Authors note: I want to thank you all for reviewing and reading the last chapter. Hearing your opinions means a lot and they also help if I need to edit or make something better.
Dreamsandimaginations: I would tell you... but it would be a spoiler. As for H.C he is okay, so no need to worry.
Guest: Don't worry, those two will be okay.
guest: You are very right about that. Hans is indeed very VERY lucky.
KnightLawn: Thank you, glad your enjoying it.
Hatyrksn potaujb: Wish granted.
Any way I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please leave a review when done, opinions are most welcomed.
Karma, the whole concept of good actions bring good consequences and bad actions bring bad consequences...eventually. But what about the in-between? What if you do a bad thing for all the right reasons? Would the person still get a bad consequence, a good one? Bit of both?
In Hans case it felt as if the last one was more likely as yes based the past couple of weeks after the coronation celebration... Once everybody left in good spirits things just resumed, he asked her why she left him behind, she just smiled and left, not giving him an answer and it would not be the first time as soon it began to happen more and more often.
One of the instance she went to a meeting without telling him, not that there was anything wrong with that, quite frankly he was proud of her and how she handled herself by standing her ground when the council demanded she invest in a venture which would have been disastrous. She refused firmly and dismissed them, the council was not happy and when they spotted him they did not hide their anger towards him, especially the Duke who almost lost it as his face turned redder than red, but said nothing as he left.
Another time Elsa has approached him, she did not say anything, just walked over, glared at him with anger, not saying a word. It made Hans panic as his mind went back and forth trying to figure out why Elsa was angry but could not figure out why, the next thing he knew she reached behind to the hood of cloak and pulled it to it was obscuring his sight playfully. Her response when he demanded to know why she did that was kissing him on the cheek and leaving him dumbstruck. It was cute when he though about it but still the not knowing what was going on in Elsas mind was driving Hans up a wall.
"I taught her too well" though Hans as he placed his hand on his head.
This was kinda fun. It was what Elsa though as she walked around the palace, making sure that everything was just right. She had the council and nobles under her command, the economy of Arendelle was back, it was truly a golden age and she had been the forger of it...well she could not take all the credit as Hans helped her and now she was exerting it over Hans.
She was not cruel, but wanted a bit of payback for him driving her crazy, so she decided what would be more fitting than driving him crazy to let him know how she felt. Of course he had taught her well and she quickly realized his weakness...
Not knowing, unpredictability, what was more unpredictable than silence? Hans was so used to Elsa always telling, speaking her mind, so her silence will do the job.
Arriving to her study she sat down and sighted, happy to find a small pile of paperwork instead of the mountains she had to deal with before, it showed how smoothly things were running in her kingdom.
Looking over them, thinking over the proposals before either signing or rejecting them Elsa placed them aside when she noticed another note, not a proposal, it was a small box with a note on it, said note had a familiar seal on it.
Taking it she opened the note and read it.
"For the eyes of my dearest Queen only, Signed Firebird"
Elsa frowned seeing he had signed it as Firebird rather than Hans, but understood, nobody other than her, her sister, Kristoff, servants, the council and the Duke in Arendelle knew he had a human form, when she asked him why not show it to the kingdom of Arendelle, his answer was simple, he wanted to show them when she was comfortable with her magic, that way they can show them together.
It was very thoughtful that he wanted to wait till she was ready to show the public her magic rather than show it and her being pressured into it.
Smiling she folded the note and put his aside before opening the box, inside was a book, it was small, pocket size really, aged leather with the initials E.M.S embroidered with gold thread on it, it was her first, middle and last name.
Taking it she opened it, her eyes widen in amazement, the pages were aged, but it just brought out the beauty inside of the book.
Painted in a delicate hand in a medieval style were all her favorite poems and said poems were even translated in her favorite languages, with beautiful pictures to accompany them, it was truly a piece of art .
Moving the pages she browse through the content before picking a poem to read, it was one of her favorite poems.
There it was, decorated in crocuses and such was her poem:
Lowly, sprightly little flower !
Herald of a brighter bloom,
Bursting in a sunny hour
From thy winter tomb.
Hues you bring, bright, gay, and tender,
As if never to decay;
Fleeting in their varied splendor-
Soon, alas ! it fades away.
Thus the hopes I long had cherished
Thus the friends I long had known.
One by one, like you, have perished.
Blighted—I must fade alone.
She smiled before turning the page, the next poem was one she was not familiarized with, but never the less read it after admiring the picture of a man and a woman, the woman was glad in a beautiful gown, strange enough she looked like her, she was getting on a carriage to go who knows where while a man waved as if to get her attention, the man had auburn red hair, green eyes, wore a suit of black.
Seems that the man and woman in the picture was based off on herself and Hans Elsa decided before reading the poem:
"Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you"
There was no denying it, it was truly a wonderful gift, closing it Elsa sighted, he was making an effort, but still it was going to take more than gifts to gain her trust back. Yes he had not lied about other things such as the tall tales he told about being friends with royals and being like a brother to Albert and Victoria, but he has yet to showed her the supposed Underground kingdom he supposedly lived and his other friends the so called "Fateweavers".
