Chapter Two: Ghostly Urging
In another portion of the park overrun with partygoers, a different version of Hans had his hands on Rapunzel's waist while hers were on his shoulders and they kissed.
Rapunzel's back was to a yellow tent. Her hair had flowers in it and had been coiled up so she could walk around and she wore her favorite lavender dress. Hans had on a blue uniform, as he was a soldier in the Southern Aisles army. He wasn't incredibly happy about that position but it was a position. At least he wasn't scrounging around for some occupation, him, a prince! That would've been quite humiliating. Though there was no way any of his twelve brothers could know romance as powerful as how Hans currently felt with Rapunzel at this very moment, passion flowing from her like geysers spouting up steamy water.
"I love you, Punzie," Hans said.
The blonde brought her lips to his. "And I love you, Hans."
The redheaded soldier boy squeezed Rapunzel's hip and she bit his neck adoringly right here in the view of everyone if they gave them a glance but most people were too busy making their way to attractions and rides or to watch shows like the flying mermaid and boy decked all in green making firecrackers go off.
They were having the best of times, oblivious of a Greek girl snapping a picture of them with her iPhone 14 Pro, immortalizing their public displays of affection.
They were unaware of a pair of eyes, peeking out at them from a fla of the yellow tent, watching, and waiting for the particular moment to pounce.
And then, at the time he felt worked best, the little man struck Rapunzel's back with a sword, which sliced right through her spine and went straight to her heart, causing blood to drip and soak her light pink dress faster than you could say, "JIminy Cricket!"
Or any other phrase. Rapunzel barely had time to glance down at herself before she collapsed in Hans' arms. He stared at the corpse of the beautiful girl he cherished, not sure how anyone could have done this, murder in cold blood.
He looked up with rage to glare at the short man who had committed this horrific deed. He had a very round nose, black hair with a style from France long before the present day, he had an upturned white collar, a black cravat above his red vest, with two buttons visible. His sleeves were long, with black on top and a soft brown beneath, and his pants were dark green. He leered at at the redheaded boy as the latter extracted the sword, coated with Rapunzel's blood, and slid it back under the yellow tent, then lay the blonde girl whose skin already felt way too cold across his chest as if he could comfort and coax her back to life. The back of his hand brushed against her cheek, the last gesture he could ever make to Rapunzel romantic-wise, that it was already too late for her to feel. Turning his gaze to the assailant, feeling hatred resonate through every bone in his body, wishing this horror could be rectified, he performed the most logical action after witnessing such an event, but the short man danced out of Hans' attempt to grab and throttle him.
"I'm going to get you for this, you monster," Hans snarled.
"You're going to have to catch me first," the short man said. "And Lefou is pretty hard to catch." He danced out of Hans' grasp again. "You might want to kiss that girl one last time, who knows what will happen with the body? It might be resurrected…as a zombie!" Lefou raised his hands to indicate a creepiness gesture.
"Rapunzel's body is not hear to receive that sort of thing without her soul inhabiting it," Hans said. He lay Rapunzel's recently vacated body gently on the ground, desiring to stroke her golden blonde hair but there'd be no point now that she was no longer among the living. Then he snarled at Lefou. I also do not appreciate you suggesting she'll be a zombie. Now I want to murder you even harder for this deed you have done."
"I was just making a suggestion to help amplify Mickey's Absolutely Terrifying Halloween Party!" Lefou declared, as he giddily cavorted around people moving through a throng heading for rides, avoiding Hans' constant lunges as if they were playing some kind of sport instead of Hans chasing him to get revenge for his girlfriend being killed.
Hans almost had Lefou a couple of times, but the short man still managed to evade him. When your goal is just out of reach, it can be such a pain. Like how long it had taken Hans to have courage to ask Rapunzel out after her skank of an ex-boyfriend, Eugene, shattered her heart. He had been going around with Esmeralda, a tempting seductress, and they were still together, as thick as thieves. Which is what they were. Quite literally. Esmeralda being a gypsy, thievery was in her blood, and Eugene, well, Rapunzel had met him when he was trying to steal a crown and was on the run. The crown happened to be hers and she hadn't known she was a princess at that point but all the same.
