Prince Hans of the Southern Isles felt like he had never been tasked with a more difficult task. Being the thirteenth of the sons of his father, he was usually forgotten and the important jobs were all handed to the princes between the second and the seventh in line. The first born was the king for a while now and was ruling alongside his wife. The only reason of him being sent on this coronation event was that his oldest brother considered it a minor event and sent Hans to attend to it because of it.
Hans never really minded being a spare for his older brothers, at least he could do what he wanted without worrying about the kingdom's biggest issues, but it also meant he wasn't really prepared for something like this. But come to think of it, he believed that none of his brothers or anyone else would be prepared for something like this to begin with. Taking care of the citizens of Arendelle and the kingdom itself was not really a big challenge. But reassuring everybody about a situation like this was something different. It was difficult when even he had no idea what the heck was going on. He's never seen magic before and he wondered if anybody did before.
Fortunately for him, he had found two helpful companions in the Prince and Princess of Corona, who were more than willing to help him keep the people in warm and also deal with some people who were not so patient with this situation as others. The people who were just afraid and losing their hope were being kept encouraged by the ever so optimistic and joyous Princess Rapunzel, while the people who were angry at their queen and kept saying they should do something about this winter in a more violent way were put to their places by Prince Eugene, with a little help of Hans of course. Hans could understand them, but they didn't have to use drastic measures to end the winter, not yet.
Said prince was currently residing within the library trying to warm himself next to the fireplace that was blazing alive with wild flames, but at the moment, even that did not seem enough to reduce the feeling of this terrible cold. Hans himself never thought that cold would ever feel so bad, so weakening, so intense or so forceful, but it was different to actually experience it.
Suddenly the door of the room opened and Rapunzel and Eugene entered the room. They didn't seem to do any better. Rapunzel could barely manage to find herself a small fur coat to put over her light dress she was usually wearing. The poor woman probably wouldn't have lasted much in it alone. Her husband was pretty much feeling like Hans. They didn't pack any winter clothing for this trip, but their current clothes kept them at least a little bit warm.
Hans quickly helped them to the fireplace. Rapunzel eagerly reached out, trying to suck up as much warmth as she could while her husband just quickly warmed himself up.
"Is everything done?" Hans asked the other prince. Eugene nodded.
"Yes. Every person the castle could support are brought in, the rest of them were brought into the more stable and more warm places in the city. The royal guards will take care of them." Hans nodded back. The people are taken care of, but this damn winter still didn't want to stop. And he had a feeling that it will only get worse. Never in his life did he feel so helpless.
Anna said she will find a solution to this problem, but she has been gone for hours now and there was still no change in the weather. If Hans wanted to be honest with himself, he started to worry. He started assuming the worse. Seeing the concern on his face, Eugene had a pretty good idea about what he was thinking of and he tried to reassure him.
"Look, I know you are worried about her, but there will be no problem, she's a though girl. I can see that from a mile." he smiled. "Besides, she is looking for her sister. She is the only family she had left and I don't think she would let a little cold stopping her from bringing her back."
"I think your wife would disagree with you." Hans remarked, gesturing to the brunette, who was still shivering next to the fireplace. She was still cold, but she managed to get enough energy back to respond.
"About the cold, definitely." she said weakly as she got to her feet. "But he is right about the sister thing. Family is one of the most, if not the most important things in life. Especially if you have only one family member left. She will make it. I'm sure." she said with confidence. Eugene smiled and put his arm around her to pull her close. Hans on the other hand, thought differently. He did not have much pleasant experiences with family, but more unpleasant ones. To him, family was not the first thing to come into his mind when he thought about things worth fighting for. He could not understand the true depth of it.
"I'm not sure." Hans groaned and sat down in an armchair with a defeated sigh. He had to think of something. He was left in charge of Arendelle, which meant that the residents' well-beings was his responsibility. And that included the princess too. This was a great chance for him to show that he could be a good leader, he could not ruin it. The other two did not know what to do with him. He was so very different than them, and not exactly a good different.
Before they could make any further attempt to reassure the prince, the library's door was opened and three turned to see the Duke of Weselton walk in, followed by his two men. Hans let out a frustrated sigh. He really wasn't in the mood for the old man and it seemed like the pair from Corona weren't really big fans of him either.
