Skylynn's POV:
I wasn't planning on it...-well, maybe part of me was- but it had been completely un intentional. I was re-reading the letter I was going to send my sister-in-law and decided to stand up to stretch my legs. The only thing I did was walk to the closest window while re-reading the letter, I folded it put in an envelope and then I glanced out of the window and saw my half-brothers. When I saw Herbert and Gordon in the royal gardens calmly chit-chatting, the only feeling I had at the moment was fury for what they did to my brother. The only reason why Hans is sick and injured is because of them. They did that to him. So I did the first thing my guts told me, put the letter in my pocket and quickly stalked to the royal gardens. Luckily the two things were still there joking around when I finally got there. Oh, how lucky were all the others not to have come… So here's the plan, first I beat the crap out of these two, then I'll send another letter to Angel telling her to prepare the warriors for a war with the Southern Isles and I finally skin alive those other vile excuses of princes. I didn't bother with stealth, I just paced directly towards them fuming when they finally saw me… luckily for them, the walk got me to cool off enough not to take my sword out and kill them right away.
"Oh, Gordon look! If it isn't our little half-sister descending from 'high and mighty' to pay us a visit" Herbert said with a smug look.
"YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT HANS IS IN THESE CONDITIONS! HE'S DYING BECAUSE OF YOU!" I yelled stepping closer to them.
"Oh boo-hoo! Then I shall inform you that we don't actually give half-a-crap!" Gordon said glaring. I angrily pushed him.
"IT WAS YOU! IT WAS ALL YOU! HANS WENT ON THIS SUICIDE MISSION BECAUSE OF YOU!" I yelled, trying hard not to put a hand on my sword and lower myself to their level. If I had to kill them, it will be out of self- defense.
"And remind me why we should be worried right now?" Herbert said
"Because you may fool Theodore and the others but you can't fool me. I know why Hans tried to kill Queen Elsa and Princess Anna"
"Oh? And why is that our fault?"
"Stop playing stupid, you oafs! I know you are, but that's not the topic" they glared at me "You made him feel like such a worthless piece of nothing, that he wanted to prove himself to you! He tried to take over Arendelle to show the twelve of you he was worth something! You knew very well that it was a suicide mission, that's why you let him go! You were hoping Queen Elsa would execute him, if not getting himself killed in the process of taking over this kingdom!"
"Ooh… busted!" Gordon said chuckling, sharing a look with Herbert.
"So, what?" Herbert said "It's not like it changes anything he did"
"It does change things, you moron!" I snapped as he tensed in anger "He is not the evil man everyone thinks he is! You are the ones who froze his heart! You made him believe that he needed to prove himself to you by accomplishing something impossible" I yelled "What have we ever done to you?! Why do you hate us so much?!"
"You are nothing but a waste of space and air of a bastard who is not worthy of royalty. He is the thirteenth wheel. He is the spare of the spare of the spare. Useless. But still, he is the reason why our father decided we were hopeless cases!" Gordon said angrily.
"Yeah, right! Like Albert payed any attention to any of us, especially Hans and I" I snapped sarcastically, sadly admitting there was indeed one thing I had in common with them: a careless father.
"You weren't at the palace, you arrogant brat! You don't know how things were there!" Gordon snapped.
"To us he was always 'Hans here! Hans there!- You bunch of ignorants should be like your little brother!'. Literature and philosophy won't get him anywhere! It's because of him that it will always be 'this is Prince Hans and they are Prince Herbert, Prince Gordon etc.' No youngest prince of the Southern Isles has ever been more important than the others because he could do some useless re-tell of Kant's philosphy and write some music! I'm the third in line and Father made Hans Admiral and me his vice-admiral!" Herbert said with as much anger
"So this is why you treat him like trash? Why you beat him up and filled his head with the idea of how worthless and what a failure he is and how he will never be a man if he can't defend himself when you are 6 on 1? Because of tradition?!" I shouted astonished by their explanation. They were despicable.
"In summary? Yes" Herbert said a smug look. "Now, we're the ones with a question. Why do you even fight so much for such a lost cause? Him trying to kill the Queen of Arendelle while she had her back on him and left a helpless princess to freeze to death will not change the fact that he is a coward monster"
"Hans is no coward monster, you are!" I yelled. Gordon growled in anger and would have attacked me if Herbert hadn't grabbed his jacket to hold him back.
"I suppose this is the part where you tell us we should be worried?" Herbert said with a smug look.
"And remind us why we should be?" Gordon added crossing his arms.
