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.
Any way, hope you all enjoy this new chapter of the firebird, read on and please remember to leave a review when done, opinions are most welcomed.
What a strange dream... she was running through fields of white, it was soft but it was not snow, the place was bright, probably because of the whiteness which was all around.
Stopping she noticed a group of people up ahead, they were all sitting down as if having a pick nick.
At first she did not know who they were till she got a closer look. It was Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Hans, they were all talking and seemed to have a good time.
Happily she ran over wanting to join them, but as soon as she got there she noticed how quiet and still they got, ignoring it for a bit she reached and touched Anna to get her attention only for them to crumble under her touch as if their bodies were made out of sand.
All around the light was replaced by darkness which soon took form of a shadow demon, it growled at her before lunging at her.
Elsa gasped as a loud thunder shook the home. Looking around disoriented Elsa shook and shivered , that dream had been so real she swore it actually was happening. Taking a breath or two she calm down before looking around and sighting when she saw she was not in that place and there was no shadow demon, but it took her a moment before she remembered that she was not in Arendelle or the guest room Hans had given her, but Hans room.
Suddenly she froze when she felt movement from the other side of the bed, fearfully she looked before sighting in relief when she found it was Hans still turned a bit so he was facing her, his head was buried deep into the pillow.
"And I though I slept deep" though Elsa as she reached and ran her hand through his hair gently, down to his side burns.
Curious Elsa moved her hand and placed it on his shoulder before running it down his arm, the loose and thin fabric of the night shirt he wore allowed her to feel the muscles in his arms and his surprisingly smooth skin. For Elsa this was the first time she had skin to skin contact with a man before, as she always made sure to avoid as much contact as she could in the past, later on the only contact she had was her sisters hugs or the occasional kiss on her hand covered glove by other people, true she had hugged Hans in his firebird form, but was officially the first time she had this kind of contact.
Feeling a bit bolder Elsa placed her hand and reached under his shirt, feeling his abdomen and chest, it was strong as she had imagined as he looked the type to be fit and healthy, a bit of hair which tickled her hand, his heart thumping softly, skin warm, Elsa almost wanted to press herself against him as she was sure if she did she would feel warm and safe.
It was then that she noticed, even while he slept he wore gloves.
"Why?" though Elsa softly as she was baffled about it, as far as she knew he had no reason to wear gloves, he has complete control and confident over his magic, not like her, so why did he use gloves?
Curious Elsa reached, hesitating a bit before grasping his left hand and began to pull his glove off only to scream when Hans hand suddenly grasp unto her as he woke up.
For a moment Hans looked a bit disoriented as he was still half asleep, but when he realized where he was he let go and said "Sorry... I though you were somebody else",
"Its okay..." said Elsa and she meant it as she felt bad she woke him up but at the same time wondered what that was about.
Nodding Hans got up from bed making Elsa look away from Hans, trying not to look at him as she realized he only wore a very thin linen shirt, no drawers.
As Hans walked to his wardrobe and opened it he said "I was thinking and I do not feel comfortable leaving you with no protection against the shadow demons",
"What will you do?" asked Elsa curious,
"I know I cannot protect you twenty four seven, so I will give you a weapon, so you can protect yourself against them if ever you encounter them" said Hans as he finished dressing then added "You can look now", Elsa looked and saw him dressed before saying "I do not know how to fight the shadow demons",
"That's why I will train you" said Hans as he walked over, took her hand and said "I promised you that I would protect you, but I am afraid of the what if I am not there, so I will train you, so you will stay safe even if your not there".
Elsa looked, the look on Hans face worried her, she knew he was trying to keep a calm face, but there was no way he could mask the worry, so she nodded and said "Alright, I will have you teach me", Hans forced a smile before kissing her forehead and saying "You will be okay, I promise you that"
Anger gripped the duke as he held a letter which had been stolen from a messenger.
It was from the King and Queen of Corona.
Opening it he read it out loud causing an outrage at what was written
"Dear Elsa;
When your parents died I always felt as though it was my responsibility to protect you. So I am happy to see that you not only have grown on your own, but also found a partner in life who supports your endeavors and is there for you. So it makes me proud to write this letter, yes me and your aunt approve of your marriage to Prince Hans. We wish you both the best and all the happiness in the world.