Rapunzel was wary about him ever since she saw his reaction to Elsa's magic. She couldn't help but wonder what he would say if he knew about the magical glowing-healing hair she used to have. Back home, she and Eugene only told about it to her parents so far, they didn't think it was necessary to tell anybody else. They probably wouldn't believe it anyway. Sure, the ruffians from the Snuggly Duckling and those little girls saw her parading with her seventy feet long blond hair, but they didn't know about it's abilities. Rapunzel thought it was probably for the best. Most people would probably think she's crazy.
Eugene could see this man was bad news from a mile. Back when he was a thief, he had done many jobs for men like him. He didn't really like to remember back to it, but his life as a thief allowed him to pick up a few smarts. Not to mention that the duke probably wasn't enthusiastic when he heard about a common thief marrying into a royal family.
"Prince Hans, may I have a few words with you?" h the duke asked in an impatient way.
"What is it now?" Hans asked, as he slowly stood up to face the little man.
"I don't see the point in you handing everything Arendelle has away, while the kingdom is stuck in this winter!" he complained, Hans narrowed his eyes,
"The princess left me in charge of Arendelle, that means I get to do things the way I see fit." Hans stated forcefully. "I will make sure the citizens of of the kingdom and the delegates of foreign kingdoms are safe."
"And how do you know that the princess isn't with the witch and just left you in charge so she could have someone back in Arendelle she can control." his face suddenly became dubious. "Maybe we shouldn't trust you."
Eugene had heard enough. He was about to remove the old man from the room in a little violent way, not caring about the fact that he was protected by his two gorillas, but Hans put his arm up to stop him. "Don't bother, he's just a delusional little man. Save your energy for the task at hand."
If the Duke had something to say about Hans calling him delusional. He never get the chance to say it, as the door of the library was suddenly slammed open and two royal guards entered.
"Prince Hans! Quickly, you have to come to the town square!" one of them said, panting heavily-
"What happened? Is it one of the citizens?"
"No, Your Highness! It's about Princess Anna." That got his attention. The guards gestured for him to follow them as they rushed out of the building, followed by Hans, Rapunzel, Eugene, the Duke and his men.
They made it to the town square, where some other guards were trying to calm a panicked horse. Hans instantly recognized it. It was Anna's horse.
"It's Anna's horse, but where is she?" he asked one of the guards.
"We don't know, Your Highness. The horse came back without her." he replied. The horse was still panicking, running around on the square, knocking the guards out of his way and nothing seemed to calm him down. Everyone just stood in one place, wondering what to do, when suddenly Rapunzel stepped forward and slowly started to walk towards the rampaging animal.
"Princess Rapunzel!" one of the guards yelled. "Don't!" he was about to go after her and bring her back to safety, but Eugene stopped him.
"Don't worry." he said with a confident smile. "She knows what she's doing."
The princess cautiously approached the animal, which did not seem to calm him down. The guards managed to corner him at a wall, even though it was obvious that he could break out of their ring. Rapunzel gathered all her courage and fastened her pace towards the horse. When the guards trying to restrain him saw her, they went to take her away from there, but she gestured for them to let her come through. The guards, unsure about what should they do, glanced at each other, then at Eugene and Hans. Upon seeing Rapunzel's husband nod at them, Hans did the same. The guards slowly and nervously backed away, allowing the Coroninan princess to walk up to the animal. She got closer and closer while silently praying that her plan will work fine. The horse just stared at her, obviously still frightened – and Rapunzel couldn't blame the poor thing. - and ready to make a run for it, but Rapunzel's charm that she used on animals so many times before seemed like they wouldn't fail her now.
"It's alright." she reassured the horse. "Everything will be fine." at this point, she felt like she was reassuring herself rather than the horse. The horse looked like he was about burst out again. The guards were ready to throw themselves in to protect the princess, but when she saw them move, she quickly gestured for them to stay put, then turned back to the horse.
"It's alright. I'm here to help you." And suddenly, as if she just cast some sort of spell on the horse, he started to calm down. Upon seeing this, Rapunzel smiled. "It's okay. Calm down." Rapunzel slowly extended her hand and before she knew it, she was stroking the rough fur of him. The horse finally relaxed. Seeing this, the guards moved to take him away. He started to get nervous about it, but Rapunzel reassured him again. "It's okay. You are safe." she smiled. The horse relaxed and allowed himself to be lead away.
