaf nods. He waddles towards the doors, and steps out.
"Wait what is this about a room?" Hans says as he watches the snowman run past him. His question being ignored again, Elsa looks directly at him.
"You'll be fighting a war that has nothing to do with you. You may die, and you're alright with this?"
Serious tension rises as everyone including Elsa waits to hear Hans' answer.
Hans takes a deep breath, becoming more serious then he has the whole time he's been here.
"Let's just say this war is my real execution, but with an exception. If I die during this war, I have been executed. If I live, I live."
Elsa raises her eyebrows. She finishes scribbling down more on to the parchment.
"Sounds reasonable. Now," she rotates the contract with her hand, and slides it to the other side of the desk, "everything is in order. You must sign the contract now." She lifts her hand off of the contract, and holds the quill out towards Hans. He walks up and takes it with his left hand. Looking over the contract as she pushes the ink bottle towards him, he dips the quill in ink and glides his hand towards the designated place for him to sign. Placing the quill tip on the bottom of the sheet, he writes:
Hans
She's losing patience with him. She looks up and glares at him.
"Your full name," she demands.
"Uh, yeah, my surname doesn't really belong to me anymore," he points out.
"Write it down, anyway," she says as she begins seething.
"Shall I throw my middle name in there too?"
"Write. It. Down."
Unfazed, he lowers his hand once more and continues from his first name. The signature now is:
Hans Vincent Westergaard
With that, he drops the quill and leans back. She picks it up, dips it in the inkbottle, and writes her own signature below his to authorize the contract.
Queen Elsa of Arendelle
"Signing this contract means you accept all listed terms and policies in which you can not defy. Do you understand?" She places the quill in the inkbottle, and looks up at him.
"Yes."
"And with both of us signing this contract, you have to keep your word in assisting with this war, and I have to keep mine in signing the letter for your forgiveness. That is, if you do a convincing job on your part."
"Yep."
"Alright," speaking towards the others in the room, "the meeting concludes here. You are all dismissed now."
Soldiers hesitate before they begin filing out of the room. Few men give Hans a dirty look as they pass him on their way out of her study. The only ones that remain left in the room are Hans, Elsa and Kai. Kai turns to her.
"My lady, do you really think this is a good idea? How do we know he will keep his word?" Kai asks her quietly so Hans can't hear.
"He signed the contract, so he has to whether he likes it or not." She stands up straight, and Kai moves back into the spot he was in before.
"I will escort you to your room now," she says as she comes around her desk, "follow me." She begins walking towards the study doors. Before following, Hans glances at Kai, who is glaring at him. After a few seconds, Hans turns his head, and follows Elsa in the direction she left. Kai is left standing in the study.
~~•~~
Hans and Elsa walk through lit corridors of the castle. During the time Elsa was out with Olaf to find Hans, staff members had re-lit most of the rooms and corridors. Silence follows them and they're footsteps tap against the carpeted flooring. To break the tension, Hans finally looks over at Elsa.
"So, I'll be staying in a room?"
"You sound surprised?" Elsa asks as she keeps her view down the corridor.
"I wasn't expecting to be in a room."
"What were you expecting then?"
"In all honesty," he pauses, "a dungeon cell."
Elsa stops and turns to him.
"What would that do other then make it harder for you to get back into the main castle in case of an attack, and potentially lowering the castle's defense in watching you?"
They eye each other until they both turn away.
"Good point," he admits. They continue walking, and every step feels like they're not moving anywhere. Silence begins to rise again until Hans turns to her once more.
"I also wasn't expecting you to be so nice, especially to me, Elsa-"
"Queen Elsa, " she insists as she halts and lifts her hands, "that is to you. And I'm not doing this to be nice, I'm doing this because I'm focusing on convenience for Arendelle's situation. That is, if you do what you say you'll do in your 'deal'."
Again, they continue walking. Hans admits to himself that she makes a pretty good argument.
"I'll call you 'your highness' then," he says. She knows he's only going to be saying it in times when he wants to annoy her. A feeling of relief washes over her when she realizes they're finally at the room Hans will be staying in.
"So your highness, this 'Miss LaBeau… should I be worried?"
The ends of Elsa mouth lifts slightly as they come up to the door.
"Probably," she says.
"Probably?" He becomes a little concerned as Elsa opens the door.
Inside, Olaf and a big lady stand inside. She wears the regular women's staff uniform, and her hair is short, blonde, and sticking out on the sides past her face. Her hair is also a little messy as if she quickly took curlers out. A scowl is painted on her face as she turns to see who came in. Elsa walks in and Hans heedfully follows.