Anyhow, Hans knew from advice he had heard that he had to allow for a recovery period. Rapunzel would be more likely to shoot him down if he asked too soon, but maybe, quite possibly, she'd say yes if he asked at the right time.
But he dallied on and on, terrified of rejection, and eventually Rapunzel went out on dates with another guy, a dude named Milo. But it wasn't clicking with him, he was too concerned with finding the lost city of Atlantis and that bored Rapunzel to tears, all the graphs and Powerpoints he showed her.
Rapunzel confessed to Hans that she and Milo weren't hitting it off, or at least on her side she felt it wasn't working, and then their hands met on the table and Hans admitted he started developing feelings for Rapunzel since a time when she was still dating Eugene.
They went on a trial date, to an arcade, and Hans made Rapunzel laugh with his jokes, and he adored the scent of her apple-vanilla perfume, and later when they were having nachos together, Hans nervous asked Rapunzel if a second date was in the cards and she nodded vigorously, a big smile on her face.
And now she was gone. Forever. Hans had nothing to show for his relationship with her but a corse and memories. And yes, memories were precious, but he wanted Rapunzel more, for her to be by his side and they could go around doing these attractions, riding these rides, eating funnel cake or Mickey-shaped pretzels, and Rapunzel would laugh at Hans' joke about how much vanity Mickey must possess to have pretzels sold designed to resemble his face.
Now none of that could happen, all because of this little man with villainous intent. What reason could he have even have for killing Rapunzel? Other than just because he could.
Hans made another lunge for Lefou and the little man dodged again, darting into a thick crowd. It was very tough to get through himself, he had to ask some people politely to move. Finally he managed it but didn't spot Lefou anywhere. Then right past a Lemon Treats kiosk, Lefou jumped out, wiggled his fingers while the thumbs were in his ears, and basically demonstrated how juvenile he was, and gleeful from the nightmarish action he had undertaken and also mocking Hans in the fact that he was failing at avenging his girlfriend's death.
Hans darted after him, feeling rage flow through his veins, it seemed to increase with each passing minute. He wanted Lefou's blood on his hands. Sure, that wouldn't really be satisfying when it came down to it, it'd just be paying an eye for an eye. But for at least a brief spell, it would be thrilling to know that the person who had taken Rapunzel out of this world had gotten snuffed out by Hans' hands. Such a sweet girl Rapunzel was; she didn't deserve this kind of foul treatment. And something irrevocable, irreversible too. The only thing that fix this would be a time machine, which honestly if Hans knew where one of those were, he'd be galloping toward that location and let this cockroach run around getting into whatever terrible antics struck his fancy. Hans really just wanted to be with Rapunzel, to know they had days and days ahead of them, weeks, months, years. To explore the world and try all kinds of exotic foods, evaluate them together, maybe even one day have offspring, who knew. But definitely not thirteen kids, that was way too many. It would not be good to have the youngest of such a number be driven by the desire to rule and have that snatched from them. Even six or seven was too large a number for anything like that. Hans wasn't sure why his own father kept on siring children, it just happened that way really. He had had four wives, kind of like Henry VIII but without he brutality of that king toward his queens.
So the only thing Hans could do was chase down this Lefou fellow and do his best to kill him once he was caught. In the very back of his mind, he considered that if anyone knew where to find a time machine, or how to build one, it would be Milo. But that thought was fleeting and he dismissed it. Problems could nto be solved that easily. And right now, he could tackle this task, but if he let Lefou vanish from his sight, and went to find Milo to ask him about this and the latter had no viable solution to offer, then it'd be all for nought. So this was what he was doing.
Hans kept running after Lefou, his eyes on the prize of murder, and he wasn't focusing on his peripehral vision so that when the black girl stepped into his path, it was too late to steer around her and he slammed into her super hard instead, causing them both to reel from the impact.
A brown monkey wearing a purple bucket-shaped hat and a matching purple vest, who had a long tail, was screeching near the black girl's feet, hissing angrily at Hans and shaking a fist. It had apparently been knocked off the girl's shoulder when he slammed into her and was not happy about tumbling to the ground.
