Hi guys! I'm sorry for the delay but I had to rewrite this HELSA chapter.

ATTENTION!
I don't have a Beta reader and I'm not really sure about this chapter, I hope I did not exaggerate in cheesyness or in portraying this side of Hans, so in case you guys think it's too cheesy and boring, if you have any suggestions to improve it please tell me and I'll modify the chapter, or I'll simply take this down, write a new one and post that one instead.

Also, if there are some beta readers out there who are looking for an author to help out, their help is very welcomed here.

Also: SPOILER ALERT for all those who haven't read Black Beauty or watched the movie!

Here it goes.

Enjoy!

Elsa's POV:

If Skylynn's intention was preventing me from catching a wink of sleep by not being explicit over what happened in her land, well, she clearly succeeded! Sleep had been hell for me since I read that letter. Unfortunately I couldn't really blame her, if I had precious information I wouldn't have sent it in a letter with a courier, I'd communicate them myself. Still, that was no excuse to be lazy and ignore my queen duties especially after Sky's warning. Luckily it wasn't too much a busy day, and I had the time to re-read Sky's letter and note a few things to get done just in case my suspicions were right, after my second dance lesson with Hans. He seemed to sense my nervousness, but he didn't look too calm either. I assumed that Sky must have said something to him too and my reaction to her words had made him worry a bit too. If there was one person who really knew what could be at stake it was him, and Sky is still his sister. I would be surprised if he didn't worry.

Speaking of Hans, anyone would think that after seeing his sudden change in attitude, him saving my life more than once, his will to redeem himself at least to my kingdom's law and admitting that he felt guilty about his crimes, nothing was going to surprise me ever again. I found him proving me wrong when he said he saw my powers as a gift, when he did not use my one major weakness against me after I confessed it to him, and when he said he was sure I could handle whatever situation was coming up. These last few days, I weirdly found myself spending a lot of time and speaking with him much more than I ever did over these past few months and every time I thought I was getting closer to knowing this Hans, the more he proved me wrong. Today had been no exception and it had started like every normal day!

After reading Sky's letter, once again, I summoned an extra meeting with the council members to make some check-ups. I needed to know how we were doing and if we had resources. Soon after that, I personally made a visit to the army barracks to speak with the generals and see the training. One thing that I did notice was that as soon as the training soldiers saw me, they immediately started training harder. Probably because they didn't want to look lazy and show their queen they were working hard, which they were already. The generals were oblivious to why I had come to speak with them, but assured me that the troops in each of their departments were training hard and well and that we had the numbers… which mostly seemed like a way for them to reassure me everything was fine… or maybe it's just me seeing my own troops unprepared because of how much this bothers me.
Telling Anna before speaking with Sky was only going to make matters worse and I was probably going to ruin her day too, but when I did meet her it didn't take her long to convince me to take a break and distract myself a little bit since I looked 'a little too tense' and she was right. A small distraction was only going to do me some good at the moment.

The library was my immediate stop. There was a book waiting for me to be finished and wanted to get to it right away. I entered the room quietly, taking in the silence and the smell of paper in the room. I walked to the shelf I remembered placing the book in and settling down on the comfy couch, slipped my shoes off, tucked my legs to the side, and started reading. My head was immediately absorbed in the book, images of the scene happening in that page going through my mind like a play. I had turned at least ten pages when I heard a small noise. My head snapped up trying to figure out where was it coming from. It sounded like a single sniffle. I didn't hear anything for a few more seconds, but another quiet sniffle followed. I placed my bookmark into the book and went looking for who was crying in the library. Another small sniffle was heard the moment I found who it was. Hans was standing on top of the ladder leaning on a shelf, intently reading a book. He wasn't sobbing or actually crying, but he had tears falling down his emerald eyes that were glued to the book. Now that is something I was NOT expecting to see: Hans Westerguard being brought to tears by a book… and not just any book.

"Black Beauty?" I said reading the title.

"Queen Elsa!" Hans exclaimed jumping like a frightened cat, catching the book as it almost fell and making the ladder dangerously fall back.

"Hold on!" I said and pinned the ladder back to the shelf with my magic, Hans holding himself onto the ladder for dear life "I'm sorry for startling you. Are you alright up there?" I asked as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't know if I'm more embarrassed for almost killing myself or you catching me reading instead of working" he replied, loosening his grip on the ladder a bit, but not daring to look at me.

