Merida was trying to ignore the stares she was receiving, yes she was not wearing exactly the proper attire and it didn't help that her coat had a large purple stain. She had removed the star sticker in her head (through it took more than a few strands of her hair with it) but aside from that she pretty much looked fine, not her fault that gloomy formal wear was the dress code of the day.
Perhaps though people wouldn't be given her much thought if she didn't do the following things: barge into a very private 'family' affair, hit a deranged old man with a mop and lastly sit next to the heir of what could be a million (inflation had decrease the estate's worth over the years) pound empire.
"You know I really shouldn't be here" Merida whispered they were currently in the front row of the room.
Arthur kept his gaze on the attorney who was busy fixing up his papers "As soon as you stepped into this room you can't just get out"
"But won't they think . . . you're marrying ELSA!" when she raised her voice everyone looked at her and she piped down.
"If they ask tell them you're her proxy" Arthur turned at the relatives who were giving the Scot rude glances.
"You might as well do that in your wedding as well" Merida muttered.
"The wedding gown might rip in the middle of the ceremony" Arthur pinched the girl to shut up but he got the opposite effect because his pinch was that hard.
She then slapped the Brit's shoulder hard "You could have just said it not do that"
He rubbed his shoulder, it felt liked the time he was rammed by a lorry "That's what I'm been trying to do since we sat down"
"Umm excuse me" Mr. Hautecourt spoke "Arthur we're about to start the proceedings, they've been waiting ten years for this and I don't think they could wait any longer"
The two faced the man "Proceed" Arthur said.
The executer cleared his throat "Now after carful analyzation of 79 revisions and 23 additional notes sent to me by the deceased I have finally constructed a full list of the distribution of the property of the Pendragon estate" he read out the first page "Now in the time of my passing . . ."
"Just get to the property already!" Mr Hook yelled.
Merida whispered again "Why didn't you tell me that you were related to him while we were on the plane?"
"I don't tend to remember my cousin's uncle removed four times" Arthur rubbed his forehead "Also I tend to avoid family reunions as much as possible"
"Alright then" Mr. Hautecourt closed his journal and brought out another one "Since I knew you lot were impatient I took the liberty of making a shorter or tabulated version of the will . . . to my dear uncle Spiegel . . ."
Ector raised a hand "Who the bloody hell is Spiegel?"
"Are you sure that wasn't just an edited version of the will?" Thalia Mnemosyne questioned "You know anyone could have just added a name"
"Well you didn't want me to read the original" Mr. Hautecourt adjusted his spectacles "And I assure you that we've taken account on how significant their relationship is with Lord Pendragon"
Mr. Hook stood up "You just wanted the money all to yourself!" he pointed a hooked hand against the woman.
The large half Greek woman stood up "Now wouldn't that be something you would do?"
"And you're accusing me just because I gave you mushrooms last thanksgiving" Hook crossed his arms and looked away.
Thalia's face went red "YOU MADE ME HAVE HIVES FOR TWO WEEKS!"
Ector still looked confused "Who is Spiegel?"
/
Mother. It was the word that Eilonwy suddenly thought of before a bright shining light had blinded her eyes. Her body that had been feeling nothing as of the late was starting to feel weak and stinging. She felt as though there was something pining her to the bed and if she tried to move her veins would pop out.
Her senses came back like a jolt and she almost jumped at the sound of the heart monitor's beeping right next to her. And what is up with the heavy thing on her head? She wondered.
As soon as she gained control of her vision the first thing she could make out was the ceiling fan, from here she concluded that she was indeed in a hospital and it had been awhile since she had woken up.
Her mother was sleeping on a sofa on one side and she assumed her father was out grabbing a cup of coffee. She could just imagine the irritation her friends must be having for yet again another one of them ending up in the hospital, Taran would probably been anxious just staring at the white walls.
Taran . . .
