The Apprentice (Part 2)

As he read the last verse, Prince Hans suddenly felt as if he had become weightless in his body. He couldn't see or smell and he began to panic when suddenly the world came back again. Hans looked arround to see himself back in the cave with his 3 frozen half-brothers.

"O god!" Hans turned arround to see his other brothers run to them and his eyes widened, expecting to die here and now, when they just passed through him like he was air.

"Ulrich?" called Hans while waving his hand before his brother. No response. Nobody saw him here…realized the young man as he saw his half-brothers scream in rage.

"That witch will pay for this!" yelled Jonathan. "She killed one of us, and bastard Hans has betrayed us once more!"

"calm down brother" said Thomas to the blonde man. "We will take their heads and put them on a spike. Our plan will continue as we have planned; we will go over the mountains."

"Hans will expect us to do that" said Ulrich.

"Yes, and while he tells the witch what he knows and changes tactics, we just stay with the original plan" said Thomas. "Double bluff."

The world dissappeared once again.

This time, Hans stood by a frozen lake with a beautiful woman laying beside it. She was bleeding through several wounds, making the ice as well as the water turn dark red. When he rushed to her to help her, his vision went black once more. No! Why couldn't he help her?

The snow transformed into a wooden floor, and he looked arround to see a young woman with a baby in her arms.

"Hallo Hans" The woman's green eyes bored into his. She could see him!

"How…"

The woman smiled warmly. "Those with the Sight can see each other when they Travel in their dreams"

"You… You have it too?" reeled the prince' mind quickly. "then you can teach me! Who are you?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you… But, I can give you my name. I'm Gerda." The prince felt the familiar pull-back once more. "Good luck, Hans"

"No, wait! I-"

The world turned again, and Hans saw a beam of light appear in the sky. After that, he watched as the town he saw before him get inceased in ice. Was there nothing he could do?

His vision went black again when the feathers of a crow passed into his vision. Hans blinked slowly to accommodate his eyes once again. "Hallo buddy" said the prince to the bird who now flattered to a tree nearby. "what are you doing here alone?" The bird flew off again. The prince ran after it to a strange hut and looked back to the crow. "you want me to go in there?" The crow crassed as if he wanted to confirm what the prince asked. "Alright…" After pushing away some pelts away, the prince stood into a cozy hut.

"Hallo young man. It was about time you showed up." The young prince looked into the direction of the voice to see an old woman smiling at him.

"You… expected me?" asked Hans carefully.

"Why yes off course! Being so out of control with your Sight gives us a bad name!"

"Who are you?" ignored the prince her question. Who knows how long he could stay here before he was pulled back again.

"So rude those youngsters these days…. I'm Lappekonen." Said the old woman while sitting opposite Hans. "And I believe my dear young man, that you need someone to teach you."

"Yes. You can do that?"

"I can. But you'll need to hurry, young man. There are dark forces at work and they are getting stronger. They will try to stop you from reaching me…"

The prince sighed when he heard the cryptic words.

"Look, I don't care for your gloomy pessimistic words old woman. Whatever 'Dark forces' you are talking about, it doesn't concern me."

Lappekonen just stared to Hans. "You are unwise to be so underestimating of your enemies, Prince Hans."

"How do you know my name?"

"There are ways to look into the heart. Not even the ice you bear can hide your soul."

"Ice? What are you talking-"

The pelts transformed back into paper when the prince turned back into reality. The prince' legs wobbled as he tried to regain his balance.

"are you okay?" asked Kristoff while holding the prince up.

"Thirsty…" rasped the prince. His throat felt like a desert. As Elsa called some servants to fetch some water and food, helped Kristoff the prince to a nearby coach.

"What did you see?"

Hans' mind reeled when he tried to puzzle back together everything he saw. "I saw a wounded woman by a frozen lake…It looked like she had been attacked or something…" The prince's brow knitted together in concentration and he began to wolf everything in his mouth when the servants brought him food and water. He was starving… probably a side-effect by using the Sight…

"I saw my brothers in the cave…They have found Franz, Jurgen and Frederick and are preparing to invade" It caused the queen to pale at the words. "They are planning to go over the mountains…" The prince stood up again to point to a nearby map. "by this route…" and he tapped the passage while Queen Elsa and Kristoff looked over his shoulder.

"Then there is no time to lose" said the queen after which she called a few of her guards.

"Yes, your highness?" asked the guards faithfully.

"Send ravens to the high lords. Tell them to call the banners"

The guards' eyes widened at the queen's words but obeyed without question, running off to the crow's nest.

"Ravens!" realized Hans when he remembered the bird. "That crow! He led me to this woman Lappekonen!"

"Lappekonen? Are you sure?" asked Kristoff.

"Yes! Lappekonen, that's what she called herself…"

Kristoff was quiet a long time. What he would do, if he agreed, would cause him to be an outcast for good.

" I know where she lives" decided the Sami to help the prince. And his finger pointed to the map. "I can bring you to her…"

"That's settled then." Said the queen about who the two men had forgotten for a moment. "You both will leave tomorrow."

Kristoff noticed that Hans was still not with his thoughts with them. "Hans? Something else you saw?"