"In all fairness, I'm too stunned by seeing you crying over Black Beauty to actually care about you not working, right now" I replied. His face flushed tomato red.

"I wasn't crying! Some dust got into my eyes! It's very dusty up here" he replied and he immediately wiped his tears away from his face, looking away, then he placed the book back in its place "I'll immediately get back to work! I-"

"-You were reading the part where Ginger dies, weren't you?" I interrupted unable to contain a small smile "I cried like a baby when I first read it… it still gets me, actually" I confessed. Hans stopped cleaning the shelf and looked back down to me, surprise written all over his face "And considering your love for horses and the fact that Sky named her horse after that book, something tells me this isn't the first time you read it either" Hans just stared blankly at me for a few seconds.

"After dreaming of a life together, seeing the love of your life die in those conditions, considered less than a mere tool, is heartbreaking…" Hans finally confessed.

"Even for a horse" I added. Hans just nodded his head resigned that he was busted.

"I know, I'm ridiculous…" he added.

"Because you get emotional over a book? Not at all. I told you, I cried too" I replied calmly.

"It's different, I'm a man!" he replied "I shouldn't get so emotional over every single romantic novel I read" he said taking his cloth back and dusting the already clean shelf "Don't get me wrong, you already know about my love for philosophy, I also really like theatre like yourself, and I enjoy a good mystery or adventure book, but I shouldn't be so… emotional over these!"

"Why? Because your brothers said so?" Hans froze and I knew I had nailed what was the issue. He sighed.

"Man up or go cry like a baby in your own room, those were pretty much their words" I knew how that felt. Sure, my father wasn't abusive like his brothers, but I knew what it felt to learn to be ashamed of a part of yourself.

"We all have our guilty pleasures" I said trying to ease him from the embarrassment "There's nothing wrong with tearing up over a book, it just means that the author got to you and the message was clear. If you love romance, I see nothing wrong with that. It's just who you are and what you like. Who cares if society created the ridiculous label of 'romance novels are meant for women'…" Hans gave me a small smile.

"Is this the part where you tell me Princess Anna loves horror stories?" he asked.

"No, they give her nightmares and she hates it. She's into romance just like you… but she does have a guilty pleasure for mystery" I replied.

"Well, you clearly can't be an exception example" he said going back to cleaning. I raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? I'm not exactly ordinary" I asked.

"No, you are not normal. You read about geometry!" he teased.

"Says the man who devours philosophy books!" we both involuntarily chuckled.

"Oh my God! You and I are never really going to get past that issue, are we, your Majesty?" I averted my gaze pretending to be thinking about it.

"Probably not" I replied with a small laugh. Hans chuckled and taking the cloth with him, he started to climb down the ladder, his embarrassment gone.

"You know, we've spoke for a while about books, but you never really told me which is actually your favorite book" he said curiously, standing before me.

"It's not The Snow Queen, that I can tell you that" I told him.

"You're not going to ask me to guess it, are you, Queen Elsa?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm asking you to tell me yours first" I replied "Just for safety" he stared at me.

"You believe that as soon as you tell me your favorite book I'm going to say it's my favorite too even if it isn't" he understood, but fortunately he didn't seem offended by it.

"Can you really blame me? You never know with you, so… Isn't that what you did to charm Anna? It's predictable!" he thought about it.

"No, I guess not and yes, I did. But I'll admit it: sandwiches are not my favorite, I'm more of a chocolate chip cookie person" he said with a teasing smile on his lips.

"So, what's your favorite book?" I challenged. Hans didn't reply when he realized I was not changing topic. He hesitated like he didn't know what to say.

"I…" he started, crossing his arms "I really like Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice is my favorite" he said and I felt my face fall "That one time you came to speak with me in my temporary room, you actually caught me reading my favorite book, and yeah, very feminine I know, but-…" he stopped "What's that face? What did I do?" he asked, making me notice that I had been staring weirdly at him.

"Nothing! I- I just…"

"Is Pride and Prejudice your favorite too?" he asked me.

"…yeah…" I admitted "How come it is your favorite? I mean, you like romance, I got that but… why that one in particular?" I asked him. Then I was utterly taken by surprise when I saw another faint blush on his cheeks.