Had he come? Probably not for all his decency he might have just sent her a postcard, she knew he was probably island hoping someone in the Pacific from looking at his Instagram account. Even if he did come it would have been near to impossible for him to actually get a flight in the Christmas rush.
That made her wonder . . . was it still Christmas?
It was in here when she heard the door open "Darling wake up it's . . ." her father paused when he saw her, he then literally dropped the tray he wAnas holding and rushed towards his little girl "Eilonwy can you hear me? You're awake!. . ." he turned towards his wife "DARLING WAKE UP SHE'S AWAKE!"
Angharad stirred as she woke up "Darling . . ." she rubbed her eyes "What are you . . . EILONWY" the woman jumped from the sofa and ran towards her daughter "OH thank God you're awake . . . you're really awake"
Eilonwy tried to say something but her throat felt really dry.
"Just wait there a moment dear" Geraint then ran out to get a doctor.
Angharad held her daughter's hands "You're awake . . . oh thank goodness you're awake"
A few moments later the doctors came in with a weeping Geraint, he was thanking the saints for the later Christmas present they had given him. Eilonwy still had no idea what had happened to her and when the doctor's prescribed she stayed a few more days to recover they left the Elyr family to continue their celebrations.
"So . . . what happened to me?" the girl asked as soon as the door was closed.
It was Angharad who answered "Don't you remember? You were hit by some young man's car in the expressway"
"Hit?" Eilonwy blinked "Did I fly out of my car?"
"Goodness no!" Angharad gasped "Don't you dare say such things we're been worried you sick this pass Christmas"
It was when it hit her "Chris . . . Is Christmas over?"
"To be exact its December 26" Geraint seemed to jolly to care about her daughter's earlier comment "We should be grateful that you've only lost consciousness for such a short period of time"
Angharad sighed "Indeed, though it almost felt like a month or so"
"December . . . twenty . . ." Eilonwy almost jolted out of her bed "Isn't today?"
"Calm down" her mother held her "Yes, they just distributed the Pendragon's property this afternoon it's probably still going on right now"
"I admire those benefactors for waiting all these years to receive their share" Geraint sat next to his daughter on the bed "You'd think some of the items would have lost value by now"
"Well there are some things that actually age well, like the wine cellar and those art pieces Ingraine loves to collect" Angharad combed Eilonwy's golden locks "Those you shouldn't be thinking about those things right now, I'm sure Arthur is probably more concerned on your health than that"
Eilonwy just nodded "I see mother . . . would you mind . . . um am I allowed to eat?"
At this Geraint started laughing wholeheartedly "Oh of course you would be hungry, you haven't eating anything aside from that tube for the past few days" he got off the bed "I'll go see if there's some decent food lying around this hospital"
Angharad shook her head as she watched her husband's antics "As you can see your father was quite distressed while you were in a coma"
Eilonwy looked up to her mother "You seem to look grayer now mother"
"Oh I haven't stepped outside that much now haven't I?" the woman did a chuckle.
"Seems it wasn't only father who wallowed in worry" Eilonwy touched her mother's hand "Did you eat all the cookies while I was gone?"
At this Angharad started laughing "Only you could think about those cookies even after all you've been through"
"But they're all what I could think about!" Eilonwy whined "Those giant marshmallow men wouldn't let me eat them no matter how many times I broke pretzels with them"
The older woman shook her head "Eilonwy . . ." the woman said.
"Yes mother . . ."
"Don't ever change" Angharad smiled.
It was in this moment when someone had barged into the door, both mother and daughter turned to see a young strawberry blonde girl was on the floor.
"Oh my goodness . . ." Angharad gasped.
The young woman lifted her face up "Hey . . ."
Eilonwy tried to take a closer look "Oh it's . . ."
"ANNA!" stormed in a certain platinum haired ice queen "What were you thinking storming into a hospital room like that what if you got the wrong room!"
Anna rubbed the back of her head "Whoops . . . but I did get the right room . . ."
