Hey there! I'm back apparently. I think. Either that, or I've been captured by some government agency which are currently pumping me up with hallucinogens that are making me think I'm back. No matter. Here's chapter 3.

I'd like to thank everyone who had followed/favorite(d?)/reviewed for their support. It really means a lot to me.

Now on with the story.


"The kid is pretty messed up." Kristoff admitted to Anna with a grimace. The thing he was forced to witness was pretty gruesome. There was no way the kid wouldn't be messed up after that.

The two of them were walking through the streets of Arendelle at a slow and sedate pace. The two of them just wanted to spend time together, but Anna was curious about the boy and man who were currently in Kristoff's care. The colourful and cheerful atmosphere did not seem to match with the grim topic they were talking about.

"Yesterday, the kid opened up about it. Hansel, his mother and the Piper-" Kristoff didn't feel like breaking the mood by calling him 'Toots' "-were actually on their way to the Southern Isles. Hansel's mother had hired the Piper for protection until they reached their destination. They were camping for the night when a group of thugs ambushed them, and went straight for the Piper, and he was pretty messed up after it. Hansel's mom tried running away with the kid, but some of them restrained her."

Anna's eyes were growing wide with horror as she continued listening to the tale. "After they nearly killed the Piper, they knocked out the kid, I'm guessing for ransom, and then they tried to..." Kristoff voice started to crack, as if in protest against his words. He really didn't know how to phrase the next part properly, but he didn't need to. Anna let out a sharp gasp in understanding.

"Did they-" Anna's voice was weak and shaky, and Kristoff gave a grim nod. Then he started sounding confused. "After that, I'm not really sure as to what happened. According to the Piper, some wolves attacked and killed everyone, except the two of them. And then I found them like that, the Piper with a huge stab wound in his side and the kid scared out of his wits."

Anna pursed her lips in revulsion, and was dangerously close to crying. She leaned against Kristoff, burying her face into his chest. Kristoff put an arm around her and held her close, trying to comfort her, while staying silent.

They continued onwards quietly, ignoring the happy atmosphere around them as they soon were both lost in their thoughts and each other's company.

"There's still one thing I don't get." Anna reared back her head to look up at him. "Why didn't the wolf attack them?" Anna looked mildly perturbed and curious at the same time. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that, in every single wolf attack there has been, the wolves take as much as they can, they do have to feed the rest of the pack. There haven't been many wolf attacks recently, so this one should have been a big one, at least a seven wolf hunting pack. There were four or five men according to the Piper, so they could have easily taken every person there or eaten them."

Anna scrunched up her eyebrows, looking on confusedly. "Really? Couldn't they just leave them because they felt pity for them?" Kristoff let out a grim chuckle. "Anna, they're wolves. They don't feel pity for anything." Anna opened her mouth to protest, but Kristoff, sensing an argument, was quick to cut her off. "And even if they did feel pity, why did they leave Toots alive? I mean I can get leaving the kid, he was barely injured, but the Piper was in a really bad way when I found him. If there weren't any doctors nearby, killing him would have been a mercy."

Anna looked a bit green with the thought and Kristoff felt extremely guilty for just dumping all of this straight on Anna, but before he could say anything, Anna beat him to the punch. "Maybe he has magic." Kristoff, who was about to say something, was just left there with his mouth open as he tried to think of a way to refute the statement. Anna continued onwards, her eyes shining brightly now. "Think about it! You said the wolves would have killed the Piper normally, but they didn't. And the moment they are ambushed by those thugs, the wolves come and get them? I'm telling you, the man has to have magic!"

Kristoff stared into those large unblinking beautiful eyes, peering straight into his soul searching for approval, as he thought about it. "Well, it's pretty unlikely, but it does seem valid..."

That was all the confirmation she needed, as she let out a whoop of joy and flung herself into Kristoff, spinning him around. "Do you know what this means? Elsa isn't alone! Ohmygosh! Elsa has to meet him. Let's go tell her right now! Or better yet, let's make it a surprise! Let's get him right now!

And before he had time to protest, Anna was dragging Kristoff towards his home

-Legends-

Elsa walked through the halls, a frustrated scowl upon her face. There had just been an Arendelle Council meeting and literally nothing had been accomplished. The first few minutes of it had been relatively peaceful, and then trade agreements came up, and soon there was anarchy.

Half the councillors wanted Elsa to reopen trade relationships with Weselton again; the other half wanted her to wage war on them. One brave little fellow (he was very, very short) piped up that if they were going to war, they should also attack the Southern Isles.