"You really want me to say it? Are you actually that lazy that you can't think by yourselves? " I said and chuckled with no humor "Oh, my goodness… how is it like in those tiny little brains of yours? It must be so boring!" I said provoking them. Gordon glared at me and so did Herbert. "Theodore may talk like an idiot, look like an idiot, and maybe he really is an idiot, but he is not actually that stupid. I'm 100% sure that when I tell him the reason behind Hans' actions, he won't be too happy about it. Let's not mention that Queen Elsa and Princess Anna won't be too happy about it either. I know there must be something else behind all this and you can be sure that I will figure it out. So, yes. I would be worried if I were you"
"This is where you are wrong, Skylynn" Herbert said "You are not going to tell anyone and won't uncover anything because this garden will be your grave" and he and Gordon took out their swords.
"Oh, there's the big surprise! Now you are threatening to kill me. Just like every other general and conceited soldier I killed during the Revolution" I said taking out my sword as well, my eyes never leaving them as they thought to be circling me, when actually I was the one doing so. "Before you two attack me, do me a favor, come to me one at a time. I don't like being outnumbered it makes too much stupid in a room" that made them angry. Someone might think that making an armed 5'9" burly man and a 6'2" vice-admiral with a sword angry, isn't probably the smartest thing to do, but... Make your opponent angry, use his anger to your advantage. Anger doesn't make you think. Focus. This is what Hans taught me, what made me survive a year-long bloody war.
Gordon was the one who stroke first, but I easily blocked the hit, got behind his back and kick his butt, making him fall straight on his face. Herbert took the opportunity to strike me as well, but I saw it coming. I moved and parried the hit and kneeled him in the stomach. As he was about to hit me again, Gordon was back on his feet and they tried to hit me at the same time, but I hopped back and they smashed onto each other drawing away the sword at the last moment. Herbert was the first to hit me again, I blocked his hit and dodged Gordon's hitting him behind the head with the hilt of my sword, sending him on the ground. I twirled on myself and deflected two hits from Herbert, crossing swords on his third hit.
"I have to admit, you fight almost as well as a man, sis" he said smugly, calling me 'sis' in plain mockery.
"Thank you, too bad you don't" I provoked.
"You are going to regret that" he said with a deadly glare, pushing me away.
"I'm waiting, Big Boy" I taunted. He growled in rage and tried to hit me, first I deflected, then I blocked, and then I kicked him where the sun doesn't shine, sending him to the ground in pain. Gordon was still sprawled to the ground, touching his head where I had hit him, but then he got up trying to hit me again while I had my back on him. I saw it just in time, but he managed to hit my left arm as I deflected his hit, blood immediately trickling out of the wound.
"Hey! This is my official uniform!" I complained, parring another hit, not caring about my stinging arm. Plus, I liked my uniform!
"Well, look on the bright side! You won't be needing it much for much longer" he said and tried to hit me again, but I parried "I really hope my useless baby brother doesn't make it. You'll have a little company once you join him in Hell" he snarled. That made me furious.
"You lost the right of being his brother!" I yelled deflecting the hit and wounding him on the arm "You are not worthy to be called a brother!" I deflected another hit and wounded his leg, Gordon yelped in pain "You are not a brother!" and I slashed him on the waist and on his cheek "A brother doesn't brutally beat his younger sibling!" I blocked a hit and wounded his knee, making him kneel down as he let out another painful growl "The twelve of you are just a pathetic excuses for a prince. It's you Albert should be ashamed of!" and I punched him on the cheek with enough strength to send him down to the ground, making him let go of his sword. In the meantime, Herbert had gotten back on his feet and tried to hit me, but I blocked the hit and swiftly wounded him on his arm, on the leg, on the waist and elbowed him straight on the nose sending him down as well in a yep of pain.
"Come on! Finish us off! That's what you want, right? Do it!" Herbert said clutching his bleeding nose. I held my sword straight towards his neck ready to screw up my life for good and commit fratricide. My sword begging me to really taste blood once more. I would have lowered myself to their level, but unlike before, after this fight, I didn't care anymore. They deserved it. In a way… what did I have to lose? Family is not all about blood-ties, it's about bounds of unconditional love. It is support and in a way friendship as well… when did they ever show any sign of that? All we had in common were half of our blood and genes, nothing more. Those men were enemies, not my siblings and the more I was convincing myself of that, the more the impulse of thirst for blood made itself stronger. I was not a hero, I was scoundrel who was ready to kill those worse than her. The moment I pressed my sword on Herbert's neck, he remained silent, but a look of fear passed through his eyes… and that was good.
