Authors note: The second trial is to begin! What will it be about? Will Hans and friends pass it?. Any way thank you for all of the reviews. Now for your pleasure, here is a new chapter, thank you for reading and please review when done.
Fire sparked merrily as Hans made sure everybody in the cabin was comfortable. Curling up on a cot Varian asked "I don't understand, if Agnaar was so cruel to you why are you going through all this trouble to save him?",
"Yes if anything I say he deserves this and worse" agreed Aisha as she was the kind of person to have a harden heart... till she gets to know you of course...
"I know, but it's not right, especially considering what I did in the past" said Hans,
"Your a good man you know that" said Heidi as she took the other bed while Aisha took the remaining one.
"All thanks to you guys and Jane" said Hans,
"You were good before you met us Hans" said Aisha "you just needed time to see it for yourself".
With that they curled up and went to bed, as he lay on a cot on the ground Hans though remembering the past. Remembering the promise he made to Jane before her passing... and the words shared between him and Joseph before his own passing.
The wedding came and went, it was a small affair, nothing fancy, with just Aisha, Varian, Heidi and Joseph there, once over Hans and Jane started their married life..
Sure Jane was not Hans true love, but he admitted that she was the closest he ever got.
They would spend days together, talked, had dinner. Their relationship was close to perfect, he never felt like he was a footnote, he felt secure, happy with her and loved. But most of all he felt worthy, like he did not have to prove himself over and over to have her love.
He learned more about himself, he felt better and it was all thanks to Jane and he would make sure to show that he loved her in any way he could...
Soon the day came, one winter day, Jane got very ill.
Snow fell gently, looking out the window Jane looked outside as she waited for her father, Hans and the group to get back to the campsite.
Soon they all appeared, walking side by side, talking about this and that before they went inside the caravan they used.
Shedding their coats they were greeted by Jane who ran over and hugged them. They hugged her back before shedding their winter coats and boots before helping Jane make dinner. Sitting down they ate dinner.
When finished Jane happily asked if they could go ice skating. To which Hans agreed before going upstairs to get the skates.
Entering the room he shared with Joseph and began to rummage through an oak chest. Yes he and Jane were married, but he would never sleep in the same room as her, in fact he would never kiss her or have her be like a housewife.
He would hug and hold her hand, escort her from place to place if she requested it and every now and then he would give her gifts or do little things for yes he did not love her like he loves Elsa, but he loves her and wants to let Jane know all the time.
Finding his and Janes skates Hans grabbed them and began to walk downstairs and as he did he spoke "Jane, me and the group were thinking, hows about we go back to the coast in France when summer arrives? We can take a train, enjoy the sights, go to the beach and pier? Hows about-"
Hans voice stopped, the skates fell to the ground in a thump when he found Jane on the ground motionless all around her Varian, Aisha and Heidi were desperately trying to wake her up.
"Jane!" yelled Hans screamed as he ran over and picked her up, cradling her against his chest. Hearing his scream Joseph came running in as he had left the home to gather firewood for a minute.
Looking he also screamed as Aisha said "We don't know what happened! One moment she was okay the next she collapsed!",
"Come on!" yelled Joseph, Hans grabbed Jane bridal stile before they all ran out of the cabin, Hans did not even stop to put on his coat and boots as he ran through the snow, following Joseph to the home of the doctor that was in town not far from where they were.
Running and not stopping they arrived to the farm where the doctor lived. Knocking on the door frantically all of them almost broke it down and they screamed and yelled. They stopped only when the elder doctor open the door.
At first he was confused till he noticed Jane. Quickly they brought the girl into the home and they placed her on the guest room. Closing the door with the doctor they waited in fear in the living room. Hans paced around, till the wife forced him to sit down so she can clean and bandage up his feet. It was then he noticed they were blue and bloody due to running barefoot through the street and snow.
Time ticked by, each second felt like an eternity as Hans, Joseph and the rest waited to hear from the doctor, praying that Jane would be okay.
But when the doctor left the guest room he had a sorrowful look in his face, with a sad sight he said "I am sorry..."
Everybody broke down crying even Aisha who was not one for crying, the doctor comfort them as best as he could before telling them "She wants to see you... John and Joseph... individually then have you both in the same room".
They looked, gesturing to Joseph the doctor led him to the room. About an hour or so Joseph left the room, so it was Hans turn.
Entering the room Hans held himself together as he walked over to Jane who was lying on the bed. She was looking out the window.
"Jane" said Hans, his voice was a bit hoarse, turning to face him Jane smiled and little "John... Hans... seems I am in a bit of a bind" she reached,
"I am sure you will be fine" said Hans with a watery smile as he took her hand and held it. She just held his smile, continued to smile as she said "Thank you",
"For what?",
"For everything, the past few months have been the happiest of my life" said Jane,
"And there is still more... in summer we can-", she shook her head and said "Its time, but its okay, I am more than ready to go",
"But Jane... your father needs you... I need you" said Hans softly,
"No you don't" said Jane then gently she stroke his face "I want you to be just as happy as you have made me, so before I go, I want you to promise me you will move on, you will find somebody to love, marry her, have kids",
"Jane...",
"Please, don't make me stay longer than I should" Jane asked softly. Sighting Hans nodded and said "Okay"
Placing a kiss on his forehead she said "Call my father", nodding Hans walked over to the door and opened it, called Joseph.