Rapunzel was rather proud of herself after this. And apparently, her husband was too.
"I have to admit, that was an interesting stunt you pulled there." Hans said, looking genuinely impressed with what Rapunzel did. But his expression turned to a frown just a second later. "But now, I should focus on the more important task, I'm going out to find Anna." Eugene looked at him like he said that the sun changed to blue. But to be honest, after this day, even that wouldn't surprise him.
"Out there?! Are you serious? You're gonna freeze to death!"
"My bride is out there! I have to go!" Hans replied. He then turned to a guard. "I'm going out to look for princess Anna. Find me volunteers who are willing to help." The guard nodded and left.
"We are going with you." Rapunzel said, much to Eugene's surprise.
"Are we?" he asked and his wife gave him a look in return. "Of course. Not a question." he said in submission, but Hans shook his head.
"No. I need you to stay here and look after Arendelle." Rapunzel obviously wasn't happy with this answer.
"But we..." she started, but Hans cut her off.
"The people need someone to took care of them and hold the hope in them. You two are more capable in that than I." Rapunzel opened her mouth to argue again, but Hans beat her to it once more. "This is the best way you can help me." he said firmly. The princess, though reluctantly, but agreed with a nod.
"Prince Hans." they heard the duke calling from behind them. "I offer my two men for this job." All three of them narrowed their eyes in suspicion. The last person they expected to help was the duke, but Hans knew that he doesn't have too many choices.
"Fine." he said. Eugene and Rapunzel did not expect this.
"What?" Eugene exclaimed. "Are you willing to let that two come along? I don't think that's a good idea." he said, making sure that the two goons didn't hear it. They kind of reminded him of the Stabbington brothers and Eugene didn't like to be reminded of them.
"I know, but the more men I take the bigger my chances are. I don't trust them either, but beggers can't be choosers." Hans replied and Eugene realized that he was right.
"Just keep an eye on them." he warned. Hans just nodded and left to take volunteers to this quest.
"I don't trust him." Rapunzel said.
I know. I have dealt with these kind of guys before. I wouldn't trust him with one coin." Eugene said, looking at the duke, who was murmuring something to his men that he couldn't make out, but he knew he was up to no good.
"No." Rapunzel shook her head. "I mean Hans."
"Hans." Eugene asked in surprise. "What on Earth do you think is wrong with him. He helped the people and the city with devotion and has been leading well. And in a time like this, that IS something."
"Being a good leader is not the same as being a good man, Eugene. There is just something about him. I can't put my finger on it. But I think he isn't as sincere as he makes himself look." Rapunzel replied firmly. Rapunzel was wary of most people, which, after letting herself being fooled by her kidnapper to think she was her mother, was understandable, but Eugene thought Rapunzel was just being paranoid. Not like he would ever tell her that. He sighed.
"I hope you are wrong, Rapunzel. I really do."
Meanwhile, Hiccup and the others were on their way to the North Mountain and the trip was – for the lack of a better word – awkward. Hiccup still held held an eye on Kristoff. He still didn't feel to comfortable around him after seeing his split personality disorder and who knew what other things did he hide. Anna on the other hand didn't seem to be bothered by it.
The group was currently walking through the snow covered forest and according to what Kristoff said, they were getting closer to the North Mountain. Hiccup and Anna were walking before Kristoff and his loyal reindeer, Sven. Though the winter wonderland was indeed beautiful, Hiccup saw enough winter back at Berk and he looked at Anna, maybe to start a conversation or something, but he was surprised to see that the young princess was staring everywhere in wonder and awe. It was like she never saw winter before.
"Hey," he called out, making Anna look at her. "Are you alright?" he asked. Anna just nodded with a smile
"Yeah, it's just..." Anna started, taking a good look around. "I never knew winter could be this beautiful." she confessed. Hiccup raised an eyebrow.
"You never saw winter before?" he asked and Anna frowned.
"Never like this. I just watched the falling snowflakes and the frozen fjords from the windows of the castle. I never knew actual winter at all." she said sadly. All of a sudden, Hiccup was reminded to his conversation with Elsa in the castle gardens. The way she said she never really went anywhere outside the castle. Though, this may have been a touchy subject, Hiccup decided to risk asking it.
"You've... uh... never been outside the castle?" he asked. And to his biggest regret, he saw Anna's features sadden.