"There it is…" Gordon said with a sly half grin "The curse of the Westerguards, the thirst for vengeance… See, Skylynn, you talk a lot, but we are not that much different in the end" Something in my brain clicked as I heard him speak those words and a lesson I learned came flooding in to my mind like a wild stream: Don't let your anger get the best of you. Don't be the monster people would want you to be . I remembered Hans telling me that like it were yesterday. I pulled my sword away from Herbert's neck and pointed it at Gordon's, who's eyes immediately flashed with Herbert's same fear.
"It's your curse…" I said seriously "…Not mine, not Hans's" I said. My sword lingered on his neck a moment longer, then keeping my eyes on them, I put it away, stepping back "Maybe next time, I'd rather start screaming like it is more appropriate for a lady to do" I said with a grin and turned around, walking away. The moment I did, I saw Elsa appear from behind a corner of the gardens. My first thought was: crap. Lecture coming up. But not a scolding came out of her mouth as she spoke up.
"SKYLYNN, LOOK OUT!" she yelled. I turned around and in that precise moment, Gordon had gotten up and was about to strike me, when a blast of ice blocked his hit pinning him to the ground blocking his legs in a huge piece of solid ice. The same went for Herbert. Realization dawned on me: Queen Elsa had just saved my life.
"Queen Elsa! What's the meaning of this?!" Herbert said playing stupid.
"It means that: I saw and heard everything, that King Theodore will be informed right away and that you two will face the consequences of attempted regicide" she said in a stern voice as a couple of guards appeared "Guards, take care of these two. Lieutenant" she called a guard.
"Yes, ma'am" he said
"Go inform King Theodore that Prince Herbert and Prince Gordon have attempted to Queen Skylynn's life and that I leave their punishment to him" she ordered.
"Yes, your Majesty. Right away" he said and ran off in search of King Theodore. Elsa's eyes set on me immediately.
"Skylynn, are you okay?" Elsa asked me as she got next to me.
"Yeah, I'm fine" then she saw my arm-
"Your arm, it's bleeding" she said.
"It's fine, just a scratch. It's nothing serious" I answered.
"That's up to the doctor to decide. Let's go" she said taking my other arm and leading me back to the castle. We walked in silence and as we passed through the castle corridors a few servants looked at us weirdly as they noticed my bleeding arm. We remained silent as we walked, then as we were out of unwanted earshot Elsa broke the ice.
"So, Hans really did try to take over Arendelle to prove himself to your brothers" she stated. She had figured it out. Good, that spared Hans some work.
"Yeah" I answered. Then Elsa went in what Hans would call it 'worried-little-sister-mode'.
"Why did you face them alone?! You knew it was dangerous, yet you did" she said.
"I had to" I said "What would you have done?"
"I would have gone to King Theodore right away, Skylynn. They could have killed you" Elsa said worriedly. I literally lit up.
"Is that concern, the one I hear in your voice?" I said with a small cocky grin. Elsa lightly glared at me.
"The only concern I have is not having a foreign queen murdered in my country" she said waving it off. I didn't say anything but couldn't help letting out a side smile.
"Anyway… what do you think about Hans now?" I asked seriously. Elsa remained silent for a moment.
"This still doesn't change things. Knowing the reason for his actions, won't take away what he did to Anna and I" I narrowed my eyes at her and was about to say something but Elsa cut me off "But now, I will be more willing to give him a second chance" she said. I shut my mouth and when we stopped I realized, we were in front of the doctor's study. "I'll see you later, Skylynn" she said and was about to walk away when I called her.
"Elsa" I called. She stopped turning around "Thank you, for Hans" I paused "And thank you for saving my life today" None of us said anything, but our gazes met. My grey eyes and her crystal blue ones and then I saw it in her eyes. Only in that moment Elsa realized she had used her magic and saved me. She had used her powers and saved a life.
She didn't reply, she just gave me a curtsying nod of the head, I did the same and then she walked away as I turned around and got inside the doctor's study to have my wound treated.
Hi! Guys! What do you think about this chapter? Your thoughts on Skylynn? Is she good or evil in disguise? As she told Elsa: is she the hero or the villain? Don't be shy and share your thoughts with a REVIEW! If I'm not wrong, there should be more Hans/Elsa interactions on the next chapter! Hooraaay!
Sorry if the chapter was short, but there is a reason to that...
REVIEW CHALLENGE DAY!
If you guys can get this story to 65 REVIEWS I'LL UPDATE ON SUNDAY with a LONGER CHAPTER!
If a review with constructive criticism happens to pass by I'll be more than grateful ;-)
See you hopefully on Sunday!
The Princess of Stars