With the first one, she could empathise. Weselton was known for its cotton, and Arendelle didn't have many trade partners who traded mainly fabrics, but she had made a rather public announcement that she wouldn't be having any trade with Weselton.

She had been riding high on adrenaline and was extremely unused to being a monarch when she did so, and as such, for the next few months, Arendelle had to rely mainly on the wool generated locally for clothes. In time, they got newer trade partners for cotton, but it wasn't the same as Weselton's.

But if she retracted the no-trade decree on Weselton, it would make Arendelle look weak, and Elsa couldn't afford that. With the reveal of her ice powers, quite a few kingdoms had responded with less than friendly messages, and the only thing stopping them from outright attacking were, again, her powers. And if Elsa could flash freeze her entire kingdom as an accident, what was stopping her from freezing their armies? Elsa was a peace loving and forgiving person, but if she appeared weak, the others may dismiss her and storm the gates. And as proper peace-loving monarch, she could not allow that to happen.

As for those that wanted war, Elsa wanted nothing but to freeze their mouths shut, if just for a few minutes. She may have had a grudge against the Duke and Hans, but that in no way meant that she should take it out on the countries they hailed from.

Those old men are so frustrating!

Elsa ground her teeth as she continued her stomping through the castle, trying to ward off the migraine that was approaching. Truth be told, she loved her duty as queen, but sometimes she wanted to do nothing more than let down her hair and run off to her ice castle in the mountains. It was a bit like with Anna, Elsa loved her to bits, but Anna's energetic exuberance did end up leaving the Snow Queen completely exhausted at times.

She then realized that she was in Anna's favourite room, the one with all the paintings she used to talk to in her younger days. Elsa remembered that Anna had told her that every time she had felt down; talking to the paintings would cheer her up.

Might as well try it.

"I hate council meetings." She muttered to herself, still feeling a bit self conscious. "Those old men think they know everything about Arendelle and me." Her mutterings gained a bit of volume to them now. "Stupid old crones had the gall to ask me create an army of monsters to attack Weselton."

"I can understand." A painting remarked. "Your father used to be quite frustrated after those meetings too."

Elsa let out a shriek.

-Legends-

Kristoff smacked his face again.

"No. Toots will not fall in love with Elsa by just being in her presence. Yes, I admit that your sister is attractive, not as attractive as you though.-" He hastily added, seeing Anna's raised eyebrow, which prompted a fit of giggles from the princess. Kristoff scowled and continued "-but I really don't see him falling for Elsa at first sight."

At Anna's deadpan look, he felt the need to defend himself better.

"Even if they spent a lot of time together, I doubt it would happen. The guy can be extremely vague and frustrating when he wants to be. If he doesn't like you five minutes in his company might give you a headache."

Anna's brow furrowed. "How do you know that?"

"He gave me one."

"Maybe he just gives everyone headaches."

"Nah." Kristoff shook his head. "The kid, Hansel, loves spending time with him. The kid would barely say anything to me, but start chatting non-stop around the Piper."

Anna cooed at the thought. "Aww. Maybe he's really good with the kids. He might be a good dad. Do you think he'd be a good dad? Elsa says thinks that she'd be a horrible mom, but if we can get the two of them together, she wouldn't have to worry!"

Kristoff felt the need to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Anna, we are not getting them together."

Anna scoffed as they reached Kristoff's apartment. The door flew open with a bang and Anna ran into the living room with a huge smile. "Mr. Piper! The fair and beauteous queen of Arendelle would like to..." she trailed off looking round the house. "Kristoff. He isn't here." Kristoff's brow furrowed as he stepped into the house and glanced at the visible bed through his open bedroom door.

He looked into the kitchen too and found no one.

"He's gone..." Kristoff muttered to himself, worried for the man. Even though his wound had mostly healed, the stitches were fresh and could reopen it he strained it too much. Then there was also a risk of it getting infected and-.

Kristoff noticed something else missing too. More specifically, a bag full of something was missing, and all thoughts of the Piper's well being were washed away from Kristoff's mind.

Through gritted teeth he ground out. "And he stole my money too."

-Legends-

"Sorry for startling you." The painting immediately replied as Elsa tried to control her frantically beating heart. The woman in the painting smiled apologetically. 'My name is Gottmutther."

Elsa finally calmed down enough to respond back. "Elsa." she shakily introduced herself. And then she felt mildly stupid, because how does one just realize they have a magical painting in their palace? Shouldn't they already know that? But then again, Elsa didn't know they had these many paintings in the castle. And magical painting or not, it deserved at least some modicum of acknowledgement other than an abrupt introduction. "It's a pleasure meeting you."