Together they, Hans, Heidi, Joseph, Aisha and Varian took turns watching Jane till she took her last breath when the sun set.
And shortly there after her father fell ill.
Jane is gone, it was what ran through all of their mind. They spent their past few days in monotone, working then eating and sleeping, basically keeping each other alive.
But soon their scheduled would be broken.
Finishing work Joseph went to the back of the caravan but screamed when he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Grabbing it he slowly slid to the ground, he opened his mouth to scream but it came out as a whisper.
Hans had been outside, cleaning and oiling tools when he went to check on Joseph only to yell when he saw Joseph on the ground.
"Joseph!", getting to his side Hans touched his skin, it was cold, he even looked pale.
"No no" said Hans in a panic, not Joseph, he had already lost Jane, he could not loose Joseph too.
Looking around he smiled a bit before looking at Hans he leaned over and whispered "Thank you, you are like the son I never had" then silence.
"No! No!" Hans yelled before laying him down on the ground gently before running to get the doctor.
But despite this it was too late... Joseph died...
Their deaths were terrible, but brought change in Hans as he knew without a doubt he was a person a worth and most of all... he had changed.
They and the promise made Hans want to continue to be better. For them, for himself.
Closing his eyes Hans though "Hang in there, I will save you".
Waking up Agnaar moves his head around, listening in. He swore he heard Hans, but there was nothing.
"Hans?" He asked, but there was no respond. So curling up back on the coat Hans left behind all Agnaar could do was lay there, contemplate his actions and be shocked.
After everything he did to Hans, he was still going to save him. Why? Why not leave him to his fate?
"Hans... please be safe..." he prayed.
The next day:
Door opened and John/Hans was let into the throne room. As he walked in Elsa could not help but he in awe the way John walked in. It was silly but he had a stride that was very royal, his posture was impeccable, his clothes were second hand, but he made an effort to look nice.
"It kinda reminds me of... no, forget it Elsa" though Elsa as she sat up as he bow to her... again very much like Hans...
Shaking her head Elsa spoke "You passed the first trial, I congratulate you for it... as a reward... what would you like? You can have anything..." she paused then added "within reason".
John though then answered "Food, a fur blanket and to see my father",
"Pardon?" asked Elsa surprised, she expected riches or land, not this.
"Food and to see my father, I want to make sure he is well fed, watered and warm" he said. Elsa though then decided to humor his request and said "Alright Havi, what would the menu be?",
"Farikal with extra thick warm broth, vegetables and meat, lefse and fiskeboller, hot chocolate and some water on the side if possible" asked John again surprising Elsa as it was an extremely reasonable meal, nothing too fancy... the only fancy thing there was the hot chocolate but that was it.
"Granted" said Elsa as she snapped her fingers and had a servant write it down then asked "And the fur blanket, anything in particular?",
"Just the warmest possible" answered John again surprising Elsa as she expected him to ask for the most expensive fur available.
"Nothing in particular? No wolf fur or fox?" asked Elsa,
"All I want is the warmest possible for my father" insisted John,
"Alright" said Elsa as she sent the servant away to get the blanket of fur and the food.
When the items were produced Elsa half expected him to grab and run, but again he did not. He followed Elsa to the cellar where Agnaar was, opening the door she said "You have five minutes".
Nodding John entered and called "Father", looking up Agnaar wheezed, he was so cold he was barely able to speak. Not wasting time John quickly wrapped the fur blanket around Agnaar, rubbing the old man as he did, trying to raise his temperature before taking the soup.
"Here... hot soup" said John, Agnaar still trembling was not able to move so he helped him by raising him up and placing the spoons in his mouth.
Taking turns between the soup and hot chocolate John made sure Agnaar was fed then gave him water once that was done.
All the time Elsa watched, she looked away, she could not see, she could not let her heart be soften for this.
"Time is up" said Elsa after a bit, by then the meal was done.
"I will be back" promised John as he got up, Agnaar hummed and groaned, seemed to want to tell him something but was too weak to do so..
Leaving Elsa locked the door and turned to look at John and said "The second test... go to the north mountain... there you will face 2 giants, both my creations... beat them without the use of any weapons and bring me the sapphire they guard as proof", he listened nodded and asked "Can I have the help of a friend? Since it would not be fair to set two against one",
"Depends Havi... who is this?" answered Elsa,
"A friend of mine, her name is Heidi" he replied. Elsa snickered mentally and said "Alright" she doubted that that Heidi person would make a difference. How could she help?
Nodding the two went to Elsa's desk and the conditions were set which John signed. As he did Elsa admired his signature, it was surprisingly beautiful for a commoner. Her eye went to the H, on John, it was much like Hans. "Elsa stop that!" She told herself as she took it and sent John away, sure that she would never see him again.
