A/N: I survived band camp! I had fun, but I remember now why I always question whether or not I'll survive. Highlights of the week were Thursday's pizza party, Friday's pool party, and also on Friday we did the ice bucket challenge! :-D There were lots of other funny things that happened last week, but I'm not gonna sit here and bore you with my "This one time at band camp..." stories. Instead, I'm going to let you read the story you came here to read!
Real quick, as far as updating, at this point, I'm gonna try my best to update when I can. We're coming up on the end of this story, so I'd like to try to finish it before school starts next Thursday (Ugh! Shortest! Summer! EVER!), but I still have a fair amount of summer homework to do (UGH!) so all I'm gonna say is I'll try my best to write as fast as I can. But for now, since I left you on that cliffhanger, cue the dramatic music, because it's time for a showdown!
Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen. Never have, never will.
"So, you managed to escape," Gustav said matter-of-factly.
Noah shrugged. "It wasn't that hard."
From behind him, a girl stepped out, who was clearly the triplet to the two girls who saved Fredrick. She cowered under the glare that her father was giving her.
"Amalie, I'm going to deal with you later!" Gustav said.
"You won't deal with her later!" Noah said, while Amalie ran to her sisters. "The only one you have to deal with is me!"
"Really?" Gustav said, clearly amused. "Something tells me that shouldn't be that hard."
Noah heard Daniel's gun click behind him, and he saw his brother pointing it at him, still holding onto Julie. He looked around to see the children's crossbows aimed at him ready to fire.
"You may think you can fight me by yourself," his father said, "but as you can see, you are clearly outnumbered."
Noah lowered his crossbow and walked toward Daniel. "Am I?" he said, looking into his brother's eyes. In them, behind the facade of anger and fearlessness, he could see all the pain in the world. "Daniel," he said, "you know as well as I do that what you're doing is wrong." He stepped away and looked around as he raised his voice. "All of you do! And yet you still stand here attacking innocent people. Why is that?"
He circled around his father, walking by the children as he spoke.
"Is it that you think it is your duty, your purpose in life to do anything your father commands, even if it requires you to put your lives in danger? Do you truly believe that? Maybe you think you're paying off a debt! Maybe you think that because the man you see standing in the center of this room loved you all as his children, then you owe him everything. But if that man truly did love you, would he have forced you to put your lives in this kind of danger when most of you are years away from being of age?"
He glanced at his father, who stared at him angrily, but seemed to want to hear where he was going with this.
"I'm not accusing you all of being evil," Noah continued. "You are not evil people. You have simply been lead to cherish the beliefs of an evil man. A man who seeks to avenge the wrongdoing against an ancestor from centuries ago. But what is there to avenge? The royals that stand around that throne are not the ones who denied help to our ancestor. They have done no wrong. All of this has gone far beyond the desire to avenge him. All of that is ancient history. All this comes down to now is one man's lust for power, and his willingness to do anything to get it. You have all, by no fault of your own, become his pawns, his soldiers. He has induced fear in all of you to force you to follow him. But you need not fear him any longer, for he has nowhere left to run and nothing left to hide."
Noah stopped as he stood between his father and the throne. He glanced up at Johan, the friend who had saved him from living the life that these children had lived.
Johan held Elsa's hand tighter as he stared back at him. All of the secrets that his mysterious friend would never tell him over the years had suddenly come to light, and he could finally see what a noble and wise person he really was.
Suddenly, they heard a chuckle from the center of the room. Noah turned around to see his father laughing.
"What an inspirational speech, my son," he said. "But as you can see, they don't believe it."
"Are you sure?" Noah said, looking around again at the children. They hadn't lowered their weapons, but Noah could defiantly see that something had changed in their eyes. "Do you think that these children are truly loyal to you? Yes they follow your orders, but only because they are afraid of you'll do to them if they don't. But if you were to tell them to kill themselves in respect for you, do you honestly think they would do it?"
Gustav didn't say anything. He shifted his eyes back and forth, looking around at the children. Noah could tell that his father was becoming uneasy as they once again met eyes.