"That was still a rude entrance!" Elsa turned to see the Elyr women looking at her and she blushed with embarrassment "Please excuse my sister she's very . . ."
It was in here when the lady was suddenly pushed aside by Taran "SHE'S AWAKE!?" Elsa landed on Anna's back gaining a moan of pain from both sisters.
Eilonwy's eyes widened "Taran . . ." she then turned to the sisters "Aren't you supposed to be in Arendale" then back to Taran "And you're . . . where did you go"
"Australia …" Taran pointed at the two girls "And these two well it's a long story"
Angharad went over to the girls and offered a hand "It's nice to see you girls again"
"So we knew her to?" Anna pointed.
And Elsa slapped her finger "It's rude to point, yes though I believe we've only met once" she then grabbed the older woman's hand and lifted herself up before doing so to Anna.
By now it had hit Taran that the girl who had broken his heart decided to forget only to get caught up in a car accident which made him fly half-way around the world (on ECONOMY) was finally awake. And this was in fact that first time they had seen and talked to each other since the break.
The red head had expected of course that she would wake time anytime sooner, but he imagined it in his head to be with him snoring on the sofa and Eilonwy throwing him something and asking for a snack because she was damn hungry.
Speaking of snacks it was right then that Geraint came up with a tray if possible held all the nutrients stated in the food pyramid. "Oh . . . I wasn't expecting visitors at this hour"
"Hey do you have pudding?" Anna went over to the man "We tried grabbing something to eat but these two" pointing at Taran and Elsa "Got really paranoid and wouldn't let me get out of the already stuffy car"
Eilowny raised a hand "Do you have any marshmallows there?"
/
"I think I dun' chipped my favorite tooth..." Ray looked at the mirror to see that he had only a few teeth left, there were only four left to be exact.
Tiana came rushing into the backstage "Are you ok? Your fall looked really bad"
The small man waved his hand "Let's just say its part of the act" he smirked "To get the audience intense for the next scene . . ."
"You fell of the ladder during your big finale" Tiana was even surprised the man managed to come out of it unscratched, if not for his tooth of course.
"Well then that's the big finale!" Ray spread his arms "Tada!"
Mama Odie then came crashing all the props in her way while Juju tried to hold on to his mistress "RAY RAY WHERE IS THAT BOOOYYY!"
"Tell that to Mama Odie" the young girl twitched when the older woman had crashed into another rack of clothes.
"I don't know about you but I think it's her who needs a doctor not me" Ray went over to Mama Odie and pulled her from the pile of clothes.
"RAAAAYYY!" the woman jumped "What's this about you fallin off a ladder?"
"How bout you bumping all the props back here?" Ray answered back "Now come on, grandma's still gonna have a row with me when I get home and I need to be alive to receive it"
Mama Odie waved a finger "And I ain't done with you yet"
Tiana just shook her head it always went on like this whenever Ray did community theatre, it was just a bit more dangerous because he was currently wearing 8-inch stilettos.
So the teenage girl decided to make her leave knowing that the argument between the two would last at least a good few hours. As soon as she left the backstage she was greeted by Raphie who was scratching his head and looking quite lost.
"Don't tell me you lost your parents?" Tiana said approaching the young boy.
Raphie blushed a bit before looking down the floor "I . . . didn't see my older brother after we got caught up with a lot of people"
"Come here" Tiana grabbed the boy's hand "I'm pretty sure they would be looking for you, that's what you get for suddenly running along like that"
The boy refused to look up "This is about the ice cream?"
Tiana poked his nose "Well of course it is! That was really rude of you Raphie you just don't run off after people gave you what you wanted"
"Sorry" Raphie looked up shyly "I promise I won't do it again"
"Of course you shouldn't" Tiana said in a matter-of-fact tone "You don't want to grow up to be a boy who take things for granted, like friends and responsibility"
"And . . . . girls?" Raphie offered.