The news spread far and wide, at first people ignored it thinking that the challenger, John would fail, but after seeing him and his friend succeed on the first challenge they were more than eager to go and see if he would win the second.
Gathering on the mountains where the trial was set they waited and watched.
Meanwhile Hans was on the ground, waiting with Heidi who stretched and flexed, getting herself ready. She was a huge woman, over six feet tall, well built and was stronger than any person Hans ever met, besides Aisha of course.
"Ready?" asked Heidi as she finished her stretches,
"Almost" said Hans as he waited, suddenly they heard a loud horse call, looking back they saw a beautiful six legged horse make its way over with a dwarf.
"Your here" said Hans glad,
"Of course! Would not miss a chance to help" said the dwarf as he handed Hans what looked like a long silk ribbon.
"Kick butt for us" said the dwarf before getting back on the horse and leaving.
"Thank you!" Hans yelled after him before turning to Heidi who looked confused at the pink silk ribbon. Holding it Hans explained the plan.
Trees moved aside as two giants made their way through the woods. One was a lugging beast, dragging behind a giant club if ice, the second was a much more slimmer figure with four faces and four arms.
As they patrolled the woods, Hans and Heidi hid behind trees, Heidi in the north and Hans towards the south location wise. Taking a peek he nodded to Heidi who held the ribbon.
Coming out of his hiding spot Hans grabbed a fair size rock from the ground and threw it at the giants, it bounced against the shoulder, turning they looked angry.
Having their attention Hans yelled "Hey! You pebbles! Think you both are so big! Why don't you try picking on me if you both think your all high and mighty!".
This was more than enough to anger them as the slimmer one took off while Hans turned and ran with it chasing him. The giant with the club would have done the same but there was a problem, acting fast Heidi sprung and ran around the giant which was easy as he was slow due to the club. In a fast gesture she wrapped one part of the ribbon on the giants left arm, the other part of the ribbon on the right arm before running behind and pulling the ribbons, holding the giant in place.
It roared in anger and began to pull on the opposite direction as it tried to run away, to free itself while Heidi held strong. The game of tug a rope had commenced! All she had to do was hold the giant there till Hans got back. Which was nothing as she had been able to carry full grown elephants with just one arm with no problem.
Meanwhile Hans ran as the three faced giant chased him, every so often the giant stopped and tried to shot him with breaths of ice. Dodging and hiding behind trees or large boulders Hans taunted the giant, trying to keep its attention on him and make it run faster after him.
"Why do you have four faces!? Could not decide which one was the ugliest?!" Hans yelled then dodged as one of the arms tried to grab and most likely crush him, luckily the giant was not that coordinated so it's hands and arms kept bumping into one another as he ran pass the giant, in between it and behind it before shouting "You call that hand eye coordination! Babies have more of that than you!"
Turning around in rage one of the faces shot it's breath of ice towards Hans, dodging again Hans yelled "who uses ice as a weapon?! What are you!? An ice chest!" before running away.
Now the giant was furious as it roared and chased after hands, not fully intent of turning Hans into a stain on the ground.
Running faster and faster Hans focused, as he did he spotted Heidi and the other giant who now was almost running in place while Heidi held unto the ribbons keeping the giant trap.
As he ran, he sped up the yelled "Now!" as loud as he could before taking a fast turn on the left, when he did Heidi let go allowing the giant to run away.
The other giant was so focused on Hans it did not noticed, when it did it was too late to stop.
Both giants crashed against one another, full force and full speed, the impact was so hard it sounded through the area and could be heard for miles. Their forms cracked and crumbled from the impact before it fully crumbled and turned to powder on the ground.
Gasping and breathing a bit Hans walked over to Heidi and said "Good work",
"Thank you, but this was nothing" she said with a playful smile "You were fast, as usual",
"And you are strong, as usual" said Hans equally playfully, then soon the quietness broke when they heard a clap, followed by two then three till finally there was a multitude of claps with cheers as people came out from the tree line.
Turning they saw the people, cheering and calling, very happy that they succeeded their task. With a smile John and Heidi left the forest together.
As they arrived to the town even more people were there to cheer them on as they entered the castle courtyard where Elsa was waiting in the balcony, looking furious yet hiding it as she looked between Heidi and Hans and said "You failed Havi, I said you were not allowed to bring a weapon" the paused then added "Also you forgot to inform me of Heidi and her ability".
The crowd grew silent as Hans though then added "There must be a mistake" he showed them the ribbon "This is all we used and I did say that Heidi was going to help, the contract allowed me so",
"It did not Havi" said Elsa snapping as a she gestured to a servant who left then came back with a contract. Grabbing it she looked over it and growled angrily before composing herself and saying "My mistake, you did pass the test which I commend you for being the first to reach this far, however the last test will be the hardest".
People burst into cheers again as they surrounded Heidi and Hans, congratulating them. As they did Hans looked up sadly at where he saw Elsa leave. How could her heart be so frozen? What happened to her?
To be continued...
Authors note: Two down, one to go, Elsa did not want Hans to pass the test, what will she come up with next? How far will she go?
We shall see in the next chapter, please keep an eye out for the next chapter and remember to review when done.