Whenever she asked when Hans would say "Soon" but never when, if he though she would let it go he was wrong.
Soon she heard a knock on the door,
"Enter" said Elsa, soon the door opened and Hans walked in,
"Right on time" though Elsa before saying "Your here early",
"Do I need an excuse to see you?" he said,
"Depends" said Elsa trying not to smirk at that,
"I supposed" said Hans then added "Remember the Underground Kingdom?",
"Your home? Yes" said Elsa crossing her arms as she wondered what excuse he had this time, but was surprised when he said this "Can you take a week off?",
"Pardon?" asked Elsa,
"The Underground Kingdom is holding its bi annual Equinox festival and I was wondering if you could take that week off so I can take you to see it" said Hans,
"Your going to take me to the Underground Kingdom?" asked Elsa again to be sure,
"Yes" said Hans,
"And while were there I can see the other Fateweavers?" pressed Elsa,
"Yes...but" Hans sighted and rubbed the back of his neck before saying "I got to warn you, the Fateweavers and the citizens of the Underground Kingdom...their... wary of outsiders, not that I blame them...you know...persecution... so do not be too surprise if their kinda cold maybe even a bit mean towards you...",
"That does not sound good" said Elsa frowning a bit as she now began to have second thoughts about it,
"Don't worry, just stick close to me and nobody will bother you" promised Hans "And brace yourself...some Fateweavers are crazy",
"How crazy?" asked Elsa,
"Like Anna after she eats too much sweets and chocolate" said Hans.
Elsa could only stare and wonder what had she gotten herself into, Hans chuckled and said "Don't worry, they do not bite...much",
"That's not a confidence builder" said Elsa,
"I mean it, they may be intimidating, some crazy and all over you, but they mean well" promised Hans,
"Alright then I will take your word for it" said Elsa then her eyes widen as she realized something "Wait, if I am not here then who will be in charge?",
"Why Anna of course" said Hans,
"Anna?" asked Elsa unsure, not that she doubted her sister, but she was not sure if Anna was up for the task,
"Yes, she has come quite far and I am sure that she will be able to take care of the kingdom while we are gone" said Hans nodding his head,
"Are you sure?" asked Elsa,
"Of course" said Hans "I taught her just as I did you",
"Okay, but if anything happens its your neck on the line" warned Elsa,
"Alright, but prepare to be amazed when we get back" said Hans with a confident grin while all the while Elsa hoped she would not regret it. She does not think bad of her sister, but worries that her lack of experience or knowledge on how to run a kingdom will make things difficult for Anna. But then Hans said he had been teaching Anna so she should be okay...hopefully...
The cage was hard to escape, but not impossible as Hans soon learned as the bottom of the cage was obviously made out of dirt so that was his escape, he dug his way out.
It too several nights before he was finally able to dig his way under the cage. For a moment he was tempted to fly out of the castle towards freedom, but knew he could not, not without H.C.
So he flew up to the palace, going through the chimney again he made his way to his parents room where he knew his father kept the master key, which was the key to open every single look of anything inside the castle or in the prison.
After looking around quietly he almost gave up as he scoured all the possible places, but no key.
"It has to be around here somewhere" though Hans refusing to give up it was only then when he spotted something shining under the candlelight.
Around his fathers neck was a key, it was very decorated and had the crest of the Westergaard on its bow.
Flying over Hans landed gently, very very carefully he took the key with his claw and began to move it.
As he did he could feel himself sweating with nervousness then flinched back breakups holding back a scream as his father moved.
Calming his racing heart Hans reached with his beak this time and slowly but surely removed the chain around his neck which held the key.
With key on hand he flew over to the window, opened it, jumping when it made a loud sound. Nervously he looked but gave a sight of relief when he saw that the sound did not awake his father.
With key in hand Hans spread his wings he flew off.
Sitting in the cells the prisoners prayed for salvation, it was all they could do when sentenced to the Westergaard prison which had the reputation of being the most cruel and impenetrable one in all of Scandinavia.
The only escape of such a horrible place was death as nobody lived long after surviving the inhuman tortures at the hands of either the guards, the king himself or his sons.
Tonight was no different, though was worse for them as they were soldiers who rebel from the kings army, this of course made their tortured not only worse but longer.
Sitting in the cells they prayed yet again, hoping God would send them an angel of mercy or some form on an opertunity to escape.
Tonight much to their surprise God seemed to have answered, true he did not send an angel, but it came quite close as it was the strangest bird they had ever seen.
Landing by the opening Hans squeezed through the bars before landing on the ground and dropped the skeleton key in front of the prisoners before instructing in a hurried voice "Hurry, make sure everyboby escapes".
The prisenors stared baffled as the bird talked,
"Yes I can talk and no there is no time! We have to hurry the guards could be here at any second" urged Hans.
