Authors note: Now we get to the good stuff! The first trial is to begin! Will Hans win?. 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.
The gates opened allowing Hans to leave, stopping for a moment he looked back at the castle.
Flashback:
"I will be giving you three trials of my choice, pass them and I will let go of Agnaar" finished Elsa,
"Alright your highness" nodded Hans,
"And since your going to be coming by more often I will assign a nickname for you" added Elsa as she leaned back against her office chair,
"Nickname?" questioned Hans,
"Yes, I always give people nicknames" answered Elsa with a sly smile "Its such fun, plus I don't have time to remember all of the peoples names" then thinking she stared at Hans and mused "What would be a good nickname for you? Something short yet easy hummm" after a bit her eyes lit up and said "Havi, that is the perfect nickname for you",
"Havi?" questioned Hans, not that it was a bad one as he had had worse but wondered why that one,
"Yes, it means the high one" then Elsa laughed "It fits because I know you are definitely high on something if you think that you will pass my trials",
"I see, but it also could be somebody of high worth" said Hans after thinking for a bit,
"Yes and I bet you think your something special" said Elsa amused,
"No, but I am ready to show you that I change your opinion and prove that I am somebody of high worth" spoke Hans confidently,
"We shall see Havi"
Elsa though he would not pass the test, but Hans was ready to prove her wrong in order to save Agnaar and that determination Hans made a silent promise "I will be back for you, please stay strong" before continuing his way to the cottage to plan.
Conditions for the first task were set, he was to somehow supposed to disarm all of the high royal guards of Arendelle without the aid of weapons or hurting any of the guards. But the question was, how is he supposed to do this?
It was impossible!
"No! Not impossible! There has to be a way!" Hans though to himself as he though of all the other times he was placed at impossible situations but was able to escape it.
"If only I had my friends" though Hans sadly as he walked,
"John!" He heard,
"Strange I can almost hear them" though Hans then froze in shock when he saw... it could not be!?
Running towards him in a hurry was Heidi, Aisha and Varian.
Hans could not believe what he was seeing, how did they? When did they?
Running over his friends and former traveling companions embraced.
"How? When?" Babbled Hans in shock and happiness,
"You will not believe me but I had a dream where Jane appeared, she told me you needed me, so here I am" said Varian,
"What? You too?" asked Aisha shocked,
"You? I though I was the only one, I feared you would call me crazy if I said" said Heidi as all of them discussed the dream.
They all had the same dream, all of them were in boats heading to Arendelle, in said boat Jane was there, pleading to them to go and help Hans, that there was no time to loose and he desperately needed them before waking up.
Upon hearing this Hans tear up a bit as he though "Thank you Jane, you are truly my angel".
"John, if our dreams are true... please how can we help?" said Aisha,
"You all want to help? But what about your home? Your tasks?" began Hans worried about them,
"Forget about it! You are our priority John" said Varian,
"Yes you always put us first, besides my kingdom can take care of itself for a bit" assured Aisha,
"Ya, my home is not going anywhere" added Heidi with a nod.
Hans looked between them before hugging them all again. They were definitely good friends to him, his little chosen family.
"Come on, let's not waste any time... tell us how to help" said Aisha and with that Hans explained as best he could.
Starring out the window Elsa sighted, she could not understand! Why would John care?! Why would he want to save such a horrible man!?
Turning away Elsa sat down on her desk and sighted. She explained to him her reasoning, thinking he would back away, but he did not.
With a sight Elsa opened her desk only to pause at a paper hidden in the back. Taking it she opened it and looked on sadly. She still remembered when she read this document, it was without a doubt the biggest yet most needed slap in the face she got.
If only she had found this sooner... then things would have been different... he had changed... this along with everything else proved it. But this was more solid than ever.
The document was signed by Hans and Agnaar many years ago, stating that if Hans married her he would never get any titles, riches, power or land. He would go into the marriage with nothing and if he Or she left the marriage he still would get nothing. Hans signed it... he loved and wanted her more than anybody that he did that.
Stroking the document Elsa whispered "Wait for me Hans... we will be together in the end... just please wait for a bit..." she knew it was selfish to think that he would wait for her in the afterlife but a part of her hopes he does. She hopes every night that he does so when it's her turn to go they could be together and in death they can have all the time in the world for themselves, much like the myth of Orpheus.
Folding it and hiding it Elsa went back to work as she had a lot to do and she doubted that that John person would succeed in his first task and for all she knows he probably would not show up for the first trial.