Sincerely King Frederik and Queen Arianna
Ps: We hope to be the first to get an invitation to your wedding"
"How could this have happened?!" growled one of the councilmen outraged at the contents of the letter.
"That bird has finished all the trials! The public loves him! The Church supports the marriage! And now Elsa seems to have fallen for the creature" growled another lord "There is no stopping this marriage!",
"This is not over yet! One way or another this marriage will not happen!" growled the Duke as he paced around, there was a way but they doubted Queen Elsa would do it, they had to make her break the engagement, how they did not know as Queen Elsa made no indication that she would break the engagement.
"And a way there is" a voice said, the group went quiet as a they looked around, surely they were alone... but it seems they were not... soon a dark hooded figure walked over, seemingly appearing out if nowhere.
"Hello gentlemen" said the figure, he wore a dark hooded cloak with silver shadowy like motifs,
"What?! Who are you?!" demanded the Duke suspiciously,
"The solution to your dilema" the person walking over and sat on one of the chairs.
"And why should we trust you?"demanded the Duke,
"We both want the same thing...I do not want the Firebird to marry Elsa and of course you do not want Elsa to marry the Firebird" said The person then added "Thats why we should work together",
"So what do you suggest?!" snarled the Duke at this point he did not care what he had to do to get rid of the Firebird so he can force Queen Elsa to marry his nephew.
The figure smirked as if the duke had asked the right question and said "If there is one thing that I have learned about love is this... love is always conditional... so all we have to do is show the Elsa the Firebirds ugly side"
The group looked confused then their eyes widen before they too began to smirk.
"We must act quickly, so do as I say and we will both want to get what we want" said the figure as to discuss the plan.
After the rain it had been a nice sunny cool day, not that Elsa could enjoy it as Hans dragged her back to the gardens for some intense training. The first thing they did was some warm ups then they ran some laps through the garden, which included going up and down stairs followed by more warm ups.
Though they barely begun Elsa felt a bit winded out and short of breath, her guess it would have been a whole lot worse if she had been wearing a corset, which he told her not to wear and instead gave her some strange replacement, it was like a corset but smaller, it looked to be designed to only hold her chest and nothing more allowing her more movement such as bending down or taking better breaths and she could put it on herself quite easily as the laces to tie it up were located in the front not the back.
When she asked about it he turned a bit red as he stuttered a bit in explaining about how that is the typical undergarment worn by woman in the Underground Kingdom as corsets were seen as too hazardous for health. Of course Elsa wanted to wear her corset but decided to wear the replacement seeing that Hans probably went through a lot of trouble and a bit of embarrassment to get them for her.
Right now she was grateful she did as she hated to think how winded out she might have been if she wore her corset.
"Its okay you will get there" said Hans as he walked to the wise where he had placed some sticks and a couple of other things. Picking two of the long sticks made out of wood he handed one to Elsa.
"You make it look so easy" said Elsa holding it,
"Years of practice, unlike your magic, my magic comes from within me, because of that I always have to be healthy and in top shape" said Hans,
"What happens if your not?" asked Elsa,
"It can kill me" said Hans then explained "Every time I use magic it drains me bit by bit, but over time its restored, but if used too much at once my energy cannot be regenerated fast enough",
"So its like endurance?" asked Elsa,
"A bit of that... I was trained since I was young so my energy can regenerate quickly, but I still have to be careful" said Hans as he got into an en-guard stance and said "It will be a bit of hard work for you, you suffer from not having enough sun and not enough movement or exercise, this of course is not your fault but it will prove to be a problem when or if you face a shadow demon",
"Why?" asked Elsa as she followed his pose and he moved into a different stance and movements for attacking or blocking having her copy him,
"Shadow demons are a lot more tougher than you think their are, their vicious, they can smell fear, find a weakness and take advantage of it" said Hans then added seriously "Your muscles are like marshmallow, your bones are probably soft and they will pick up on that immediately",
"Great...so how can I hold my own against them?" said Elsa, to her if that was true then this was a hopeless cause,
"Cause you have an advantage over them" said Hans "Your ice magic, you can use it to freeze them temporarily, during that state you can turn any bad situation around and gain the upper hand against them, its up to you to take advantage of every chance you get... keep your stance strong and maintain balance if not then the enemy can throw you aside easily".