"Not really. When I was like... six years old, my parents, may their souls rest in peace – locked down the palace. I was never allowed outside and Elsa shut herself in a room and... I never knew why." she confessed. Hiccup felt horrible for making Anna reveal this.
"Well... I guess we know now." he said, trying to lighten the mood. Anna smiled slightly.
"Yes." she then sighed. Hiccup tried to to talk further, but he was interrupted by Kristoff.
"Uh, guys!" he called. They turned to see Kristoff standing on the edge of a nearby cliff. "You might want to see this." Hiccup and Anna went to see what the ice harvester was talking about. Just upon reaching the edge, they could not believe their eyes. The entire kingdom and the even the surrounding mountains and fjords were all completely covered in ice and snow, the ships were stuck in the frozen water and in the middle of summer. Anna shivered just from looking at it.
"This... this can't go on like this." she said. "We have to find Elsa and make this right as soon as possible."
"Before the entire land is buried in ice and snow." Kristoff said.
"SNOW!" a cheerful voice exclaimed and Anna looked to her left and glared at Hiccup.
"Hiccup. This not a good thing." She scolded.
"I didn't say it!" the viking defended himself. Before Anna could reply, the cheerful voice spoke again. It sounded like it came from the distance.
"Isn't all this snow just great?" the three started to look for the source of the voice, but found no one. Yet the talk continued. "You know, I would like to see it in some different colors. Like red, scarlet, or maybe yellow! Oh no, what am I saying? Yellow snow? That doesn't sound good at all. In fact, it sounds kinda gross." The voice, whoever it belonged to got louder and louder, which meant that the speaker must have been getting closer to them, but they still didn't see anything. However, when the voice sounded like it came from right next to them, they did the only logical thing and looked down. If the kingdom being sent back to ice age was surprising, it was made look like an everyday occurrence next to what they saw. A small snowman with three small sticks for hair and a goofy look on his face which was planted to his potato shaped head. "Am I right?" he asked with a wide grin.
Anna did what any logical person would do. She screamed and kicked off the snowman's head off of his body and it landed in Kristoff's hands.
"Sup?" the snowman greeted, seemingly unaware or just not caring that his head was kicked off of his body. Kristoff, as an ice harvester loved snow, but even he wasn't prepared for a living, talking snowman. He freaked out as well and he threw the head to Anna. Anna obviously didn't want if and threw it back to him.
Hiccup watched the scene dryly. This would have been amusing to say the least, but in his current mood, he couldn't find any amusement in it. "Uh, guys..." he started, but they didn't hear him over they rambling as they were playing hot potato with the snowman's head.
"Here, take it!" Anna shouted, throwing the head to Kristoff.
"I don't want it. It can be yours!"
"You are an ice harvester. You love snow, keep it!"
"Guys, I'm starting to feel dizzy." the snowman complained.
"I get enough snow without it, thank you!"
"Uh, guys..." Hiccup tried, a little more forcefully, but to no avail.
"As your princess, I order you to take it!"
"I've never been good at following orders!"
"GUYS!" Hiccup shouted, causing Anna to notice that he was still there and throw the head to him. The headless body, which was trying to get the head started to approach him.
"Can I please have that back now?" he asked. The viking just knelt down and placed the head back to the body.
"There you go." he said. The snowman smiled.
"Thank you. It feels much better." he then stopped and grabbed his head. "Ow. At least it did, until the dizziness took it's effect."
"Uh, Hiccup," Anna said and Hiccup looked at her. "You do realize that you are talking to a living snowman, don't you?" she asked. Hiccup just stared at her.
"You just witnessed your sister unleashing winter magic and covering the entire kingdom in ice and snow, and this is what freaks you out?" he asked. Anna and Kristoff looked at each other, then back to Hiccup.
"Fair enough." Anna said sheepishly. She and Kristoff slowly walked up next to him and Anna noticed something. "Wait! If you are a snowman, where is your nose?" she asked. Indeed, the snowman lacked the trademark of it's kind, the carrot for a nose.
"I don't know." He said sadly. "But I always wanted one." he said longingly. Anna – her fear of the snowman already gone – smiled.
"I might be able to help you with that." she said. She reached into Kristoff's bag and took out a carrot.
"Hey!" Kristoff complained. "That's for Sven!"