News has spread through the land about the new challenger, a man named John rose up to take the trials. It had been a long time since somebody dared to try seeing the tasks were impossible. So the people waited to see what this stranger would do to try to get pass the first test.
Ever so confident all the high ranking guards, especially Ulrik gathered outside of Arendelle, waiting for John to show up even making bets on whether he would show up or not or what he would try to use to beat them. The more creative the better as the guards laughed and had a good time entertaining themselves with their thoughts.
Ulrik of course was not worried as he knew this was an impossible task as he who was the top guard and the queens personal protector was the best in the ranks.
"Let's see if I can beat my last record" he though with a chuckle before he and the other guards spotted John making his way over and he was not alone.
This was the most baffling sight ever and that was saying something as the arendellian guards stared at Hans who simply walked in, on his back he carried a young man, short, skinny, dark hair with a single blue stripe holding a flute.
It took everything they had not to burst out laughing at the pair. Yes there has been some who have tried the challenge and failed, like that merchant guy months ago who tried to defeat them by getting them drunk or another guy who tried to sing them to sleep, but this?
What was this guy thinking?
"Okay, we are here" said Hans while the young man looked on proudly,
"What is this?" asked Ulrick rather angered, did this guy think this was funny or a joke? The outrage,
"It's a he and please show some respect sir" corrected Hans,
"Yes, my name is Varian, head alchemist, inventor, chemist and pied piper to Corona" said Varian as he proudly introduced himself.
"Ya sure" scoffed Ulrick then added "Save yourself the embarrassment and go home to your father, that is unless he is too embarrassed to have a son like you" making the other guards chuckle while Hans saw red in anger as he shouted "Watch your mouth!", he knew how sensitive Varian was about his father, especially now that sadly Quirin passed away months ago.
"It's okay" said Varian as his face darkened in anger and gripped his flute "I will take care of this".
Licking his lips he brought the flute up to his lips and began to blow on it as he moved his fingers over the instrument, producing a song.
At first the guards laughed even more before they soon found themselves frozen in place. Their faces turn pale in panic as they realized they lost control of their bodies as they proceeded to dance without wanting to.
It was a merry little spring time jig, with a lot of jumping around and moving, very energetic and even a little embarrassing for the soldiers as it was clear neither of them had the grace or fluidity to perform the movements correctly.
"Please! Please stop!" Begged the soldiers as Hans and Varian led them back to Arendelle.
It was utur humiliation for the guards as they were paraded around town, people gawking and laughing at them as they danced over to the soldiers barracks in town.
Arriving there Varian and Hans led them inside and waited till they were all in before Hans reached, took the key off of Ulrick while saying "We will take that" and left the building, locking them inside with no way out.
Once that was done Varian stopped which once he did the soldiers collapsed unto the ground in exhaustion, all groaning and moaning in pain. Watching that from the windows Varian could not help but say "Who is an embarrassment now?", Hans laughed at that as he turned and took them both back to Arendelle castle where Elsa was waiting in the balcony after hearing that commotion.
Her beautiful face twisted in anger when she saw Hans walk in victorious with a stranger on his back.
"First task has been completed, the royal guards of Arendelle have been defeated without the use of weapons and without harming them" Hans declared proudly.
To which Elsa glared without saying a word at first before her eyes lit up and said "You cheated Havi! You got help!" As she pointed to Varian to which Hans said "Your majesty, your terms were I had to defeat the guards without hurting or killing them and without the use of weapons... that I could use whatever else as long as I can carry it",
"You broke the terms" insisted Elsa,
"But your highness, you said whatever, which meant I could use things or people or both as long as I could carry them... you never specified what I could and could not use other than weapons" Hans pointed out.
Elsa opened her mouth to argue but stopped when she realized he was right. She did not truly specified if people could or could not be use aid the challanger there for he had not broken any terms. This made her angry as this was the first time anybody had ever succeeded even one of her trials.
Turning around Elsa said "Alright Havi, I will let it slide, but be warned! The next task will not be so easy"
To be continued...
Fun fact: Elsa assigning and calling people by nicknames she decided for them is a power play, its to show who is the boss because well... nobody would dare to argue or correct a ruler.
As for the chosen name for Hans yes Havi means high one... it could be either high as in high due to drug use (As crazy as it sounds victorian people used a lot of drugs (even more back then) or somebody of high worth.
Authors note: One trial down, two to go, will the other three be completed with ease? We shall see.
So please stay tuned for the next chapter, please remember to review when done.