He moved and had her follow, his movements getting faster and Elsa had trouble keeping up.
The next thing Elsa knew Hans turned and charged at her, tackling her down and holding her in a bear hug, "I won" said Hans with a smirk,
"Because you cheated! I was not ready!" said Elsa,
"Everything is fair in war" said Hans as he got up and began to carry her off,
"Hans what are you doing? Stop! Let me go! STOP! NO!" yelled Elsa as she was tossed into the pool, gasping and shaking she stood up and yelled "What are you-" before she could finish she shrieked as he took off his linen shirt, tossed it at her then jumped into the pool, landing next to her purposefully splashing her.
"Argh! Your immature do you know that!?" yelled Elsa irritated,
"Maybe?" Hans answered teasingly,
"Aren't you a little too old for these things?!" said Elsa, her response was him splashing her.
"That's it!" though Elsa splashing him back, but using her magic to make the water as cold as possible,
"Cold!" yelled Hans as he jumped awake shaking, Elsa laughed and said "Don't mess with the Snow Queen",
"Alright Snow Queen this means war" said Hans playfully as he splashed her back and soon a water fight ensued between them, Elsa having the upper hand as she used her ice to freeze the water a bit and make barriers around her.
"No fair! Your cheating!" yelled Hans,
"Wasn't it you who said everything was fair in war?" asked Elsa playfully reminding him what he had said before, but before Hans could even answer he heard "Hey! Don't leave me out of it!".
Looking the two stared in a bit of panic as Olaf ran over,
"No Olaf no no no no NO!" yelled Elsa and Hans as they tried to stop the snowman but it was too late as Olaf ran over and jumped into the pool, it landed in the water with a solid thud making both Elsa and Hans wince at the sound.
"Humm...this was not what I had in mind" said Olaf as his snow man body began to float in different directions.
Laughing nervously and mostly glad that the snow flurry had kept Olaf from melting Hans and Elsa gathered Olaf and put him back together on solid ground,
"That's more like it" said Olaf,
"Olaf you need to be more careful" said Elsa scolding him lightly,
"I know, you two were having such a good time that I wanted to join in" said Olaf,
"Even so, be careful the next time, we don't want you getting hurt" said Hans,
"Okay okay" said Olaf as he waddled away, probably going back inside, once gone Hans sighted "That was scary, for a second I though he was going to dissolve in the water",
"Are you doubting my ice magic?" said Elsa,
"No not at all my queen" said Hans chuckling a bit,
"Good" said Elsa.
For the next couple of minutes they took it easy, swimming around or just relaxing and talking about this and that, then Elsa asking more questions.
"The will o wisps" began Elsa,
"What about them?" asked Hans curious,
"When did you meet or did they just appear" asked Elsa,
"In truth they found me" said Hans.
"Hans!" Agathe's voice sounded in echo through the towers of london.
Giggling 12 year old Hans ran up some stone stairs of an abadoned tower, it was dark and damp, the only brightness came from his red and gold cloak which dragged a bit behind on the ground.
Hidding he pulled his hood back a bit as it tended to fall and cover his head completly blinding him.
"Hans!" Agathe screamed again as she went up the stairs and looked around very angry "Hans! You better come out right now!"
Covering his mouth Hans stiffled a bit of laughter as Agathe left the tower muttering something about a certain brat (namely him) being in so much trouble when she got her hands on him.
When she left Hans aloud hinself to laugh out loud only to stop when he heard laughs...
His face grew pale as he looked around, the laughs sounded like kids, probably around his age more or less.
Suddenly from the wall two lights appeared from the wall.
Hans did the first thing that he though...
Scream bloody murder and run out of the tower like a bat out of hell.
He continued to scream and run till he slammed against somebody.
"Hans!" He heard, it was Agathe, before he could say anything she grabbed him by his ear and pulled on it.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! DID I NOT TELL YOU TO STAY CLOSE AND NOT WANDER OFF?!" she yelled,
"But! Light!" said Hans as he pointed,
"No buts! We are going home and when we get there you will have more chores to do and you will write me 5 boards of why you should not run off" said Agathe before she dragged him off.