"I paid for it!" Anna retorted. "It's the least you can do." she said and then she smiled triumphantly as the blond accepted her point with a huff. Anna placed the carrot onto the place where the nose is supposed to be, but all the years without building snowmen made her lose some experience and she pushed a little too hard, practically pushing the carrot through the head, making only a small part of it visible under the eyes. Strangely enough, the snowman seemed to be fine with it.
"Wow! This looks adorable! It's like I was a little unicorn!" he cheered, grabbing the small tip of the carrot that was visible on the front.
"Excuse me." Hiccup said as he pushed the carrot to it's place.
"Hiccup!" Anna scolded for him ruining the happy moment of the snowman, but that was short lived.
"Wow! Now I like it even better!" came the cheer. Hiccup just smiled at Anna, who if the cold wasn't so intense would have stuck her tongue at him.
"Ok, let's start over." the snowman said. "Hello. I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs." Olaf said, extending his stick arms as if to prove his point. And suddenly, something inside Anna's head clicked. Something about this Olaf was very familiar. As if she saw him before, but just couldn't put her finger on it. She felt like she should remember, but it just didn't come back.
"Olaf." she said on a wondering voice.
"Yes. And you..." he asked, making Anna come to her senses.
"Oh, that's right. Uh, I'm Anna." she introduced himself. Olaf then turned to Hiccup.
"I'm Hiccup." he said. Olaf snickered.
"Hiccup? Ha. That is a funny name." Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." he grumbled. 'Story of my life.' he thought. Olaf then turned to Kristoff and Sven.
"And who is this funny looking donkey?" he asked.
"He's Sven." Anna answered.
"Uh-uh. And the reindeer?" Hiccup could barely hold a snicker and Kristoff looked wide eyed. Anna however sheepishly answered.
"Uh, Sven." Olaf cheered.
"Great! It makes it easier for me." Hiccup then reminded them of their quest.
"Uh, say, Olaf. Do you happen to know Elsa?" he asked. Olaf smiled.
"Of course! She was the one who made me!" he declared proudly.
"Goody. So do you know where she is?"
"Yeah why?"
"And can you take us to her?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, you see," Anna interrupted. "We are trying to make her bring summer back to Arendelle."
"Wow, really?" Olaf asked in amazement. "I always wanted to see a summer. The sun and the heat and the warm."
"Really?" Kristoff asked. "I assume you don't have much experience with heat."
"No." Olaf admitted. "But sometimes I just close my eyes and I imagine being in the..."
"Uh, that is very interesting, but we are kinda in a hurry, you know." Hiccup said, and Olaf snapped out of his daydream.
"Oh, sorry. Well then, let's go bring back summer!" he shouted cheerfully as he started leading the group to(hopefully) Elsa. "So tell me, how do you know Elsa?" Olaf asked.
"She is my sister." Anna answered, then pointed at Hiccup. "And his crush." Hiccup just blushed and lightly pushed Anna on the shoulder. Olaf however squealed in delight.
"OH, you go all the way through the frozen woods and mountains to find your beloved! Oh, how romantic!"
"Uh, actually..." Hiccup started, but didn't get far.
"Don't worry, Hiccup. I won't rest until I help you find your love and live your happily ever after with her! That is a promise!"
"Well, that is nice of you, but..."
"Uh, guys." Kristoff started and the others turned to him. "Finding Elsa is one thing, but how will we bring summer back by finding her?" he asked.
"Don't worry, Kristoff. I'll just ask her to remove this winter and everything will be fine." she said with a smile. Hiccup and Kristoff had a hard time imagining that.
"I don't think it will be that easy." Hiccup said. Anna frowned.
"Of course it will be. My sister isn't evil. She'll bring summer back if I tell her that it's wrong for the kingdom. She is the queen after all."
"Yeah!" Olaf agreed. "I bet she is the kindest and most warm hearted person on Earth." he said, not noticing that he walked into an icicle, sticking out from a rock. "Hey, look! I got impaled! He he he!"
Hiccup put his right hand on his forehead. How much long is this journey gonna be?"
AN: Hey, guys! Thank you for your patience. Also, thanks for the more than 400! favs and more than 500 follows! You guys are awesome!
After this, I plan to do some re editing on Battling the Snowstorm. There seem to be problems as many viewers don't even go through the first chapter. Maybe I'll remove it and rewrite it, This sucks, because it only has three chapters yet, but I already have an awesome idea for a sequel.
See you, guys! :)
