Chapter 3: Holding a grudge

"Come on, be quick, we must get to the stables before supper!" the old lady said, yanking on Hans arm.

"Ow! Hey, take it easy; I'm taking a look at my new home." He said, half sarcastically and half admired at how beautiful the Arendelle castle was.

"Huh! How rude; don't look at it too much, you are not going to stay here for long." She replied impatiently.

As the old lady he now knew as Genevieve pulled him through the castle grounds with an outraged huff, he saw all the other members of the staff and what they were doing: on one side were some people unloading and carrying boxes with food that would be heading for the kitchens; on another side were some of the guards changing turns and talking: and to his front were the stables, a big, long building that smelled.

"Great." Hans growled.

"Gimme a break, Genevieve!" Hans heard. The old lady stopped suddenly, making Hans almost fall, and smiled,

"Yes, Jonfen?"

Hans eyes widened when he saw Jonfen's figure: a huge, dirty blonde haired man with more muscle than head and a deep, tough voice that showed off his many years of service in the castle. He looked younger than Genevieve, though they talked like they've been together their whole life, which could always be true. Jonfen took one look at Hans and burst in laughter.

"HAhahaha! Look at this! I ask for strong, healthy men to take care of these horses, and what they send me is a little princess? Ahahaha!"

"Queens orders, you must take him in and make him work. It's his punishment." Genevieve said, almost proud. Hans growled under his breath and glared up at Jonfen. Jonfen furrowed his brows and puckered his lips,

"What for?" he asked, curious. Genevieve shrugged her shoulders to her ears and shook her head,

"Don't know. Here," she pushed Hans against Jonfen's stomach, "dress him up and get started. I have to go to the kitchens. Bye!" she finished, leaving the two men in a flash. Hans took one step back and so did Jonfen. The two glared into each other eyes, not trusting the other not one bit. But in the end, Jonfen was the one who broke the silence,

"Well, princess Jasmine, you ready for your first day in the Arendelle castle stables or do you wanna go back home to your pretty jewels and comfy chairs?" he teased, smirking at Hans. This made him think: what exactly did he do so wrong that everyone wants to humiliate him?

"I'm not a princess, and I'm not so useless that you have to talk to me like that." Hans snapped back.

"You're gonna have to prove it then. Follow me, I'll show you around." Jonfen said, turning his back on Jonfen. Hans followed the man closely, looking at the horses and how well kept they were. Even the horses of the guards, in a different cell than the royal ones, were clean, fed and taken care of like they were royalty.

"First thing we're gonna do with you is change those clothes: too fancy for a job like this." Jonfen said, snorting at Hans clothes. Hans looked down at each other and raised a brow: he wasn't even dressed like a prince. He just had a white long sleeved shirt, some brown pants and black leather boots; what gave him away…?

"Second, you're gonna learn to get up with the sun and to shut your yap when told. Stableboys like you don't get the same attention as guards or cleaning maids and if you ever talk back or even murmur something at me or any of the guards and Heaven help ya, the Queen, you're getting what's coming for ya."

"Yeah, yeah, anything else before I grab a rope and kill myself?" Hans snapped, rolling his eyes and staring at Jonfen with a bored expression. Jonfen just smirked and said,

"One last thing; that rope is to tie the horses for their daily walk. If you use it, you pay it, be it with your head or your back. You choose, princess." He hissed, taking a brown bag from a shelf and throwing it at Hans.

"Oof! What's this?" Hans asked, taking the bag with two fingers.

"That's your new clothes: they're the best in the house. Now take that fancy pantsy suit of yours and change: you start in five second or else." Jonfen replied, leaving Hans alone in a small room in the stables. Hans looked around and saw a bucket, a mop, a pitchfork and a broom; the janitors room. He groaned and hit his head with the wall,

"Why-y-y-y-y-y? I should've chosen the other kingdom instead of this!" he hissed at himself. Taking the fact he was pitying himself in a janitors room (which is highly undignified for a prince like him) Hans decided to stop whimpering and get changed so he could start his job and get out of there as quick as he could.

A while later, he walked out of the janitors room, dressed in a green shirt, stained with mud and other ungodly things, some old, brown ragged pants and boots that couldn't be called boots anymore. It was insulting!

"It was about time you got out, princess!" Jonfen exclaimed, bucket and broom in hand. Hans glared at Jonfen, but didn't have the time to enjoy it when he was thrown the broom in his face.

"Oof! Could you stop throwing things at me like some sort of...?!"

"Ah, ah, ah, where are your manners, stableboy?" Jonfen teased, raising a brow menacingly mocking. Hans sighed heavily, remembering his new position, and growled,

"What do you want me to do, sir?"

"The stables need a good sweep. These horse get allergies." Jonfen said, starting to leave the stables.

"Wait, that's it? No feeding them, no brushing them, no nothing? What happened with all the hard work you said?" Hans asked, confused. Jonfen turned around and chuckled,

"Well, I never thought you'd beg for it. After you sweep the dust out of here, you'll clean every single one of these stalls as thoroughly as you can, then you'll feed them, give them water, then when the guards change shifts again, take this half out for a walk. When you're done, brush them and then you'll be out for the day. Capiche?"