All the time Hans looked back at the tower terrified.
There were soft whispers, soft yet woke Hans up.
Looking around he wondered if he was dreaming.
The kitchen where he slept was dark covered with many blue lights.
At first he questioned what he was seeing before all of a sudden he realized what they were from Rudi and Runos stories.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" a scream wole Agathe up, looking around she got up and grumbled something incoherently.
Wrapping a robe she walked down and just as she did Hans ran up the stairs screaming.
Before she could scold him about running on the stairs she noticed bluish light following him.
Realizing what was going on Agathe though "I was wondering when this was going to happen".
Turning she walked upstairs, time to have the talk.
Sitting down Hans looked at the lights, the will o wisps.
"So... Rudi and Runo were wrong? Their not evil or steal you away?" asked Hans unsure then flinched when one tried to get close to him.
"Yes, their souls that is true, but their redemable souls, people who were forced to do evil to survive or children or people who did not get a chance to live" said Agathe "Its normal for them to be around you",
"So... they will not go away?" asked Hans,
"No, their here till you use your magic to grant them reincarnations" said Agathe "They have to work for it though, doing good deeds, but at rhe same time they can be very mischievous".
"Oh..." said Hans,
"Will explain more so for now" said Agathe as she began to shoo the will o wisps away "shoo shoo, go back to your places, its late and we all need our sleep".
The will o wisps whined before leaving out the open windows and others disappeared.
Looking something told Hans that being a phoenix and fate weaver would be harder than he though.
Elsa covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh before saying "Cute...",
"Since then they follow me around and such" said Hans shrugging,
"Alright so what was that Picasso disaster Sylvia mentioned?" asked Elsa curious,
"Oh that... it was nothing...just something I did when I was a kid" said Hans looking away embarrassed,
"What did you do?" asked Elsa even more curious,
"I rather not say" said Hans,
"You know my embarrassing moment, so now you have to tell me yours" said Elsa,
"What moment?" asked Hans playing dumb,
"The pic nic incident, I overheard Anna telling you" said Elsa,
"Alright fine...this is what happened.." said Hans.
The school day was like any other and quite frankly at first Hans was terrified, but now he was happy that he was going to school.
True the classmates were overly formal when around him or scared but he did not feel as lonely as he had been back home in the Southern isles.
Stroking his charcoal pencil Hans frowned at the disaster of a mess he made.
He had been trying to draw a horse, but all attempts to do so ended up with something that looked like a troll or otherworldly creature that had drop down and died.
Huffing Hans had all but decided to give up, he may be good at metalwork and music, but when it came to painting he failed miserably.
"I am going to fail" huffed Hans frustrated as he ran his hands through his hair as he feared what would happen if he brought Agathe another failed grade.
A's and B's were acceptable, but Agathe would never accept anything less than that.
"Your a smart child, use your head" she would scold before sending him off to practice his calligraphy as punishment for bad grades.
Hans shivered at the though, it was then he got an idea...
Magic...he had magic so he can use it to make his drawing better and get a decent grade...it should not be too hard.
Looking around he made sure the teacher was not looking as the school had a strict no magic is to be used unless in classes with involved magic being used.
Confident she was not watching Hans took off his glove quickly and concentrated, willing the magic to change the drawing to something better.
At first it worked as the charcoal shifted and changed, but then all of a sudden.
"BOOM!" A loud explosion was heard followed by blackness.
Everybody screamed as it had gotten so dark it was as if they had been dipped in ink and let loose in a coal mine.
Walking home from school people stopped and stared, trying hard not to snicker at Hans who was completely covered in charcoal making his appearance look pitch black.
As he walked he sulked as he knew he would be in big trouble when he got home.
A little bit up ahead he noticed Rohan, Marius and Sylvia.
While Sylvia and Rohantried not to laugh Marius was not so tactful as he doubled over laughing at Hans.
"Umm should I ask" said Sylvia as she tried to stifle her snickers.
