The handwriting was her brother's, there was no doubt about that. It looped across the page with his elegance, ink darkening the page at the end of a sentence where he paused to think for a moment too long. It didn't match his current predicament.
If they'd thought to avoid Liesel's eyes by keeping Hans with them, they'd made a mistake. She could see him through her scrying pool, a prisoner somewhere within the city. Perhaps they'd caught him writing the note? Or maybe, they'd thought better about trusting him once they realized their enemy was none other than his sister.
Liesel wished she could have seen his reaction.
Based on the letter, she might have made a mistake excluding him from her plans for so long. He wanted to join her, and she would not push him away this time. Finally, someone in her family would see her as she truly was.
Liesel first checked the children's rooms. Selia slept quietly on her end, and Geric seemed rather absorbed in a picture book. He had little skill in reading, not having had access to much education, but Liesel could see his mouth moving as he attempted to sound out the letters. The two would be fine by themselves for a few hours.
She checked the lab next, turning the door handle to make sure it was locked, and then continuing on. Liesel wouldn't need to hide herself tonight. She was out the palace doors in minutes, walking to the edge of the forest and following the edge of the city in search of the clearing Hans described in his letter.
She stood silently in the clearing when she arrived, falling into a peaceful meditation with the humming insects and the whisper of pine needles rattling together. Salu sat by her side, nose lifted to catch the breeze. In minutes, or perhaps hours, or really, only a few seconds to the outside world, Hans arrived.
He stood unchained, uninjured, and unwaveringly confident as always. If Liesel hadn't been accustomed to what Hans' internal emotions felt like, she wouldn't have noticed the difference between this fake and her brother.
"Liesel. I'll admit, I came back in part to make sure you were alright. Now I've found that you're much more than alright."
"Hello Hans." Liesel played along. Salu's ears had already lifted, already detected movement from around the clearing. It was a trap, but a trap set by who? Who else knew how to take the shape of another?
"I hope you wouldn't mind some company on your new throne."
Liesel smiled, using her magic to push feelings of calm and relaxation. "Not if it were you." Fake-Hans's shoulders dipped just a little, and their posture reflected the reassurance they perceived. Liesel took a few steps closer. "You can have everything you ever wanted, Hans. You can have power, riches, and the love of anyone you want. Princess Anna?"
Fake-Hans's facade flickered, their emotions jumping to fury and fear for just a moment before they fell back to a collected confidence.
"Perhaps."
"You have all the time in the world to think on it."
"And you have no time at all," they said back to her in the same tone.
Liesel heard Salu's warning growl seconds before the action. Elsa's blast of ice came at her from one side, Emrys casting an explosion of air from the other. Knights of varying shades of armour charged the clearing.
She hadn't anticipated so many.
Hero did what she always did: she avoided the conflict.
Gwen hadn't gotten a role in the ambush. Now that Anna could transform herself using Hero's magic potion, it left Gwen as the only member of the team that wouldn't give a significant advantage in a fight. She was a planner, a designer of weapons, but when it came down to actually following the plan, she got left behind. With Hans. The real one, not Anna disguised as Hans.
Gwen tried not to look at him too much. Somehow, despite everything, she still had the feeling she should trust him. If she looked at him too long, she'd act on it. Hans rolled his eyes at her, as if able to hear her thoughts. He exaggerated the movement of twiddling his thumbs and tipped his head in the direction of a stack of playing cards.
"We are not playing a game, Prince Hans," Gwen told him. "You're a prisoner."
Hans tried to say something, but from behind the gag, Gwen only heard "Mhmger." Whatever it was, she ignored it as best she could and went back to watching the mirror. Merlin had left it with her, saying that if Arthur tried to contact them, she'd be the only one available.
She'd never used the mirror on her own, but she hoped Arthur would call. She missed him. She missed the way he listened with genuine enthusiasm when she talked about her life. She missed watching the wrinkles in his face disappear after nights spent puzzling over a problem. Gwen missed just being there with him, with his arms around her.
The mirror wasn't likely to be able to replace much of that, but maybe it could help.