Hans gulped and nodded. Why did he even open his mouth?

"That's a good lad. See ya."

"Whoa, where are you going?"

"Lunch. I'm hungry."

No sooner than the door had closed behind Hans and he was out of Elsa's sight, the room suddenly began to snow heavily, big chunks of it falling over Anna and Kristoff, and the windows covered with frost in a flash.

"Mmoomph!" Anna mumbled an oof from under the pile of snow over her. Elsa gasped and ran over to her,

"Anna!"

She dug through the snow with her hands, desperately looking for her sister. Not again, not again...she repeated in her head, afraid she'd done her harm. When Anna's red hair popped out of the snow, and she sneezed and shook her head to shake away the snow, Elsa let out a relieved gasp and put a hand to her heart.

"God, I'm so glad you're okay."

"Brrr! Well, that went well, huh?" Anna asked, hugging herself to keep warm. Kristoff also popped out of the snow, shaking his head like Anna had done,

"Yeah, I know the room sometimes snows when you're nervous, but this is ridiculous!" he added, getting up to help Anna stand.

"I'm sorry, guys. I tried my best to hide in my powers when he was in, but I ended up spilling it all over you. I'm sorry." Elsa said, embarrassed at her lack of control over her powers.

"I don't mind!" Olaf said, waving a stick hand from up a small hill of snow. Anna giggled at that and brushed some snow off her arms, starting to get up.

"You should've let your powers take over the room earlier. Hans should know you have the power to freeze him on the spot if you want to."

"I didn't want to seem like the villain when the only prisoner here was him."

"Oh, well: but it would have been really fun to see him shaking off snow instead of watching Kristoff do it." Anna said, nodding her head at her husband. Kristoff realized the conversation was about him, and stuck his tongue out at Anna before running his fingers through his hair to get the snow out. The sisters laughed at how silly he looked for a second before Elsa became serious again.

"Anna, thanks for staying with me while I attended the king, but now you have to go. I don't want to take any more time from you."

"Are you serious? We're sisters! I'd do anything for you. Including staying here all day with you..." Anna replied, her voice all sing-song as she wiggled her finger at Elsa.

"No, really, I know how much you have to do today, so its best if you leave. Plus I have to do things myself, so..." Elsa shrugged, not ending her sentence. Anna whined like a girl and placed her head on Elsa's shoulder,

"Oh, okay...see ya."

"See ya." Elsa placed a kiss on Anna's cheek and hugged her tight, and with that, Kristoff and Anna were out of the room and soon, out of the castle. Once they were out, Elsa turned around to Olaf, who was making a mini-Olaf of his own and talking to it.

"Olaf, I need a favor from you."

The day passed slowly from Hans point of view. He'd never done more work than just his sword fighting classes and such, so dealing with the horses in the stables really took its toll on him. It was worse whenever Jonfen came up and threw him even bigger piles of work, as if he had unlimited strength. He was just finishing his work on one of the stalls, his mind over in the kitchens where everyone was, when suddenly a cheery, eager voice interrupted his chicken pot pie fantasies...

"Hey, Hans!"

"Aah!"

Splash! Dirty, soapy water ran all over the stable floors, and the sudden sound of the bucket scared the horses, making them neigh and whinny in fear.

"Ugh! What do you...?! Olaf?" Hans said, surprised at the snowman's sudden presence at the stables.

"The one and only! Hey, you better clean that up before someone comes in. I wouldn't want you to get scolded." Olaf said, pointing at the bubbly, brown puddle behind Hans.

"I know that. But what are you doing here? I thought you were Elsa's pet or something." Hans said, taking a mop and starting to clean up.

"Hahaha! Very funny, mister." the snowman answered, taking Hans cheek and pulling it a little. "I'm a friend! Friends and pets are different. And Elsa sent me here to keep an eye on you."

"She did that, didn't she?" Hans said, raising a brow in slight annoyance.

"Yeah, she doesn't trust you'll do the job right. She thinks you'll try to run away to maybe do Anna some harm or something."

It was obvious she'd do that: not only did he have a conceited old lady and a smelly pain-in-the-butt named Jonfen behind, he had a wacky snowman that shouldn't even talk! Well, if that was how it was going to be, then he would gladly oblige. If she wanted to hold her grudge! He'd do exactly the same...

A/N: I am so so so so so so so so sorry I took sooooo long with this chapter! I had such a good idea but then it just poofed away, then I got this nasty writer's block (I've been a year without writing something) and I'm still a bit rusty and without much confidence in what I write. Especially with that last part, I could've done a better job with Hans feelings and thoughts...and the whole scene overall. But still, here it is: the third chapter. I'll try to make the next chapter faster for you. Hope you guys like it, although I don't, and tell me what you think. Are the characters canon, or are they too OOC? What can I improve? Leave a review and tell me what you think :)