"I'm so sorry to wake you this late Miss LaBeau-"
"Well I guess it'z no problem my queen. But yes it is preety late," the big lady interrupts. She also has a weird accent Hans thinks to himself.
"Anyways, why I asked you to come here is because I need your assistance. You have everything set I presume?" Elsa asks.
What does she mean? Hans asks himself.
"Ov course. Usually when you ask fer me, you want all preparations taken care of."
LaBeau leans to the side to see whom Elsa came in with.
"Isn't that the man that tried to kill you in the past?"
Also very blunt he concludes.
"Yes he is," Elsa lifts her hand and gestures with her finger for Hans to come up, "come here Hans."
He hesitates before doing so, and when he does, every step he takes is with caution.
"Miss LaBeau," Elsa smiles, "I need you to do operation cleanup."
Hans looks at Elsa.
"Operation… cleanup?" he becomes a little worried.
A hand grabs his face, shoving him to stare at the floor.
"I'll be the judge of that," LaBeau says as she pulls at his hair, feeling the textures, then rubbing her fingers after letting go.
"Ow!" Hans winces.
She throws his head up and forces his mouth open. Looking at his teeth and inside of his mouth.
She shakes her head, and then throws his face to the side so she can look inside his ears.
Without letting go of his head, she lifts his arm with hers and cringes her nose.
"This is no good. No good," she declares, "operation cleanup it is!"
She lets go of his head, making him belt back rubbing his hair down.
"What is this 'operation cleanup'?"
"Miss LaBeau will just clean you up. That's all it means," Elsa answers.
"I don't smell that bad do I?"
"Yes you do."
Hans blinks, and then lifts his arm to sniff his armpit. He puts his arm down.
"I wasn't expecting an act of kindness either," Hans says in reference to their conversation earlier.
"Well let's see," Elsa begins as Miss LaBeau grabs Hans by the arm, "You smell horrid, and you look disgusting, so it's more like an act of justice more than an act of kindness."
"What?" He sounds concerned just before Miss LaBeau drags him by the arm and pushes him into the bathroom.
"Hey! Hey wait a minute-!"
"Be quiet!" Hans is thrown into the bathroom and Miss LaBeau shuts the door.
Elsa and Olaf are standing side by side as they watch Hans be thrown in.
From the inside they could hear his yells and screams.
"Don't do that! I am fully capable of taking my own clothes off-!"
"Hold still!"
"DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!"
"SHUT UP!"
"AAAAHHHHH!"
At this point Elsa and Olaf hear a loud smack, only to assume Miss LaBeau smacked him on the head to shut him up. They hear something loud splash into some water.
"This water is cold!"
"Maybe if you hadn't been so feisty it wouldn't have cooled down as much!"
There's a sound of pouring water, and then a person coughing. The snowman and the queen watch the bathroom door. Olaf has an apprehensive look, as opposed to Elsa who's entertained by this. They look at each other.
"Oh come on. Try to admit this isn't funny," Elsa chuckles.
Olaf turns his head away but his eyes remain on Elsa as he curves his eyebrows. Hans' yells continue coming out of the bathroom. Miss LaBeau also continues to yell back.
"I'm only scrubbing your hair! Now sit still!" Miss LaBeau screams from the inside.
"You're a woman!" he screams back.
"Why does that matter?" She hits him on the head again.
"I can wash myself- Ow!"
Elsa and Olaf remain silent, finally Elsa looks down at the snowman.
"Your assistance isn't required anymore Olaf. You can leave now," she says.
Olaf stares at her as another one of Hans' yells muscles out of the bathroom.
"Are you sure?" the snowman says to her, concerned.
"Yes. He'll be out soon, so I'll wait for him," she looks back at the bathroom door. Olaf turns around to walk to the bedroom door.
"I can only hope," Olaf says to himself. He waddles up to the door and grabs one of the handles.
"Poor Hans." Finally, Olaf steps out of the room. Another yell from Hans comes out of the bathroom. Elsa smiles slightly to herself.
~~•~~
The room is silent except for the sound of scissors trimming tuffs of hair. Hans sits in front of a mirror as Miss LaBeau works her way around with scissors in her hand. Elsa watches patiently. He wears the clothes he came in with, but his face and skin are cleaner, and his hair is no longer greasy.
"Operation cleanup. That was not a cleanup. Operation cleanup must actually be a code name for a torture method," Hans complains.
"It's just a cleanup. You're clean now," Elsa reassures him.
"That was torturous."
"Well, from what I heard out here, it might not have been so bad if you didn't fight back," Elsa says.