The woman shook her head, smiling softly. "The pleasure is all mine." And she inclined her head in respect.

Elsa belatedly realized that that the woman had mentioned something about her father.

"You knew my father?"

The woman gave a soft smile. "Yes. I did." Her eyes appeared to have gained a glassy look as Elsa watched on nervously. "He was a good man, a great king, a man who loved his family more than anything in the world." The woman, Gottmutther, turned to focus on Elsa. "That's how we met actually. He wanted to learn how to help you control your powers. I told him of another magic user, residing far towards the south. He wished to consult with him personally, and so he left for the magic user's location as soon as he could."

Elsa took in a deep breath and closed her eyes as her last memories of her father came to the forefront of her head. Her father's voice drifted clearly through her head, as he was standing right in front of her and saying them again.

"I did warn him of the dangers of such a voyage, but he paid no heed. He felt that you learning to control your powers was more important than his own safety."

"I'll be back soon Elsa. Don't worry."

A lone tear escaped.

All her life, ever since Anna's accident, she had known her father as a demanding person. Yes, he had his moments where she felt that he truly was her father, but most of the time where he seemed like a ringmaster forcing a lion into submission. He was a harsh trainer who expected nothing but the best from Elsa.

And now, the painting, Gottmutther, was giving her proof that in his own way, he really had been looking out for her. And she found herself overwhelmed by huge pang of loss she was feeling. She felt hollow, empty, totally void. She missed the times he used to play with her when she was little, she missed the encouragement he gave her every time she failed to control her powers. She missed her father.

And like the cracking of a dam, the tears sprang up in the corners of her eyes, his every action seen in a new light. And she distantly noticed he never seemed to have any other concern other than her well being when he was around her. His every action, every word, every expression seemed to show the care he had for her.

She began to sob.

And she found herself thinking, that other than his worry for her, he never seemed to have any problems.

Wrong. He never showed her any of his other problems.

Her father never let her on the things that troubled him. He always managed to hide the problems he was facing just so that she would be able to focus on the problems she had. When she was younger, she had always thought that it was because he didn't think she could understand them, that she was too young, too naive. But now she got the feeling that he didn't do it just because he didn't trust her, but because he didn't want her to worry for him.

Never in her life did she ever feel more ashamed at the resentment she had towards her father.

It then struck her that Gottmutther was still in the room and she hastily wiped the tears from her eyes as she glanced up at the painting. Gottmutther seemed to look down at her, a small understanding smile upon her face. It was as if Gottmutther knew exactly why Elsa was suddenly that emotional at the mention of her father. It was as if she expected it. There was no judgement in her eyes, just pity for the girl who had lost her father.

And through the tears and the sobs and the crying, Elsa felt something warm spring in her heart.

"Could you..." Elsa ventured out hesitantly "Could you tell me more about him?"

Gottmutther smiled softly, more invitingly, and began to reveal to Elsa tales about her father, some about him as a younger man, some as his days as a king.

It didn't occur to Elsa that she might have been a bit too emotional just then, crying about a father that she had know on some level who loved her. It didn't occur to her Anna never spoke of a painting that talked back. It didn't occur to her that a painting that had been in a room that was visited only by Anna in her younger days couldn't possibly have known that much about the affairs of the kingdom and about her father long before he did become king.

But she was simply too enraptured by the worlds of her Fairy Godmother to care about such trivial things.

-Legends-

The Piper walked out of the store feeling much happier than he felt in days, a bit of yellow creeping into the edges of his vision. The store had promised to have another hat, custom-made for him in a few hours, their business had been slow. With a bit of mental prodding, the Piper had convinced the hatter to move his order a few steps up in the priority list, and give him a small discount for the hat.

The Piper knew that morally, it was a bit a bit on the wrong end of the scale to use emotional manipulation to cheat a shop out of its well earned profit, but one didn't survive years all alone without performing a few morally ambiguous deeds.

Hansel walked alongside him, brushing occasionally against the Piper's leg as he stared at the passing pedestrians with mixture of apprehension and wonder.

The Piper spared him a glance, and took Hansel's small seven year old hand in his as they continued walking through the streets of Arendelle.

The Piper wasn't sure what made him keep Hansel with him, if he was any other child the Piper would have just left him back at the blonde man's house and walked off. After all, his contract was with Hansel's mother, and now that she was gone, the Piper had no need to keep the boy with him.