"No" said Hans glumly,
"Don't worry I already know what happened" said Marius between laughs as he had heard teachers talking about it "Picasso over there wanted to play with charcoal, as a result he and everybody looks like walking coals" (they know who Picasso is because of future sight)
"Oh ha ha, laugh it up" said Hans crossing his arms "Your hands are not the ones who will fall off when they get home",
"What do you mean by that?" asked Rohan,
"My punishment...Agathe will surely have me practice my calligraphy till I die for this" said Hans,
"That is your punishment? I would kill for that" said Sylvia "my punishment back then was that I had to wear these girly girly outfits with mayor poofy skirts",
"Boring" said Marius "At least your punishment was not to scrape off barnacles",
"Or chop wood" said Rohan,
"Either way...Agathe will have my head when I get home" said Hans,
"Come on it's not that bad, think of it this way, if she does have your head you will rise again" said Marius before laughing.
"Oh ha ha" said Hans rolling his eyes before heading back home as he just wanted his punishment to get it over with.
"Who knew you were such a trouble maker when you were a child" said Elsa snickering,
"Tell me one child who was a perfect angel" said Hans,
"True" said Elsa before Hans began to leave the pool,
"Be right back" he said as he got out of the pool making Elsa look away, he quickly put on his shirt then went up the stairs immediately. Once gone Elsa covered her face and groaned into it. About 10 minutes passed before Hans showed up with towels, handing her one.
"Thank you" said Elsa as she accepted it, a bit dry they went back upstairs.
Sitting back against the a chair Lars looked outside, the Southern isles was under his control now, not that the rebels stood a chance. He chuckled at that as he remembered the look on their faces when they saw him.
"I wonder if this was why father liked being a tyrant, having people fear you is such fun" he though but then shook his head at that, no, he did not take over the Southern isles to torture people. No, he did it to restore the isles to their former glory, to give himself and his brother their home back.
Of course all that is missing is his brother, but he would be coming home soon, by then everything would be ready and there would be nothing else to worry about.
"Hopefully Hans will understand, given time" though Lars as he turned and left the tower to take a stroll down the palace when he was stopped by a group of shadow demons, they all seem to tremble and look nervous.
"What?" said Lars, nudging one over one of the shadow demons flew over and whispered something to Lars.
His eyes turned black with anger as he growled "I said to bring him here not to attack him!" the shadow demons trembled as dark shadows curled up around Lars, reacting to his anger.
"Were sorry..." they whispered, it was a raspy whisper,
"You all better be" growled Lars as he turned and left.
Light tapping woke Elsa from her sleep, looking around she found she was in the library, at first she was unsure about how she got there till she remembered Hans brought her there to show her some scrolls, they were old but very beautiful, when unrolled the pictured moved as if the story was alive.
"Must have fallen asleep" though Elsa as she rubbed her eyes awake as she moved, when she did she saw that while she was asleep she had curled up against him, he too was asleep, his arm was gently placed over her protectively.
Placing her hand on his cheek Elsa stroke it gently causing Hans to wake, groggily he looked and asked "What time is it?", looking at a clock Elsa answered "Its about 3 pm",
"A bit of a nap we took" said Hans as he got up to his feet before helping her up "Tomorrow we will practice our magic, but not here, we will do it in the Fateweavers training ground, more space",
"And less things to damage" added Elsa,
"Things hold no meaning, its people I worry about hurting" said Hans, Elsa looked down as her mind went to that fateful night, the night she harmed her dear sister and said "Yes...I agree".
Bending down Hans picked up the scroll and turned to place it back in a case, after a while Elsa remembered then began "Hans, I have a book, the history of the phoenix",
"When did you get it?" asked Hans,
"That day I, barged in..." said Elsa turning red as she looked down then quickly said "I could not help but notice pages were missing",
"You too?" asked Hans surprised,
"Me?" asked Elsa confused,
"Yes! I have noticed that for years but whenever I pointed it out the other Fateweavers they said I was just seeing things and that the book is not missing anything" said Hans relieved,
"Why?" asked Elsa, if he noticed that and she did then why did the fateweavers say that?
After some thinking Elsa asked "Are they hiding something?",
"Their not hiding anything, they were not seeing well that is all" said Hans, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself that was the case rather than it being a possibility or fact.
At that moment Elsa hoped that that was the case.
To be continued...
Authors note: Hummm curiouser, why do the Fateweavers say that? What are they hiding?. Any way I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Well you will have to wait and see...so please leave a review to tell me what you think.