Heading his warning the group nodded before quickly doing as he said, using the key they unlocked their chains then opened their cells and began to help others escape.
While they did Hans looked around the group for H.C, for a moment he feared that the worst had happened till he spotted H.C among the prisoners, he was a little bit beaten but okay.
"H.C your okay" said Hans happy as he made his way over to the author,
"My little friend, I knew you would come through" said H.C as he picked up Hans into his hands and held him close in a hug.
Once everybody was free a plan was made, the group would separated in two, first group would go to get the guns, bullets, gun powder and other weapons on the storage unit that was in the prison while the second group helped the prisoners who could not defend themselves well escape.
Hans scouted ahead to make sure the area was clear, because he was so small he would not be spotted easily making him the best option for it. Going first Hans successfully lead them through undetected, so far.
"Hurry hurry" whispered Hans as they made it out of the fortress, only a gate separated them from their freedom. Working together they managed to open the gate which was not so strong and began to lead the other pirsenors out. But just as they were out an alarm sounded and the guards were alerted.
"Oh no" though Hans as armed guards and his brothers came in, just as they did the other prisenors armed with guns began to fire.
Soon the area turned into a war zone with guards trying to kill the prisenors, prisoners trying to escape or fight back.
Luckily it seems that the prisenors had the upper hand as they fought back and defeated most of the guards while the others escaped.
"Lets go" said H.C as it was their turn to escape so with Hans in hand he made a break for it through the gate and out towards the woods, but sadly their escape did not ended well as soon H.C was tackled down by somebody who attacked them in the dark.
Having been knocked to the ground Hans was disoriented for a bit before getting up, turning he saw in horror H.C being attacked by his brother Lars, the two were wrestling, H.C trying to get Lars off and Lars trying to keep H.C from escaping.
"No Lars! Stop please!" Hans cried out as he went over and grabbed unto the back of Lars shirt, flapping his wings in an effort to pulling him off of H.C, but to no avail.
Turning Lars gave him a good hard swat sending him to the ground while yelling "Get off of me you bird from hell!",
"Lars it's me! Your brother Hans!" said Hans desperately, hoping that would be enough to stop Lars.
"Your no brother of mine! How dare you mock me!" growled Lars.
Those words hurt Hans, how could he not recognize him? Surely he would be able to recognize him by his eyes or voice.
Taking advantage of that H.C gave Lars a good punch on the nose. Yelling Lars held it as H.C managed to squirm away from his grip and run for safety.
In anger Lars took out a pistol, aiming it at H.C as he ran.
"Lars! No!" Screamed Hans as he got up and flew over, fluttering all around, pecking or clawing at Lars, desperately trying to keep his brother from shooting his friend.
"Go away! You filthy creature! You demon!" yelled Lars as he moved trying to swat Hans, but Hans persisted, if he could just distract Lars long enough H.C would be able to escape with his life.
"I had enough of you!" yelled Lars as his target switched from H.C to Hans as he turned and pointed the gun to Hans.
"Lars! No!" yelled Hans, the next thing he knew there was a loud boom as the pistol shot, followed by a horrible pain as the bullet pierced his chest, went right through him and finally there was darkness.
Hans gasped as he jolted awake from the dream. Looking around his eyes were wider than a deer on torch light, his whole body had broken out in cold sweat.
As he breathed and his heart stopped racing he realized where he was.
Slowly getting out of bed he walked over to a window and opened it, letting the cool air in.
Leaning against it he looked outside, the nights were beautiful in Arendelle, even more so than back at his home in the Underground Kingdom for a simple reason, they were real...
In the Underground kingdom the sky, the sun, moon, stars even the clouds were not real but merely a glamour spell cast to make the place more homey.
He guess that was part of the reason why he spent more time outside of the Underground than in. Because as nice as the place was, he longed for the real skies outside of the Underground, to see the real stars and moon, feel the real wind blowing through and the rain as it fell from the heavens, not something which just happened because of some spell.
Resting his head against the window panel his mind drifted to the nightmare he had of his past and to his brother Lars whom he quite honestly he had not though about in a while as it brought too much pain to do so.
Anna once asked "But what if they wanted to reconcile, to make up for what they've done, would you ever give them a second chance?" and the answer he gave her was "Honestly speaking, I would say no, I would gladly live the rest of my life never seeing them again."
Yet seeing the Arendelle sisters being so loving to one another and forgiving despite the circumstances...he found himself having second thoughts about his answers...just a bit.
Maybe in time, Hans would someday go and find his brother Lars and maybe he might try to reconcile with Lars... Maybe they could have the same relationship Elsa and Anna have.
But for now, Hans could not for he was not ready, there was still too much hurt for that...but someday he might be...
"Maybe" Hans though as he continued to watch the Arendelle skies for a while before he closed the window to try and get some sleep.
To be continued...
Authors note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, now from this chapter, there is only one more left before the grand reveal. How will that go? Well you will have to wait and see...so please leave a review to tell me what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter as we will finally get to know the mysterious Underground Kingdom.