But something deep within him did not allow him to leave the boy behind. And every time Hansel's eyes would light up as the boy talked to him, the Piper would find tints of warm happy yellow mixing in with the usual calm green he normally saw the world through. In crowds, the thoughts of all the different people around didn't seem to affect him so much as long as Hansel was around.

It might have been affection, it might have been something else, but Hansel had a good effect on him, and that's all that mattered.

The Piper made his way through the streets, looking for a place to lay low for a day or so when he spied the guards eyeing him.

Ah, so word of his robbery had got out.

That wasn't good. The yellow dissipated, giving way to the cold calculating blue and soothing green as he assessed the situation. The guards would definitely be after him. After all, he hadn't stolen a small bit of money (even though he was justified in taking it all.)

He might have been able to bully one of the guards brain into making him think that the Piper was just an innocent passerby, but three? He could try making a run for it, but the Piper seriously doubted that he'd be able to get away towing Hansel along.

The only possible move to make was to split up.

The Piper walked as nonchalantly as he could around the corner, avoiding straight out confronting the soldiers, and as soon as he rounded the turn and was out of sight, at least for a few seconds, he bend down on one knee and looked Hansel straight in the eye.

"Look, Hansel, there are soldiers that are coming after me, so I want you to run." Hansel blinked, and he gave a nervous nod. "Run away as fast as you can, don't try to help me." Hansel opened his mouth in protest, but the Piper silenced him by placing a hand over his mouth. "I can take care of myself, you know. I just want you to run as far as you can, away from me. After that, go back to that Kristoff's place, you remember the man who talks to his moose, right? Go to his house and wait for me. I'll come back for you in a few days. You think you can do that for me?"

Hansel, gave a tight nod, as his eyebrows furrowed as turned to run away. He hesitated and turned back. "You'll come back for me won't you?" he asked in a small voice.

The Piper blinked, obviously not expecting that, and a small smile crept on his face, as a hint of yellow crept into the green and blue before vanishing. The concern was touching. "Of course I will. Now scram."

Hansel gave the Piper a small smile, turned around and started to sprint. The Piper gazed at his retreating figure before a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The Piper turned and socked the guard who tapped his shoulder straight in the jaw and sprinted away as fast as he could. The stunned guard, who was taken completely by surprise cradled his jaw as he doubled over, his compatriots immediately picked up on the chase.

The Piper winced as his hand continued throbbing as he ran. He made a mental not to himself to never punch a person in the jaw unless he had to ever again.

He rounded a corner and jumped over a crate of fruits, narrowly avoiding the people in his path. The regular beating of feet alerted him to the fact that the guards were right on his heels. He risked a glance back. A lone guard was right behind him.

He frowned. One guard he had punched, who may or may not have joined the chase. The second was right behind him, which led to the question, where was the third?

The answer presented itself as the Piper was knocked off his feet as he tried crossing an alley. Flashes and sparks of orange and white flew across his vision in his surprise as he crashed into a stall, and left a very stunned Piper on his back.

The last thing he saw was a fist, encased in a metal gauntlet, standard for every Arendelle guard, rushing towards his face. A look of comprehension dawned upon the Piper. Ah, there he was.

And with that comforting thought, the Piper fell into the darkness as the fist collided with his temple, knocking the Piper out.


Not the most understandable of chapters. I know. Anyway, here are the points I'd like to clear up, which might have not been written in the clearest way.

-In the fourth part of this chapter, Elsa's thoughts may have been all over the place. That's because Gottmutther (the painting/fairy from chapter 2) is using her mental powers to influence Elsa's thoughts. Yes, she could probably just take over Elsa, but she didn't. She probably has an ulterior motive. Maybe.

-In part five, the Piper has multiple colors invading his vision at multiple times. They're a direct effect caused by his magic. In chapter two I've made kind of blatant (I think) hints as to what his powers are. I say I think, because since I'm the author I know what I'm talking about (mostly), but I digress. Anyway, because of his powers (mind control, by the way) he is also extremely aware of his own emotions. They manifest themselves as colors that tint his vision. So till date we've got:-

-Green-When he is Calm

-Blue-When he is Thinking.

-Yellow-When he is Happy/feeling Joy.

-White-When he is Surprised. (Not explicitly stated)

-Orange-When he is Curious. (Not explicitly stated)

Yeah, so its a bit like Synesthesia. Check it out on Wikipedia, or wherever. Anyway, let me know what y'all thought about this chapter.

Hope y'all enjoyed!

-ProdigyPsycho