"Especially girls!" Tiana wasn't looking at where she was going "You definitely don't wanna mess that"
That was when Tiana had collided with what she thought was a softer version of a brick wall and she ended up landed on the floor with her but pulling down Raphie with her.
"Oww . . . sorry" Tiana rubbed her head.
Raphie looked up and smiled "Big brother!"
Tiana opened her eyes "Big brother . . ." in here she got a good look of the man she bumped into "OH SWEET . . ."
Naveen smirked "Don't start cursing in front of my little brother"
Tiana looked from the little boy who was still holding her hand to the large irritating doctor in front of her "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS EVEN HERE!"
"So you've meet my big brother?" Raphie asked with eyes of innocence.
The woman snorted "No wonder he acted like that earlier" she let go of Raphie's hand "Well I guess you could get back to your brother now"
"Thank you for the help Tiana" Raphie smiled.
Naveen offered a hand "Well accept this as a form of gratitude for safely returning my brother"
Tiana begrudgingly took the man's hand as he helped her stand up "Do you always have to make me fall?"
"I can't help it that I always sweep you off your feet" he said before planting a kiss on her hand.
Her cheeks went slightly red before she took back her hand "Must you do such a thing?"
Raphie on the other hand was gagging "Did you have to do that? It's gross!"
"See even your little brother knows" Tiana was wiping her hand with her skirt "Now excuse me I have to return to my own family" but before she could make her leave Naveen had blocked her way "Do I have to ask permission on moving you out of my way as well?"
"Why is it that you always seem to hate me?" Naveen cocked his head "I've never seen such a woman with this reaction towards me before"
By now Tiana's irritation was at a boiling point "I was about to make some incredulous comment about how women view you but I rather your brother not hear about that"
Naveen smirked yet again "Raphie, mom and dad are just in front of the theatre I'm sure you wouldn't miss them"
"But what if . . ." Raphie was cut.
"RIGHT IN FRONT" Naveen raised his voice before the little boy ran off.
Tiana frowned "If you keep doing that he's going to be a bigger problem that you now in the future"
"You still didn't answer my question" Naveen moved closer to her.
This made the girl gulped "What why I don't like you? Why I thing you're the most revolting person I had ever come across to? Why I'd rather look at crocodile poo that looking at your face?"
Naveen held his chest in fake pain "Wow your words do sore me"
"Well then my job is done" she tried to make another attempt but he was just too big to block her "WOULD YOU STOP BEING A DOUCHE!"
"You know I wouldn't be this interested right now if we didn't meet so much lately" Naveen rubbed his chin "I mean from Disney all the way to here it's simply amazing"
"Well I find it annoying" Tiana placed her hands on her hips "Look I won't be seeing you around cause I will do everything in my power to make sure that my friends never get admitted into hospital care again, and if I can't prevent that I'd at least make sure it wouldn't be in the hospital you're interning in"
"But we're not in a hospital" Naveen lifted her chin "Aren't we?"
Tiana slapped her hand away "I could scream right now and accuse you of sexual harassment"
Naveen started laughing and Tiana tried to ignore that feeling at the back of her mind that found it quite hot "There's no one here"
With that Tiana looked around the theatre and true enough they were the only ones there "I know the guys who performed just now . . . so I know the cops!"
"Who are probably having a hard time walking after wearing high heels doing those crazy dance routines" Naveen whispered into her ear "Admit it you have no escape"
"No escape from what?" Ray said suddenly appearing behind Tiana completely changed from his make-up and dress.
Naveen leaned back and smiled "Oh I was just joking with her, you see we're college buddies"
"We are not buddies!" Tiana screamed "WE DON'T EVEN GO TO THE SAME COLLEGE!"
Ray turned to the young man "Oh Naveen, good to see you been a while since you've left for med. School how's life treating you?"
Tiana just stood there with her mouth open "YOU KNOW HIM!?"