"Hush, Abu! You know how much I don't feel like interacting with people," the girl said.
"It's all right, I was just leaving anyway," Hans said, scanning the area for Lefou. He finally spotted the horrible miscreant, and finally spotted the foul little man, sticking his tongue out, a glazed doughnut in his hand. He bit into it and waited for Hans to continue the pursuit, seeming to like mocking him and narrowly avoiding being caught over and over. That seemed to be part of the game which made Hans even more disgusted. He felt there might be something bigger to this that he was missing, like, had there been any meaning behind Lefou's jest regarding Rapunzel's corpse being reanimated as a zombie…
He started to head after Lefou, promising he'd catch him this time and bash his head in, for Rapunzel…when green mist appeared before him and somehow the surroundings with all the booths and rides and hordes of people seemed to vanish. All he could see was green everywhere, eerie green, like the sort that you'd run into at a witch's cottage, brewing in her cauldron.
A girl materialized, she had a green aura around her, curly brown hair that fell nearly to her waist, she had on a blue dress and looked to be about fifteen.
"Greetings, Hans, nice to meet you."
"Um, who even are you?" Hans asked.
"I'm Rapunzel's sister, Aliana. She barely knew me," the girl said, twirling some strands of her hair around a finger. "I was actually taken into a furnace by a murderous scarecrow while I was snoozing and set ablaze."
"Yikes, that's awful!" Hans said, his eyes shocked. "But…as bad as that sounds, Rapunzel never mentioned a sister, are you sure…?"
"She was too freaked out by my death and like I said, we really only had a few days together before I was killed, so…"
"Okay, well, very sad story but I've got to go kill her murderer so I can feel a little better, you know."
"Actually," the girl said, holding up a hand. "I came here to tell you that it is Rapunzel's request that you comfort that girl you just ran into.""
"Um, comfort?" Hans asked, confused.
"You know, engage her in conversation, walk around with her, have snacks or something, engage in activities/do attractions, whatever."
"Yeah, I've got a pest to stamp out. No time for intermingling with someone I don't even know."
"You've got to. It's Rapunzel's request," Aliana said, coming forward and putting a finger under Hans' chin.
"Why didn't Rapunzel show up herself?"
"Oh, it takes time after someone has died for them to appear as a ghost. It'll be at least three weeks before Rapunzel can do that. So she has to send me instead."
"Okay, I'll trust you, because you're her sister, but you realize her murderer is getting away?"
"You can't properly get revenge yet, even if you do catch him. I suggest you wait."
Hans sighed. "Do you know how tough it is to walk away from getting someone their just desserts for killing Rapunzel?"
"My sister doesn't want you to become the person you will be if you do undertake that," Aliana said, flicking his shoulder.
"I'm not going to make killing people a habit," Hans said.
"Oh, she isn't worried about that. It's more…you being desolate. Broken. Alone. She wants you to live a full life, and…not just shut yourself away."
"You realize that your sister was the best thing to ever haen to me?" Hans said. "We were friends even long before we started dating."
A tear trickled down his cheek.
"Find a girl, Hans. Maybe this one won't be the chick who can heal your heart. Keep looking. That's what Rapunzel wants."
Hans nodded. "I'll trust you. But I won't not grieve for Rapunzel."
"If you were the sort to not griever for her, I wouldn't be here talking to you, even at her behest," Aliana said. She smiled, then flicked Hans' cheek. "Comfort the girl, at least, don't give up so easily, she might hold up a wall."
"Got it," Hans said.
The green mist receded and Aliana vanished. Hans saw Lefou running away, and growled, but did not give chase. Instead, he turned to the black girl, honoring Rapunzel's wish. If that ghost girl ws tleling the truth, but he had to believe her.
"Um, excuse me, miss," he said, turning to the black girl. The monkey was back on her shoulder.
"You talking to me?" she asked, pointing at her chest.
"Um yeah, I'm Hans," he said, holding out a hand.
She didn't offer hers. "Yeah, I've got things to do."
