Adventures of John: Ravages of War
Chapter 6: Musings and Memories
So now we have caught up with the present. It is interesting how a span of several weeks can be summed up in two meager chapters. That last day of the trip we learned about a hurricane that had recently came through North Carolina. It wasn't the worst of hurricanes, but the appearance of Hurricane Arthur still dulled the sleep-deprived thrill of my victory over the tornado. It is highly likely that the hurricane was simply a part of the natural weather of our planet, but its appearance at the same time as the storm that had nearly killed off my tour group worried me. How far out of balance is nature becoming?
Besides worrying about the weather, my time away has given me time to think about the death of Sergeant Calhoun. I have to wonder how people like Superman manage to do it, keeping from killing any of their villains. Most of my enemies are either impossible or nearly impossible to kill, and those that can be killed usually don't have souls, but most of those few human enemies I have faced have ended up dead. If it weren't for Elsa I would have killed Hans. Of course, that was when my soul was split in half, and it was my dark half that was about to do it, but it is still true that too many people have died at my hands.
Elsa is most certainly my better half. Hans had attempted to kill both her and Anna, yet despite this both of them had been able to show mercy and would not give him the death sentence. I wish Elsa had been there to keep me from killing Calhoun. I wonder if he had a family. A wife maybe, with children. Parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. I wonder what they might think happened to him. The man was homicidally psychotic, but he was still human. He had a soul, just like the men on the ship that I destroyed during the Siege of Arendelle with a single wrathful thought.
Why is it so easy for other heroes to make the right decision? Or if it's not easy, how do they have the strength to do it? I could make excuses for myself of course. He was a dangerous lunatic, after all. If I hadn't killed him, he could have killed innocents. But Batman and Superman face that decision all the time with their villains, and they always choose not to kill them. No one is more psychotic than the Joker, yet Batman never kills him. I don't believe in killing, I never have. I think that killing a human being is a horrible, heinous thing to do. Then why do I keep doing it?
But you don't want to hear my guilt-fueled ramblings, do you? No, you want to read about grand adventures, about John the Adventurer coming down from the sky in a blaze of glory, landing with an explosion of flame and light into a battlefield full of demonic enemies ready to be slaughtered. Or perhaps you want to read about the romance between Elsa and I, about some beautifully tragic event in our lives, or some hopelessly romantic moments we've had together recently. Well, I have not had any glorious battles recently, and luckily it has been a while since Elsa and I have faced anything tragic, a trend which I hope will continue, as I am fed up with tragic. Also, Elsa and I haven't had the time to do anything too romantic recently, and I don't think I'm in any state to be romantic.
Before Calhoun kidnapped me though, romance was at the top of my list of priorities. After all, I somehow managed to get married to the most amazing woman in the multiverse. I don't ever want to lose that. To end this on a less unhappy note, I'll tell you about my most recent attempt at keeping the romantic flame between me and Elsa burning, a difficult endeavor when your wife is the Queen of Ice and Snow. Who knows, maybe telling the story will cheer me up enough to bring me back to my usual flamboyantly charming personality.
. . . . .
It was only a few days before the incident. I am always looking for new ways to surprise Elsa, and I found the perfect chance as Elsa was throwing one of the balls the nobility love so much. While we've both attended plenty of these balls, neither of us have ever danced at them, as we are both usually horrid dancers. Anna tried to teach Elsa and I to dance, but we always ended up tripping over each other's feet and falling on our faces. It was lots of laughs, but after a while we decided to forget about trying to learn to dance. We could never perform the elegant dances used at these balls, not without the aid of magic.
I got the idea when I heard a song on the radio, several parts of which reminded me of mine and Elsa's earliest days. The song was used in a horrible movie, which was an adaptation of a book series that is a shame to the fantasy genre and started the worst trend in novel history, but that doesn't make the song any less amazing. So, I prepared, and when the time came for the ball I was ready.
"What are you doing all alone up here?" I asked Elsa as I found her looking over a fat stack of official-looking documents up in her study. "Isn't there a party happening downstairs?"
"Anna is at the ball," Elsa replied, signing one of the sheets of paper and throwing several of them in the trash bin with a growl of disgust. "Some of these proposals are complete idiocy!" she exclaimed. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and smiled at me tiredly. "I'm afraid there is too much to do. Besides, you know better than anybody what a terrible dancer I am."
"Not tonight Princess," I responded with a smirk. "Tonight we ignore the work. Tonight we dance like nobody has ever danced before."
. . . . .
The nobility weren't surprised at Elsa's absence. There were some mutterings, but for the most part they accepted it. Ruling a kingdom while also being a full-time mother is not an easy job, and the people of Arendelle have always loved their queen. Of course, no one expected me to come. To the nobility I was the subject of gossip, their mysterious warrior king who seemed to only stay around long enough to save the day when disaster struck. So everyone was shocked when Elsa and I strode through the doors into the ballroom, Elsa adorned in a shimmering dress of ice crystals that accentuated her form while still leaving plenty to the imagination, and I in a crimson suit that caught the light in a way that sometimes made it seem as if it was on fire.
The musicians stopped playing and the ballroom floor quickly emptied, as everyone could sense something spectacular was about to happen. I waved my hand and the piano began to play. With another wave of my hand I conjured a violin into the air, which also began to play. Soon a small orchestra was playing, and the song truly began, a spectral voice singing as Elsa and I began to dance.
"Heart beats fast,
Colors and promises,
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone,
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow.
One step closer."
My mind went back to my days in recovery, how we simply sat and talked together. How despite my nonchalant attitude, every day I could feel myself falling in love with her. And then that last day, how I feared telling her the truth about how I felt.
"I have died every day waiting for you.
Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more.
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more."
Then I remembered the pain. Those days that we were forced to be apart. All that time searching for a way back, and the hope I had for our reunion.
The song continued, and we danced. The rest of the room was in hushed silence, and for the moment at least, it seemed that the two of us were the only people in the world. There were no missteps, there was no stumbling. The two of us were in perfect synchronization, our feet moving fluidly across the floor. The moment was perfect.
"The day we met,
Frozen I held my breath
Right from the start
I knew that I'd found a home for my heart...
...beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone?
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow."
Memories filled my mind as the song went on, from our first meeting and battle against the Trickster, to our first talk in her study, the first time I called her Princess and made her smile. I saw the look in her eyes when I finally came back, and I felt our first kiss, all that time ago. A gasp sounded in the circle of people surrounding us, and I looked down to see that our feet were no longer touching the floor. Elsa and I were several feet off the ground, dancing in the air. The song ended, Elsa and I floated back down to the ground, and we kissed.
"That was beautiful," Elsa told me quietly.
"I thought you'd like it," I replied with a smile. "I didn't make up that song though. I kind of stole it from the internet. They could sue me you know."
The voice was gone, and my conjured instruments soon followed. Elsa and I stepped away, and together we watched the rest of the ball, enjoying each other's presence.