...Several days later... In a forest not too far from the kingdom of Corona.
The King sat in his "throne". Looking around, he saw what actually just seemed to be a regular office. His fancy chair, the one he was currently mounted on, sat behind a fancy desk towards the rear end of the room.
It was a rather large room. A square about 20 feet by 20 feet with a roof about 15 feet high making just a few feet short of a cube. The walls of the room were littered with filing cabinets, dressers, and other storage units.
One wall held possibly one thousand pictures of women. The people didn't look to be connected at all, just a random assortment of folks. Among the pictures on the wall was a portrait of Anna. Another wall had a similar number, but of men. Kristoff was among the pictures. The wall that held the only entrance or exit from the room (Or at least the only visible exit) housed fewer pictures than the other two. Each one in the picture had a black or white stripe through their hair. The final wall, the one behind the king, held fewer pictures than the first two walls but quite a few more than the third. Elsa's picture could be spotted among them.
The King-
His name is not actually "The King," mind you. Nor is it his title. He doesn't own any sort of kingdom. The land he's currently residing in legally belongs to the king of Corona, but he doubted that even Corona's king knew that. What he does own is a company, his company. He doesn't really have a name for it; he is bad at coming up with names, so he just calls it his company. His employees don't own the company, so they just call it "the company." As for why he calls himself "The King." Well, it is a lot more intimidating than "Jerry."
So, anyways.
The King looked anxious and excited. He settled his nerves when there came a knock at the door.
"Enter." He said with his deep thundering voice. Gosh, he was such an intimidating person. Tall, muscular, deep voiced, scars on his face... Why did his name have to be Jerry.
Seriously, what kind of name was "Jerry?" Did his mother not know he would be the leader of a group of mercenaries killing off killers who had magical abilities? Or did she know, and she just wanted to be cruel and ironic. Because The King hated his mother, and he knew that his mother hated him, he decided that she did, indeed, know his future, and named him Jerry to be cruel. 'Better than Shirley.' He decided.
Anyway.
A figure stepped through the door, hood covering his face.
"Welcome. How was your journey?" Asked The King.
"Cut the crap, why am I here?" The hooded man asked, obviously quite irritated.
"Your assignment is done, you are here awaiting your next one." He said.
"This couldn't have waited until I was actually done?" The man still sounded angry.
"I wanted to test Philip." The King said calmly, despite his guest's frustrations.
"Test how much of an idiot he his?" He asked.
"To test his loyalty. Does he follow me, or his own kind?" The King asked rhetorically.
"Hmm... follow complete strangers? or follow daddy? Difficult question." The man said sarcastically.
"Similarities are strong. As are differences. If he found a similar super, and focused on his differences with me, who knows where his loyalty would lie." The King said.
The hooded man thought to his own father. Yes, he could see how something like that might... change... Philip's allegiance.
"But that is something you'll have to test constantly, is it not?" He finally spoke back up.
"Indeed."
"So, what happens when you're gone?"
The King's response was interrupted by yet another knock at the door.
The both turned to face it.
"Enter." Said The King. If the man wasn't wearing a hood, one could have seen his lips mock those of the one sitting behind him.
A blue-haired man with a black streak through his hair entered through the door a wicked smile on his face. Every few steps, the smile would disappear... only to come back a moment later.
Yep, this guy was crazy.
"Philip." The King started plainly. "Success, I presume."
"Not exactly." Philip responded.
"Fool!" The hooded man shouted.
"Ah." The King sounded understandably disappointed. "What do you mean 'not exactly?'"
"I mean it was a complete failure, your highness." Philip mocked. If he weren't completely mad, and his son, The King probably would have killed him then. He didn't quite know why, but he seemed to have a soft spot for both Philip and the other man currently keeping him company.
"What happened?" The King asked losing his patience fast.
"The wolves had the girl surrounded, but guests came to help her." Philip informed them.
"Who were these 'guests?'" The hooded man asked fiercely. "What were their names?!"
"Animals care not for given names; they make their own based on deeds." Philip informed his co-worker.
"What name did they receive, then?!" The hooded man had lost his patience. You could hardly tell he had any to begin with. Maybe he didn't.
"Two names were mentioned in passing and were probably not important. One, though, they spoke with intense fear." Philip stalled.
"What was the name?!" The hooded man was ready to kill Philip, despite their... slight friendship.
"They called her 'The Fearsome Lute-Wielder.'" Answered Philip.
"That means nothing to me. What were the other names?"
"The man, they called 'Coward,' and the other woman, 'Ice Queen.'" Philip said with another smile.
The hooded man slammed his fist against the desk, ignoring the protests of The King.
"You didn't think I would recognize 'Ice Queen?'" The hooded man almost growled out his question.
"I didn't say that." The grin never faltered. "I said 'probably not important.'"
"The Queen of Arendelle?!"
"'Probably.'" Philip reminded. The last sight he saw for a while was a fist with two prominent knuckles hurtling toward his eyes.
The grin faltered.
The hooded man began walking toward the door, stepping over the now unconscious Philip. All the while The King was calling for him to stop.
"Excuse me!"
"Hey!"
"Listen!"
"You there!"
"Hans!" The hooded man stopped and slowly turned on his heel.
"I told you-"
"Who is here to know?" The King asked.
Hans brought his hidden-from-view eyes to Philip lying on the cold, hard ground.
"What do you plan to do?" The King asked harshly.
"My job." Hans responded, his tone as cold as Elsa's ice.
"Well, make sure you do it quietly!" The King commanded. "We've survived this long only by staying in the shadows. Make sure all that the queen and princess know is that she is gone. dead or on vacation, I do not care, just so long as it can't be traced to us."
Hans walked out of the building and into the forest.
The small castle could barely be seen from any side but the entrance. They designed it that way, he'd learned that on one of his first days, So no one would just stumble upon it.
As Hans journeyed back to Arendelle he noticed a small bird following him on his quest.
'Philip must think I'm an idiot.' He thought to himself.
As Philip opened his eyes, he heard the voice of his father.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." The King said.
"The land of the dead is boring. And dark." Came his slurred response.
He sat up to find himself alone with his father. Hans had left.
"How long ago did he leave?" Philip asked.
"Almost as soon as you went unconscious."
"Which was?" Philip almost sounded normal... he hated it.
"An hour ago, at least." The King answered back.
"Is it just me, or has he been increasingly irritated recently?" Philip asked.
"Nobody likes to be reminded of their failure, and Arendelle is the site of his biggest one." The King informed his son.
"That guy needs to just... let it go." Philip said.
"I'm not following" The King said.
"You're not supposed to." Philip said. Clearly, he'd regained his crazy.
"I worry about you sometimes."
"You won't have to for much longer..." Philip trailed off.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, how would you feel if I brought animals in to work for you?" Philip Asked.
"I don't know about that." The King said.
"I would tell them to follow your every order unconditionally; I'll make sure they're smart; And -the best bit- they'll be working for no pay."
The king didn't mind having extra workers without needing to pay them.
I apologize to anyone named "Jerry" or "Shirley" I needed more words and so I tried to think of a non-threatening name for The King to rant about. I personally have nothing against those names. Fun fact: This chapter is 1,499 words without this part. *Whispers* I cheated!