"You don't seem busy."
"I am, though," she said, starting off, and Abu stuck his tongue out at Hans, as the black girl strolled away from him.
Hans ran over and grabbed her arm. "Come on, I'm just trying to be friendly."
"Dude," she said, struggling to break free from his grasp, but he wasn't going to let her go, not right now with Rapunzel counting on him. "Friends disappoint you or betray you or die on you, all the things. And family is no better. If anything, they're worse. At least, in my experience."
"Now that's not an outlook of life I can leave a woman with."
"It's true," the black girl said, making one last feeble attempt to break from his grasp. "All my friends disaepared one way or another."
The monkey went into a screeching fit, hopping on her shoulder as it ranted in a way that a simian could.
"Except you, Abu," the black girl said, smiling at the monkey.
"Abu, that's his name? He didn't attack me when I grabbed you."
"I suppose he didn't," the black girl said, tickling the monkey under his chin. "Maybe he can sense that you won't use me, or deceive me, or any of the rotten stuff I'm concerned about."
"I have no intentions of doing any of that, although uh," Hans said, coughing into his closed fist, the one not gripping the ebony-skinned girl's arm, "if someone were to attempt to kill me, well, that's something I can't exactly promise to prevent. I mean, I'd certainly try, but like…if they got me, it wouldn't exactly be my fault, you know?"
The black girl smiled. "Okay, I won't hold that against you. But seriously, if we are to be friends, don't you go off and die."
"I promise, to the best of my ability," Hans said, releasing hold of her arm and raising a palm.
The black girl giggled. "Okay well, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Dolores."
"Very nice to meet you, Dolores." Hans looked around. "Do you like funnel cake?"
"Um, sure, but I'm more of a lemon meringue kind of gal."
"There was a Lemon Treats stand back there," Hans said. "Why don't we go for it?"
"Yeah, sure!"
Hans held out his hand and Dolores slipped hers in it then she let him lead her toward the kiosk he had seen during his pursuit of Lefou. Where that round-nosed creep was now, he needed to not dwell on. Just let that bugger go. For now. Perhaps he'd receive his comeupance some other way, anyhow. Hans can't be the only one Lefou infuriated by killing someone dear to them, right?
They arrived at the Lemon Treats stand and stood in line for a little behind a fox couple, the girl wore a blue dress and the male fox had on green garments. A burly elf boy with his arm around the shoulders of a girl with red curly hair and wearing a turquoise dress got behind them.
"I was sure you only liked apple ie, Merida," the elf boy said.
"Oh, I actually do like lemon treats a lot, but…around my family it's better for me to only have apple desserts, they won't be pleased with the other kind."
Dolores started, hearing the word "family." Hans kind of wanted to sak her about this, were her relatives really so horrible? Though in all honesty, he could understand that. It was just…she seemed to have an inordinate amount of resentment toward what her family had done, or neglected to do, in regards to her. Very curious. Hans wondered if she came from a big family…because it made sense that one like that could treat a member a little less than fairly. He had received some of that in his own, and perhaps Dolores also had with hers.
The curly redheaded girl and elf were still talking.
"But like, are you sure you like lemon stuff? Theme park food is kinda expensive if you aren't sure you're a fan."
"I definitely do, Barley. I've tried them with my friends before, it's not entirely new to me."
"That's a relief," the elf said, and moved in to kiss the redhead.
The fox couple moved off, him with a lemon popsicle, her with an ice cream sandwich with lemon wafers.
Then Hans and Dolores were at the front. An elephant was their server, wearing an apron. They each got a slice of lemon meringue pie.
"Would Abu like anything?" Hans asked.
"If any lemons are being sold, he could use a slice."
"Got any lemon slices?" Hans asked the elephant.
"Um yeah, sure, but…no one ever asks for those so we don't exactly have a set price."
"The monkey could use one."
"All right, I'll charge you thirty-five cents for that," the elephant sand. Then he rang up the pie and told them the whole total and Hans got out the amount.
"You didn't have to pay for both of us," Dolores said, as they moved off, Abu happily nibbling on the lemon slice handed to him as he rode on Dolores' shoulder.
