Chapter 36

Hans

He and Stian quickly turned to face the man, but he was gone. Hans viscously scanned the forest.

"What did you see?" Elsa asked. Hans was preoccupied, he didn't say anything. He noticed his hands shaking violently, but that didn't stop him. His mind was screaming "Face your fear!" whilst his body wanted to do nothing but run away and hide.

"Hans! To your left! Don't take your eyes off him!" Stian called. Hans spun to the left, and saw him. The man wasn't in his peripheral vision anymore. He stood only ten feet away from Hans, staring directly at him. He wore a long, black cloak that seemed to turn into smoke instead of seams at the end of its sleeves and hem. His drawn hood covered most of his face, but what Hans could see is a deathly white chin, with a smile.

"Glad you could make it." Hans said.

"As am I." Fear began pacing around Hans. They circled each other, while Stian watched carefully from the background. Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf still looked around, as if they couldn't see him.

"What took you so long?" Hans asked, with open arms. Fear continued pacing, paying no mind.

"I've been following you, Hans. Longer than you may care to remember, but I've always been there. Your friends have all completed the task I've given them. And now, you'll try to complete yours." Fear said, his voice deep and angry.

"I'll succeed." Hans said.

"I have no doubt you'll try."

Hans paused for a second. Something was familiar about this man. He couldn't see his face, but Hans could have sworn he'd seen him before.

"You recognize me, don't you? That's not surprising. I've been influencing people like you since the dawn of time." Fear croaked.

"People... Like me?" Hans asked.

"Hans, who are you-" Kristoff started to ask, when his eyes locked onto a point. He saw Fear too. Hans wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but now he had somebody else who could back him up if worse came to worst.

"We need to get back to Anna. The only way to do that is to defeat you." Stian said.

"Defeat me?" Fear took a glance at Stian, then locked his eyes back to Hans. At least, Hans thought so. No eyes were visible under the hood. "You can't defeat Fear! I've been around since the dawn of time, and I'll stay here until everything ends. Which..." Fear looked to the sky, "May be a bit sooner than you thing. Hans, people like you have been around since the dawn of mankind. People are afraid of the dark for reasons, you know? So when I successfully placed a pearl of fear into the hearts of all humanity, I decided to move on."

"To where?" Stian asked.

"The Shadowside, of course! I created my own humans who would always live in fear of the darkness. See, I feed off fear. It's sort of like... Energy, or a nice cake to me. I can't get enough!" he laughed. When Hans said laughed, it sounded more like a high pitched nail across stained glass. It wasn't pleasant at all. Hans looked to Elsa, who was now fixated on Fear as well. They could all see him.

"But when I arrived here, the sun was up! It was daytime, there was no darkness!" Hans argued.

Fear shrugged, "People conquered their fears. I realized I needed more humans. This world, the Shadowside, it's tiny compared to yours. Only a few hundred miles, really. I needed to get back to Earth. Problem was, the Conduit was closed. The portal that I used to create the Shadowside was gone, because of the absence of pure hatred. I needed somebody full of evil, full of darkness to reopen the Conduit."

Hans eyes widened. "Somebody full of darkness... Asle...Guys, get back!" He yelled. They all started, but froze where they stood. A thin black smoke surround all of their bodies, rendering movement impossible. It was like a thin layer of stone.

"Oh, look, you've got me monologuing. That girl thought her powers were speaking to her. That was preposterous, it was me." Fear admitted.

"You made Asle... What she is..." Elsa tried.

"I did. And now she's executing my plan perfectly. She thinks it's what she wants, merging our two worlds together. My failed subject Sitna told you what would happen if that were to occur right?" he asked, approaching Hans.

"Nothing."

"Exactly! He's wrong, though. After all light and darkness merged, there would be something. Emotion. Raw human emotion would be left over. What would people be feeling as their world came crashing down, as everything they knew ceased to exist?" Fear asked. Hans knew the answer. The Prince's eyeballs moved to Stian, whom he saw was breathing very deeply. A thin, white mist was covering the inside of the shell of smoke. Stian was escaping. Elsa caught Hans' eye, and looked to her husband as well. Her eyes grew large, as she also starting fighting back. Hans had to distract him.

"I couldn't have light in either world, so I got Asle to kill the two light bearers, and store their powers away where nobody could ever find them-"

"She never was really good at hiding things, was she?" asked an old voice. Fear spun around, and came face to face with none other than Hilda and Cassius. Hilda held two spheres in her hands, each full of yellow light. Hans remembered them from the building they met in. Hilda spoke, "Sorry it took us so long, Dearies, Cassius changed my mind."

"Hilda!" Elsa shouted through the muffled smoke.

"You!" Fear said, swiping his hand down at the old woman. Hilda moved expertly, leaping backwards into Cassius' arms. It was almost comical. Cassius extended his palm, and white hot flame shot from it. Fear staggered backwards, before regaining balance. "Where did you find those?" he demanded.

"We've had 'em." Cassius smiled. "Hans, turned out we were wrong. There is a way to get back to Arendelle without defeating Fear."

"What?" Hans asked, feeling the smoke dissipate. He must be facing his fear. Cassius took one of the orbs from his Grandmother, and looked to Hans.

"We've talked about this a lot, Hans. You still have traces of darkness and fear in your heart. Elsa and Stian already have powers, and I don't think Olaf would be able to handle this kind of strength." Hilda scratched her chin. She nodded to her Grandson. "Only one person here can successfully wield this. Kristoff, honey." Hilda smiled.

"No!" Fear gasped. Cassius tossed the orb in Kristoff's direction. The smoke surrounding him appeared to fade the closer the sphere got. Hans saw how unsure Kristoff was, as he dove, and caught the sphere in his hands. The smoke around everybody immediately dissipated. Hans heard something shatter, and the light that was once inside the sphere poured out. Kristoff looked directly into it, while everybody else looked away. The brightness was blinding. Hans was concerned that Kristoff may go blind. After a few seconds, the light faded.

Kristoff now stood, fire in his eyes. Literally.

Much like Stian's blue fire, Kristoff's irises and pupils were no longer there, and fire blazed in their place. Pure white, it gave off an otherworldly glow. It was warm, and made Hans feel happy. Fear was now on his knees, crippled in front of Hans. Hilda and Cassius rushed past Hans, and joined Kristoff, Olaf, Elsa, and Stian at the other end of the clearing.

"Kristoff?" Elsa asked.

"We're going to get Anna." he said, his voice very authoritative. A stark white light started around Kristoff, and spread to the others. Hans realized what was happening, and quickly made his way to his friends. The light enveloped him as well.

"Kristoff, what happened?" Stian asked.

"We need one more light bearer." he answered.

"So that means you-" Hans never got to finish his sentence. Leaving Fear crippled in the middle of the clearing, he began rising off the ground. It was slow and gradual at first, but once they reached a few meters in the air, they shot up like a rocket. The night sky was now probably midday. Hans felt like his face was going to peel off, they were going so fast. He looked up, and his eyes began to water. He closed them.

When Hans woke up, he found it had worked.

He was in a dim throne room, cuddled up to a Snowman. The others were groggily awakening. Kristoff's eyes were no longer glowing. He just looked even more tired. Hans heard a very loud noise from just the room next to him. It sounded like the wind was trying to knock over the building. Kristoff had done it. He'd saved them. And even more important, he now had the powers of light.

They were back in Arendelle.