"uhm? Oh… Nothing…" said the prince. He didn't find it necessary to share the visions of Gerda and the frozen town. He himself didn't know yet what it meant, and right now the queen had more pressing matters at hand.

"Not even the ice you bear can hide your soul" echoed Lappekonen's last words again in his head. What did she mean by that?


Anna looked up when she saw Rumple come out of the cellar

"I have to know. Give me what you promised and tell me what my parents where after." Said the red-head as she stood up to face the dark one.

"Well dearie, The king and queen of Arendelle came to visit me with an itsie-bitsie problem. Your sister. They wanted something to take away her magic….forever" Anna flinched at Rumple's last words.

"My parents LOVED Elsa!" spoke Anna, not wanting to believe what he told her.

"More like… They feared her" answered Rumple. "Its a very thin line to cross…. You must have known. They always wished she had been born… Normal."

"Did they found what they were looking for?" asked the princess.

"No-one could lay hands on that kind of magic… until now" and with that said, waved Rumple with the box he took from the cellar.

"So… that's what the box does"

"Not the box… what's inside it. A hat which was crafted many centuries ago, to take away someone's magical power"

"What are you going to do with it?"

"When the hat is fully charged.. I will be unstoppable"

"I thought the dark one was already unstoppable" said Anna while lurking Rumple closer and closer to where she wanted him.

"There are limits. However small"

"No you can't. that apprentice.. that mouse… he dedicated his life to protect it from people like you!"

"Too bad he's not here to stop me" smiled the dark one.

"What if he is?" And Anna looked up, causing Rumple to do the exact same thing. Before he could react, the mouse came down from the wooden ceiling and bit Rumple's hand.

"AAAH!"

While Rumple shook the mouse off, Anna quickly took the dagger Rumple had dropped on the ground.

"Don't come any closer!" warned the princess. The dark one obliged and Anna frowned.

"Wait, you just do that because I told you to?"

"Yes" said Rumple angry when he felt the boundaries strain himself again. That girl will so regret it.

"Is that one of the limits you spoke about? As long as I have this dagger in my hand… You have to obey me!" realized the intelligent princess. "THAT's why you need the hat, to cleave yourself from the dagger…" When rumple didn't answer the princess yelled.

"Answer me!"

"To free myself from the dagger, yes!" said Rumple humiliated.

"Alright, I can't just let you walk away with that. Give me the box." Rumple obliged unwillingly to Anna's command.

"You can't keep hold of the dagger forever, dearie." Threatened the dark one.

"Then I command you, to send me, AND this box…" added Anna quickly. " back home."

When rumple wanted to wave his hand, the princess stopped him. "wait! And you have to transform the man back into a mouse. And.. you can't hurt me or my sister!" The princess sighed in relief when she had thought of everything. "Right… now I'm ready."

The dark one waved his hand, and Anna disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, causing the dagger to fall back on the ground.


The next morning in Arendelle.

"Come on Sven, what's the matter with you. You love carrots." Said the Ice harvester to his reindeer friend. He and Hans were preparing the last things for their trip and right now, the prince was bathing himself in one of the servants rooms.

"Think maybe he missed me?" Kristoff turned around to see his smiling fiancé and he ran to her, bracing her in a hug.

"Not as much as I did." Said the Ice harvester while he saw Hans coming out of one of the castle doors. He saw the prince's eyes widen and the ice harvester quickly shifted his head. Go into the one of the stables! The prince got the hint and quickly hid himself from Anna.

"What's wrong?" asked the ice harvester quickly to keep Anna's attention with him. "I took a bath this morning"

"No, no, you smell wonderful" said a smiling Anna. However the laugh didn't reach her eyes. "My mission didn't go as planned"

"So they did leave because of Elsa."

"They wanted to take her magic away… with this" Anna showed the box to Kristoff.

"That's-"

"Horrible, terrible, and the world might just end right now?!" said Anna upset.

"I was going to say.. bad, but yeah, what you said. What are you going to tell her?" asked Kristoff.

"I.. I don't know" said the princess with tears in her eyes. "But… Kristoff, can you.. keep this between us for a while?"

The ice harvester swallowed. "Yes. Of course, feisty pants." His mind travelled back to last night.

"Kristoff, can you promise not to tell Anna anything about Hans being here or about the upcoming war? I want to find the right moment to tell her…" said the queen to her brother-in-law to be.

"Yes, of course." Had he answered.

Now, he had agreed to lie to both women, and the honest man that Kristoff was, felt himself torn between the two. If this all came out, about the upcoming war with the Southern Isles, Hans… the real reason why Elsa's parents went out… The ice harvester knew it would test the sister's friendship even further.


For those who have read the "Snow Queen" from Hans Christian Andersen, you will already pick up some elements I threw in. Let me remind you: Hans' visions are set out of order. I promise the visions he saw will be explained later on, as well as how he came to have them.

The fact that I'm focusing more on the "Frozen" characters then the the ones of OUAT, is because you know what happens to these characters on the show, and I don't want to waste time re-explaining the exact same thing. I want to focus on the changes and the characterization, rather then just retelling 3000 words with the exact scenes you saw already on the show. Anyway... please review!