"I wanted to," Hans said. His heart still felt super sore from losing Rapunzel, but if she really wanted him to open up and meet new people, he needed to not worry about that at the present time though he knew the grief would still hurt him so much once he let it. But dragging Dolores into that wasn't going to help their friendship soar, at least not at this point, when it was just budding, so he needed to hold off and plaster cheer onto his face.
The tables were filled though. "Eating lemon meringue pie doesn't exactly work while walking, does it?"
"Nope," Dolores said, shaking her head. Then she flashed a smile, showing off those sparkling white teeth of hers. "Don't worry, I've got a friend who can help."
"I thought you didn't trust friends."
"Only when they're people," Dolores said, whistling. A blue rug with yellow tassels floated down onto the ground, and Dolores dropped down on it, sitting, and Abu hopped off off her shoulder. Hans' mouth was agape, this was insane! He'd never seen an object brimming with enchantment like this before.
"What say you, hans? Would you like to go on a magic carpet ride?"
"Would I?" Hans said, getting in an Indian style position across from Dolores and watching in wonder as the rug took to the air, giving them a bird's eye view of the throngs below and the people riding rollercoasters and partaking in other attractions.
"Is this really any way to eat lemon meringue pie?" Hans asked, grinning.
"Of course it is! The best way," Dolores said, as the magic carpet whisked them around the park, for a ride that they didn't have to pay for, that wasn't sanctioned by Mickey Mouse, and that had to be way more fun than anything going on down there. But still, the excitement of many at the fabulous party going on did add to the amazingness of this, though a magic carpet ride would've been stellar even without everything going on.
Regardless, Hans would've rather been on this thing with Rapunzel, but he could make a new friend, especially since she had urged that to happen,through her sister. He'd call it off at anytime if Aliana showed up and told him that Rapunzel changed her mind. But..his girlfriend had been a very optimistic person, and she certainly sensed that Dolroes was quite distrusting, and perhaps had hoped that Hans could get her to open up. Good thing that had worked. Hans could carry on Rapunzel's wishes even though she was no longer with him. He'd pine for her, though. Lemon meringue pie couldn't drown out his woes. If it could, Dolores might not have needed him in the first place.
But she certainly did. The best Hans could hope for, however, in regards to the awful events he had just had to undergo, was that Lefou wasn't currently ending the life of another half of a couple, such as one of those foxes who were very much in love, or Barley the elf boy and that curly redheaded girl Merida. And it would be a disgrace for Rapunzel's body to be used as a zombie. Hans really hoped that wouldn't be the case, because if it was, he'd take up his revenge plot, even if Aliana showed up again, nothing would stop him from spilling that awful Lefou's blood, and feeding it to a vampire here. The Snow Queen of Arendelle was a vampire, and Rapunzel had introduced him to her, they were cousins. She'd help him for sure, seemed to really love Rapunzel, even offered to make her a vampire too, but Rapunzel had refused. She wasn't really in the business of sucking blood.
No way was there a zombie plot, though. Lefou was just trying to get Hans even more furious with him. Quite shameful. But right now, Hans was with Dolores, and he needed to focus on happy thoughts. That was the only way to play this. He probably wasn't going to pursue a romantic relationship with another girl again, though. No chick could make him feel the way Rapunzel had.
Friends, though? He could handle that. And riding on a magic carpet, sitting across from Dolores, while they both gobbled down lemon meringue pie…well, there was no way two people could just walk away from that without friendship blooming. Unless they really hated each other's guts. That definitely didn't apply here, though. And though it had only been about three-quarters of an hour since the traumatic event occurred, Hans felt himself thinking something he thought would never enter his mind again…which was that this was magical. Nothing should be int he gloom and doom of losing Rapunzel. But there was no other way to consider this. That did not mean Hans would be letting joy driving. It was very possible that emotion would never truly be his again. Sadness, anger, frustration, those could consume him. Yet sometimes you needed a respite, and a small amount of happiness could go a long was what he was feeling now up here with Dolores. It didn't erase his problems, but put them at bay. And for the time being, that was welcome.