"I… I don't know. I just… I am completely in love with Elizabeth Bennett. I just love her character, her strong personality her will to do what she wants" he said leaning on the ladder, looking away "I mean, I've never had a real relationship before and… if I were to be in a relationship, a serious one, I'd like my significant other to be like her. Mostly I'd like to be like her when it comes to decide what to do with my life regardless of society's opinion. My brothers have always teased me about it… they said I should have spent more time sparring or boxing rather than reading books and that if I had to read books they should have been manlier like La Chanson de Roland for example or King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table…but I… I was just a little more into… romance genre, I guess? Or -you know- something about feelings and relationships with others…acceptance… love…?" he said shyly. A real look of innocence passed through his eyes, catching me off guard. Elizabeth Bennett was actually my favorite character too for the exact same reasons. I looked up to that character as a role model because of her strong personality, just like Hans said.

"I sure was not expecting that. You're a really… sensitive guy, aren't you?" I said watching him closely.

"W-what? No! N-no! It's not that! It's just that… books make me think, they're like an escape from the reality I live in…" he said "And… Pride and Prejudice got me to think that if I were to be in a serious relationship with someone…it shouldn't be just physical or because of -you know- providing heirs or climbing up the social ladder- I mean- yes, creating your own family is important, especially if you're royalty, you use it to secure alliances, as you well know- but marriage… I see it as something else…" he paused as he lost himself in thought .

"Like what?" I asked, curious to hear his opinion on the matter.

"It's spending the rest of your life with someone you love… it's being the only man in her life… it's telling her she'll be the only woman in yours… promising her a future together, is accepting and loving one another no matter what life throws at you. I like Elizabeth Bennett so much because I'd like to have a woman with a strong personality by my side, someone who is not afraid to say what she thinks, or someone that would keep telling me she doesn't need to be protected although she knows I'd keep trying to do that, you know… someone that makes me feel special by allowing me to make her feel special and loved, like Elizabeth did Mr. Darcy and vice versa in their own way… someone I could talk to… like about serious stuff… things I can't talk to anyone about with…" I couldn't help but look at him warmly as he opened up to me. Then I shook myself out of it, as a voice in my head reminded me who I was talking to.

"Like… what kind of things?" I asked him.

"I-I don't know! Anything"

"Like… this sort of topic?"

"Yeah…" then, it seemed like he too realized what he had just done as he quickly straightened back up "But you can't tell anyone! Or-or next time I-… I won't hesitate!"

"Killing the queen is high treason, you should know that" I challenged with a smirk.

"What about threatening a… duggah head?" he replied as we had both destroyed the quiet moment.

"That's not a word" I said.

"It's idiomatic" he tried, clearly knowing he was talking nonsense "You should be a little more in touch with the people" he added, taking the empty bucket next to the ladder and putting the cloth in.

"Define: duggah - head" I challenged.

"In two words?"

"Yes"

"Queen Elsa" I looked at him with my mouth agape as I didn't come up with any comeback at the moment. He turned back to look at me and raised his eyebrows playfully with a satisfied smirk, knowing he had won this time. He then bowed his head and excused himself to get back to work, as I headed back to reading my book before returning to my own duties as well. That there was a person underneath the fallen prince had been clear to me the first time we actually spoke, but I was surprised at hearing his opinion on marriage, especially from him. But the way he said it made understand that while telling me this, he had been thinking about what he had done and had come to the realization that if he and Anna had indeed gotten married, he would have soon figured out that he would have never really loved my sister as more than a good friend.

One thing was sure, he was different. Different from how he presented himself to be, different from how I expected him to be, different from how he is turning out to be. Now he's shy and unsecure in some aspects, but he's also funny in his way and pleasant to be around and a very determent man with principles… sometimes I wonder how I couldn't have seen that before.

Thank you all for reading this chapter! Let me know what you think about it with a review! As usual I quoted a movie and a TV series, can you guess them? Who else noticed that what Hans's opinion over marriage is exactly what Elsa told Kristoff when he asked her Anna's hand?
Thank you for reading and for reviewing!
If anyone wants to be my Beta reader, let me know and please tell me if you want me to change the chapter.

See you next chapter!

The Princess of Stars