"Mgna," Hans mumbled from his corner.
Gwen ignored it.
"Muh-gah-nah," Hans repeated.
Gwen frowned. It sounded almost as if Hans was saying 'Morgana,' but Morgana — was right behind her. Gwen brandished her sword, the tip of the blade coming to rest on Morgana's throat.
"Give me one reason, and I'll do it." She hoped she sounded confident. She meant the words in her mind, but she didn't know if her heart would let her go through with hurting or even killing someone she'd once loved so much.
Morgana didn't move. "I'm not here to hurt you, Guinevere."
"Like I haven't heard that one before."
"This time, I'm here for Hero. She needs to go. And I need to figure some things out. About myself. About what I want to do."
"About what innocent people you want to terrorize next, you mean?" Gwen scoffed. "You and Hans both, why me? Why do you somehow think that I'll keep giving you more chances. I'm done giving you more chances."
"Well, I hope you change your mind." Morgana stepped back, out of reach of Gwen's weapon. With one wave of her hand and muttering something under her breath, Hans was free.
"If you don't," she continued, "we'll just have to leave without you."
"And go where?" Gwen was painfully aware that she was pointing a sword at two people who could render her motionless in seconds, even unarmed with any physical weapons.
"The battleground, of course. Elsa and Emrys might… need some help."
Gwen pictured the clearing. They'd planned for everything. Hero would be surrounded completely, by fighters with magic and those without. They had every advantage.
"What do you know that we didn't?" Gwen stared into Morgana's face, searching for something reminiscent of the old Morgana. Something that would send clues with looks alone.
Morgana only shook her head, her eyes drifting away. "I don't know anything except what it's like to have fury burning through your veins and what lengths people will go to for power. If she thinks she's outmatched, she'll run, even if it means letting go of what she's accomplished thus far."
"You mean she'll let go of the dome so she can control time for herself."
Morgana nodded.
If that happened, it would only be a matter of time before they had to start the fight all over again. Maybe in a new city, with new plans, but the same enemy and the same final battle.
"I'm going with you."
Hans and Morgana shared a grin. "We hoped you wouldn't try to stop us."
Something was wrong with her powers. Liesel sensed it as soon as she let go of Arendelle. She froze the time around her, ready to run with her dog, back to the palace, and away from her enemies, but she wasn't alone.
She turned on her heel slowly, fingers digging into Salu's fur to bring him along with her. Elsa's figure had frozen mid lunge, ice spreading from her fingers that would never reach her target. Knights raised swords that would come down onto nothing. And most surprising of all, the fake Hans was paused mid transformation back into Anna. Anna, who didn't have magic.
Anna who must have stolen from Liesel without being noticed.
Still, with the people frozen in their movements, pine needles crunched under the feet of someone who could move through them.
"You didn't really think you were the only one who could control time, did you?"
Emrys stopped a few paces in front of her. For someone so powerful, he looked completely defenseless with no weapon and dressed as casually as he would for an ordinary day as a servant.
Liesel wished she had something she could say, something that wouldn't reveal that, yes, she had believed herself to be alone. She'd believed she had one advantage over Emrys. And that advantage was gone. She stayed silent, hoping Salu's low growl would be enough to keep some of her intimidating presence.
And then a third person arrived, barely making a noise as he came out from the trees. At first Liesel refused to believe it. Then, she laughed. Perhaps she'd just come to the clearing a little bit too early, because there was Hans, the real one this time.
"Maybe I'm not alone in traveling through time, Emrys. But it's still two against one. Do you really want to take that risk?"
The look Merlin gave Hans meant nothing to Liesel. It meant nothing to her, yet it seemed to mean something to Hans who smirked back at Emrys and then turned to her.
"Two against one in your opposition, Hero. I'm sorry."
Before she could regain control, Liesel's heart unfroze, beating faster and faster until the world righted itself and everything came running into motion again. Panic swelled, and Liesel did the only other thing she could think of: She shared it.
If she had to feel afraid, everyone around her would too. They would feel what she felt amplified by ten, their world would be built upon terror until nothing else mattered.