Naveen laughed "Well what a small world indeed"
From a distance they could hear Mama Odie knocking over even more props "JUJU GET OFF THAT KNIGHT HELMET!"
/
Hospital food seems to be a running gag around the group and it did not please Anna that it had started from her, and she made sure to comment on that when they decided to have dinner again in the hospital's cafeteria.
"YOU COULD HAVE JUST DID TAKE-OUT!" Anna dropped her tray on the table "I mean come on it's been three months and I've eaten enough of this stuff to make me wanna feel sick again"
Elsa sighed "It's late and Taran is tired enough going through those roads to avoid any one following us"
The said redhead quickly removed his food packaging "Let's just be happy to have something in our stomachs"
The strawberry blond just sighed and slammed the straw into her cup of who-knows-what-tea "Well then are we sleeping here too?"
"Arthur said he was going to pick you guys up to bring you to his place" Taran was chewing what he thought was chicken but when it went to his mouth it tasted like paper so he placed ketchup to add more flavour.
Anna leaned back against her chair "If we're going to be staying in their place then why can't we eat there?"
"Because everyone is too tired to cook" Taran said between chews.
Elsa was too tired already to argue and decided to let Taran do the arguing for her because she knew she'd end up yelling again and no one wanted that.
"Fine" Anna poked with her soup "Well let's just hope that this will be the last of this"
"Do you think you're the only one who's not enjoying this?" Taran pointed at her with a fork "Look I've been eating this stuff since I got here so just suck up" Elsa gave Taran a sorry look which the guy just nodded "So this is what it feels like to force your child to eat vegetables"
"So you're saying vegetables is bad as hospital food" Anna took a spoon of her stale soup "Thanks for giving me an appetite" she said sarcastically.
Elsa swallowed her fish "Just eat your food Anna" and after that the three proceeded eating their dinner in silence.
They were later standing in front of a coffee vending machine when Anna spoke again "So when is Eilonwy getting out?"
"Probably by tomorrow or so" Taran took a sip of his black coffee "So I'll be staying here for the night"
Anna sighed "Ok I guess I was a little bratty awhile back"
"Yeah, food like that makes you feel morbid" Taran shivered "And you'd think that doctors and nurses eat that stuff everyday"
Elsa looked at her watch "I wonder if they're done already"
"Last time I called Arthur was cursing about putting a man to a sanatorium" the two sisters stared at Taran "Yeah he's not in a great mood that's why I told you not to mention about your dinner"
Anna nodded "I see" then she remembered "Oh yeah, I haven't told Merida I'm in England yet" she then brought out her phone and started calling her roommate "Hey . . . Mer . . . huh? Wait . . . what . . . oh . . . wasn't that . . ." Merida then hung up the phone and she stared at the screen.
Elsa blinked "Seems like her disturbed her sleep you do realize how late it is"
"It's only nine-thirty" Anna placed her phone back in her pocket "Weird . . . I swear I heard Arthur right next to her"
Taran raised a brow "Isn't Merida in Scotland?"
"Maybe you just mistook him or something" Elsa threw her empty cup on the trash bin.
"Aren't you supposed to be jealous?" Taran stared at the ceiling "You're fiancé is seeing some Northern lass while you're here in hiding"
Elsa rolled her eyes "He could have an affair with her for all I care" she then frowned "But knowing him he probably won't"
"Honour kills him more than his pride" Taran shrugged "Anyway when's the engagement party?"
Anna waved her hand "Man it's really hot in here" she then went over to the large window at the end of the hall and tried to open it "I. Need. Air." She then stopped pushing when she saw something from the corner of her eye. "ELSA!" she ran back to her sister.
"What you got scared by a bird?" Taran pressed the button to have his third cup.
"A REALLY BIG ONE!" Anna waved her hands.
Elsa sighed "Anna we're . . ."
Anna grabbed her sister's shoulders "I just saw Hans come in"
At that Taran dropped the coffee cup he just got from the vendo and Elsa even went to a lighter shade of pale that was a new record for her.