"You stand alone," Noah said, "and that has always been your greatest mistake."
His father glared at him. "So what are you going to do?" he challenged. "Are you still going to try and fight me?"
"Only if you force me to," Noah replied. "But, if you stand down now, there is a chance your life may be spared."
"I will not surrender in my moment of triumph!" Gustav said. "Whether I stand alone or have an army behind me, I will defeat you, and every member of the royal family!" His eyes scanned over the royals before finally settling on Elsa. She took half a step back as he stared her down. "And I'll kill any little ice witch that gets in my way!"
That was all he had to say for Johan to lose his self-restraint. He picked up his sword and started running at Gustav, who barely flinched when he saw the prince move.
"Johan, no!" Noah yelled as he ran past him. When Johan didn't stop, Noah did the only thing he felt he could do. He lifted his crossbow, aimed it, and fired.
Johan collapsed to the ground as the arrow lodged into his leg, his sword clattering as it hit the floor.
"Johan!" Elsa yelled as she started running toward him.
Before Johan could react, Gustav had pulled out his sword and was standing over him, ready to strike. But his swing was interrupted when Noah blocked him with Johan's sword that he had picked up.
All at once, as father and son became locked in a fierce dual, the fighting broke out again. The guards began to get the better of the children, and one by one, they rounded them up.
Elsa and Anna helped Johan up, with Kristoff making sure nobody attacked them while they did.
"Don't worry about me; I'll be fine," Johan said. "I have to go help!"
"No, Johan, you can't!" Elsa replied. "We're taking you to the infirmary right now!"
Johan shook his head. "I don't need to go to the infirmary!"
"YOU HAVE AN ARROW IN YOUR LEG!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ballroom, Leah, Isak, Magnus, and several of the guards were surrounding Daniel and Julie. He held his gun out at them, but he couldn't seem to find it in him to shoot. He looked around desperately to try to find a means of escape, until he finally met Leah's eyes.
"Please!" she begged.
Finally, the guilt overcame him. He lowered his gun and released the princess, before the guards took him into custody. Leah was the first one to get to her sister and embrace her.
"Julie, I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried.
Julie smiled as the tears ran down her cheeks. She moved to hug Isak, and then her father.
"Oh, Julie," the king said, "I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay," she replied. "I love you, Papa."
Back in the center of the room, Noah was slowly beginning to overcome his father. He knew that he was the only one that knew Gustav's fighting style well enough to defeat him.
Gustav was getting worried as his son figured out all of his tricks. But he wasn't about to let Noah see that.
With one final swing of his sword, Noah slashed Gustav's hand, causing the latter to drop his weapon. He pushed his father down on the floor, holding him down with one foot on his chest. All attention in the room shifted to them at that moment. Noah held his sword at his father's neck, and Gustav glared back up at him.
"Do it!" he growled.
Noah didn't move. Part of him wanted to do it. Part of him wanted to end it right here and now. But he knew that killing his father wouldn't prove anything.
He took his foot off of his father and motioned for some of the guards to come pick him up. Gustav didn't move for a moment, stunned and angered that Noah didn't kill him right there. He stood up and tried to lunge at him, but the guards had a hold of his arms. He shifted his eyes around the room, until they finally settled on Julie. He smirked as he noticed a crossbow on the floor near him as he was led away.
"Maybe at least I can get one small conciliation prize!" he yelled. He used his shoulders to push down the two guards holding him and picked up the crossbow. He quickly aimed at the princess and pulled the trigger.
"NO!" Noah yelled, as he realized what was happening. He ran quickly to try to save her, and gasped as he suddenly felt the arrow in his shoulder.
"Noah!" Julie yelled, running toward him. The guards quickly took hold of Gustav again, who grunted in defeat as they led him away. Julie bent down next to Noah, who had collapsed to his knees in pain.
"Julie," he said. "I'm sorry I caused all of this."
Julie shook her head. "You didn't cause all of this, and you know it!" she said. "Come on, let's get you to the infirmary."
"Thank you," he said as she helped him up.
She smiled and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."
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Read on, write on, dream on. -bandgeek63