Two more chapters after this one!

Please don't hate me. Warning: character death

Chapter 19

"You're alone?" The Duke inquired, eyeing the woman standing in front of him carefully, convinced that she had a secret entourage with her, hidden somewhere in the thick brush surrounding the clearing in which they were currently standing. The woman returned the glare.

"Yes." She answered stoically.

"And will you surrender yourself unconditionally to me?" He then asked.

"In return for my commander, yes." Not to her surprise, the man laughed.

"You will willingly give up your crown, your kingdom and potentially your life for that monster?" Without hesitance, she replied.

"Yes."

"Pathetic." The Duke scolded. He snapped is fingers and, from the bushes, came one of his goons with Hans in tow. Besides having a trail of dried blood starting at the edge of his mouth, he looked unharmed. They removed the chains on his wrists and pushed him towards the woman at the opposite end. When his eyes fell on her, Hans didn't bother to hide the shock on his face. What was she doing? She couldn't give up everything for him!

"Elsa, wha-"

"Shh!" She hissed, "Trust me." She paced past him towards the goon, holding her hands up to him so he could put the chains on her.

It was all down to perfect timing now. She had to time this immaculately otherwise the possibility of both of them being captured increased significantly. She had to wait for the perfect moment, that being the instant between the goon putting the chains on her and him locking them. Closed chains and the escape would fail.

He was going to put the chains on; Elsa sent a quick prayer. They were on her now. With a yell, she punched the goon first in his face and then his leg. She threw the chains off to throw her magic when she felt the rush of heat fly by her and her surroundings becoming ablaze.

"Run! RUN!" Hans shouted, snatching the woman's hand and fleeing into the woods. They ran as fast as they could, never glancing back, and didn't stop for a rest until they had covered some distance.

"You were going to give up your army, your kingdom and your life for me?" Hans snapped after regaining some of his breath. "Are you mad!?"

"A thank you would suffice." The Queen snapped back. There was silence for a while longer, Hans sitting down in the shade of a nearby tree.

"It's not that I'm ungrateful that you came back for me." He explained, "I'm far from ungrateful but you should not risk everything for me. I'm not worth that much."

"Worth that much?" Elsa repeated, bitterness strong in her voice. "Do you honestly think that I'd risk so much if I thought that you weren't worth it?"

"I'm not worth it! He snapped back, rising to his feet, though his height did nothing to intimidate the female in front of him, "I never was and I never will be! Certainly not for someone else!"

"You're worth everything to me!" Elsa shouted back, taking a step back and feeling her cheeks turn a bold red when she realized what she had said. "I… I'm sorry. I-" Whatever excuse she had wanted to give was lost as Hans pushed her to the ground. As the pain hit her, she heard a scream and the brief crackle of flame. Upon looking, she saw only the black plume of an extinguished flame and Hans staring at the spot with his hand still reached out.

"Weselton." He said softly before he fell to his knees, his face scrunched up in pain.

"Hans! What is it?" Elsa's question was quickly answered when Hans, with a loud yell of pain, yanked out the arrow that had been lodged into his chest and let it fall onto the grass. Trying to keep her eyes off of the injury, lest she got sick, she dragged him to the tree, where upon she pulled away his shirt to assess his wound, though she had no knowledge of any medical practices and was already feeling sick from looking at the liquid.

"Just leave it." Hans whispered, pushing her hand away and covering the injury with his own.

"Hans, you're being stubborn. You need help." Elsa responded sternly albeit the slight tremble in her voice. Her hands shaking the tiniest bit, she tried to remove his hand (which already had blood dripping through it) but he stopped her.

"Even if you were a doctor, you wouldn't be able to help me." He coughed several times, immediately gasping for breath, the sound of loud and wheezy. It was promptly followed by more coughs and Elsa, terrified, grabbed his bloodless hand, hoping it would soothe him as well as calm herself down. "He… He had good aim." He said after the coughs had stopped, chuckling to himself a little. "Despite aiming at something different." He made eye contact with Elsa and he was saddened to see there were tears in her eyes. "I don't regret doing it."

"But why? Why did you do it?" Elsa asked, a few tears escaping her eyes.

"You're more important than me, Elsa." He said softly, "Without you, Arendelle is lost. And..." He took a deep and shaky breath, "I would gladly take another arrow if it meant that you'd live."

"Hans..." Elsa started but she was cut off when the man place a small, slightly bloody, kiss on her hand. She had wanted to assure to him that his value wasn't any less than hers but the kiss had left her frozen from surprise, her heart hammering in her chest. The serene moment was broken when they heard voices.

"Go."

"I'm not leaving you!"

"It wasn't a request. Go!" He pushed her away from a surprise burst of strength but the woman didn't run.

"Neither was what I said."

"Elsa," He snapped, "You have to go. You can't carry me and I can barely walk. If we go together, we'll die and nothing will stop the Duke if you're out of the picture. And incredible as Anna is, she does not have the leadership skills you have. You have to live." He pushed her one more time, "Go!"

She wanted to argue, wanted to grab him, fling him over her shoulder and carry him to safety but she knew that he was right; she had to leave him behind for her own sake, the sake of her family and of the kingdom. She wanted to hug him (or show some form of affection) but that would stop any intuition she had to leave and so, with a heavy heart and tears rolling out of her eyes, she turned and ran, leaving her friend to his fate.

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