Hans turns his head slowly and shoots a glare at her, only to have Miss LaBeau grab his head and turn it so he faces the mirror again. She maneuvers so she can begin trimming his front. He glances at her.
"Leave the bangs."
Miss LaBeau nods her head in agreement, and begins lightly trimming his bangs.
Now that his bangs were pointed out on him, Elsa remembers that his hair was originally brushed back neatly the first time she met him. Now, because they're wet, they fall to the front of his face like curtains someone closes so no one can see inside. At least from the side they do. They'll also have a bounce to them once they're dry.
Miss LaBeau places the scissors on the table. She grabs a shaving razor indicating she'll shave the beard stubble off his face. Hans sits up straight and calm, making no movements. A knock comes upon the door, and Elsa turns to go get it. Before she does, she keeps her eyes on him for another few seconds. He didn't even flinch from the sudden noise. Eventually she turns around and heads towards the door.
"Maybe you should shave off those goofy looking sideburns," she mocks.
He furrows his eyebrows and glances at her back.
"I'll shave mine when you shave yours."
She stops from hearing his come back. Filling with irritation she takes in an angry breath as she continues to the door. Once the door opens, she finds Kai on the other side holding the contract.
~~•~~
"I realized you hadn't wrote down why the contract was created," Kai says.
Elsa and her assistant stand in the hallway, lights flickering down in each direction.
"You both signed the contract as to say you'll both do your part in this 'deal' of his. However it doesn't state anywhere that that's the reason. All that's written is the policies in which he has to follow."
Having looked over the contract, Kai is correct, she never wrote down why the contract was created. The scribbling she did before they began discussing Hans' rights were just little details he has to follow anyways. Her eyes remain on the contract.
"It can be understood that I was focused more on having the contract created," she looks up, "I'd also like to ask why you had been looking over it on your own accord?"
Kai is quiet, but his expression is unchanged.
"When I took the duty of your assistant, the only intentions I have are to do my job. In which I find myself slightly concerned for you, my lady," he says in a monotone.
"And why are you concerned for my sake?" She asks as she folds the contract. She doesn't know why but she's becoming slightly annoyed with her assistant.
Kai takes in a deep breath.
"I can't help but feel that he isn't here simply for your signature," he says keeping his monotone voice. She keeps a hard stare on him.
"I can apprehend your perspective on this. But nevertheless, I need someone with experience, and if he can contribute his knowledge of any, then I'm willing to trust him only for that reason. Anything other then that I will disregard."
"But my lady," he pauses, "how do we know if he has any motives other then what he says?"
Her patience has been on edge the whole night, and she can't tolerate anymore of this, even if it's from her assistant.
"Either way, there's nowhere he can go from here. Arendelle's ships are destroyed. And at any rate, I would very much appreciate it if you'd leave the matter alone now. Hans is staying, even if everyone is against it," she says sternly.
Kai makes no point in arguing further, however shows no sign of leaving right away. Silence fills the corridor and surrounds them like a thick fog.
"Why are you guarding him?"
Shock darts through her, however she remains silent, and her stare becomes stone hard on him. He understands he had gone too far, and bows his head slightly.
"Apologies my queen," he pauses, "I spoke beyond my place."
He waits a moment before raising his head. Once he does, a black figure speeds behind him. She stiffens, and quickly looks in the direction it supposedly went in. Nothing stands in the hallway except for herself and her assistant. She tries to control her breathing.
"You may retire for the night now," she hands the contract back to Kai, trying to hide caution growing inside her, "we'll add what wasn't written down in the morning."
Kai keeps his expressionless face, and bows his head as if he hadn't noticed her sudden actions.
"I'll see you in the morning then." With that, he heads down the hall, and Elsa watches him until he turns the corner, no longer in sight. She takes a deep breath and steps back inside Hans' room.
Miss LaBeau is finished, and is cleaning off the razor she used to shave his face. Hans is standing, crouched over a bowl of water, rinsing his face off. As he looks up in realization that Elsa came back in, she admits to herself that he looks much more presentable now. His hair has dried quite a bit with his bangs lifted above his face falling to the side. His hair beyond the bangs are brushed back neatly as they were when he came to her coronation. His sideburns were trimmed neatly, and his face looks softer now that the beard stubble is gone.
Since no one says anything once Elsa came back in, Hans turns back towards the bowl and wipes his face with a cloth.
"Let me guess," he says as he looks up into the mirror, "That was your statue with the eternal glare painted on his face?"
Obviously, he's referring to Kai, who has only ever given Hans a glare.
With a tinge of irritation, Elsa takes in a deep breath. Hans placed the cloth down, and is brushing his bangs with his fingers.
"The matter doesn't concern you," she says.
"I highly doubt that. I was probably the subject you were talking about."
Elsa becomes mute. Miss LaBeau had put everything back in its place, and is ready to retire for the night once again. She bows her head towards Elsa, and the queen quietly thanks her for her time as Miss LaBeau leaves. Once the door is shut. Silence falls over the room leaving Hans and Elsa alone. Hans pulls away from the mirror and stands up straight, turning towards Elsa. They stare each other down, until Elsa eventually shuts her eyes taking in a deep breath.
"Is there anything else you require?" She asks opening her eyes.
His eyes look around the room as if to consider anything he'd possibly need, until finally his eyes shoot to the side, thinking of the bathroom.
"A toothbrush," he says.
"A toothbrush?"
"Yes."
"Why is it important?"
"Why does that matter? I just want a toothbrush."
"Why?"
Man this woman is persistent, he thinks to himself.
"What other purpose would I need a toothbrush for?" he asks.
She continues to look at him, and he shrugs.
"I have reasons, and those reasons require a toothbrush," he answers.
Her eyes remain on him for a moment.
"There should be one in the bathroom for you already."
"Okay then."
"Is that all?" she asks.
"Yep."
She takes a deep breath.
"Get some sleep. I'll have Olaf bring you a new change of clothes in the morning."
She pauses for a moment, as if waiting for him to say something. He stands in silence until finally he turns to her as if wondering why she's still standing there. She rolls her eyes and turns to leave. Grabbing the handle, she opens the door to allow herself out.
"Hey."
She looks over her shoulder.
"Yes?"
His eyes rest on her; until they move down to view the floor.
"Never mind. I forgot."
She shakes her head slightly, shutting the door behind her. Her hand still holds the handle as she thinks back to what Kai had said. Is Hans really here only for her signature? And why did she argue against the doubt Kai had for Hans?
She takes a deep breath. She knows she's desperate for some way of bringing Arendelle out of the abyss of war. And something tells her that Hans is the one to do that. If Hans has any other motives, then she'll find out about them sooner or later. For now, he's here, and he's real. All she wants him for is his expertise, so he says he has. That's all. Anything else that comes out of him, she will disregard. That point will be made clear to everyone, including herself.
Hans hears her footsteps finally leave from outside the door, and he takes in a deep breath. Looking around the room, which he still can't believe he'll be staying in, his eyes fall on the bed. With all he's been through, he is tired. Still, only one thing runs through his mind.
Once he opens his eyes, everything will finally begin.
~ End of Chapter 1 ~
~: Elsa's Diary :~
Entry #1
I trust Olaf. I mean, why wouldn't I? He's been very helping and a calming voice to me ever since this war started. But writing in a journal about what's been going on I, I don't know if this could even be that helpful. For one thing, there has been a lot the kingdom, it's people and myself have gone through, and I don't want to remember everything that has happened every time I reopen this book to write another entry. Having the memories of the attacks is bad enough.
The thing is though, is that it's getting worse, the attacks. Most of the time I'm contemplating if I should just give up and surrender, but I don't want everyone else to suffer. But, they've suffered enough already. Would giving up really be bad for them? ?
I thought the eternal winter was bad, and now this. And worse yet I have no idea where all of this fire and earth is coming from. Is it some kind of source? Or another person similar to me, with powers but instead they can manipulate rock and earth?
It's so hard being in a cloud of confusion. And to worsen the problem even more, Hans, the prince that tried to marry my sister only to have her locked in a room to freeze to death, and to have a sword over my head, (which I will admit I didn't know about until AFTER Anna punched him in the face) had somehow returned and offered to help. Well... somewhat. He wants my signature on a letter stating his actions from the past are forgiven. Then he's taking off, if this war ends. Heaven knows where, and I have no idea why he wants the letter signed.
I can understand Kai's worry towards him being here. Yet, I don't understand why I'm not as worried. Well maybe it's because I can defend myself even if he does try to do something. But others aren't quite as well protected. Still, I feel like he's not here for anything else. Only my signature. Which is odd since now he's so... different. Comparing how he was when Anna first introduced him, he was so, well, like a prince. Now he has this odd attitude I never expected from him. Yet he still seems like himself. The only thing that worries me in regards to Hans is Anna. What her reaction will be if she finds out about him, which will most definitely happen.
Whatever. Concluding this war would be great. Still, I've tried everything. How could he make a difference?