"You can't be . . ." Taran started.
Anna replied with a glare "Do you think I would make up something like this?"
At once the three scrambled out of the hallway and rushed into Eilonwy's room and Taran quickly locked the door. Eilonwy, her parents and their doctor where giving them awkward looks.
For a moment the only sound that could be heard was the Vinterdotter sisters heavy breathing and Taran's pacing after locking the door. This stopped when Eilonwy took the vase next to her and threw it near Taran smashing it against the wall, it was enough to get him straight.
"Hans is coming here" he said and at once panic spread through the room.
Geraint went serious "Can we transfer her?"
"I think I could walk" Eilonwy then tried to demonstrate this.
"NO ONE IS WALKING OUT OF THIS ROOM!" Taran yelled hands up.
Elsa turned to him "And what do you expect us to do then?"
"Take him out?" Anna replied "How are we going to do that?"
/
As usual the holidays did not go unnoticed without something going wrong in the Chernabog household particularly dinner. It had been only a few hours since a certain Shan Yu decided to take temporary residence in their household but it had already made the atmosphere even more unbearable that even a morgue sounded even sunnier.
Cruella stared at her crystal champagne glass looking at her reflection "Do you think that treatment was enough Hans?"
"Mother I think you look wonderful" it was a phrase Hans automatically said to anything his mother would say.
The woman placed the glass down "Now you don't think I look older than 45 do you?" she asked their visitor.
The Mongolian was already halfway finishing the entire Turkey when he was asked this and the only thing he could do was stare at her while the drumstick still hung from his teeth.
They took a moment just staring at each other before the fashion designer had enough of it "Well aren't you going to say anything to your host?"
Hans decided to butt in because he didn't want to be there to see his mother skinned alive "Mother he must be tired from his flight, he did just come from Peru last night"
Cruella snapped her fingers signalling their butler to bring her pipe "Why it must have been a long trip" she took the long tube and placed it between her lips "Light me"
"Yes madam" the butler brought out a match from his pocket and it the pipe.
Hans sighed and turned to the maids who automatically started opening the windows to let the smoke coming from her pipe get out.
"So my husband never really did say what you do for him" Cruella puffed some smoke.
Shan still continued eat the Turkey like a rabid dog, not his fault he hadn't eaten meat in over a month.
"He runs a drug smuggling ring around Eurasia" Hans explained slicing the duck's liver, the only thing the adults didn't touch was "He decided to expand it to South America the past year"
His mother nodded "I see, so why did you decide to come to England?"
"Father needs a sponsor, the company hasn't been going well these past few days" Hans knew that this would trigger her mother's annoyance and start her ranting, which was good so she wouldn't start asking questions about Shan Yu in particular.
"Of course his business is going stale" the woman waved her pipe "While my husband is there working 25 hours a day keeping this empire alive that dead man's company stocks keep going up!"
"Scrooge seems to be doing a fine job handling Pendragon Motors" Hans noted that the Mongolian cannibal was looking at him.
Cruella snorted "That old man knows nothing of business" she leaned back against her chair "Then again that man's almost as old as your grandfather's old clock"
"How about the boy?" this was the first time their guest had spoken the entire evening.
"Ah, young Arthur" she again snorted "He seems to take up more from his mother if you ask me, not very business minded"
Hans raised his knife "I'm pretty sure the company will be doomed by the time Scrooge dies and Wart takes up the reigns"
"What if he doesn't" Cruella placed her head on her hand "What if it's his wife who takes over?"
Hans snorted "I believe that wedding won't be happening anytime sooner"
"If only your father made me do the wedding negotiations Elsa would have been sitting right in this dinner table" Cruella made circles with the smoke.
"How about Anna?" Hans asked.
The woman wiped her nose "She can be tossed aside for all I care, she's simply baggage to her older sister nothing more than a nuisance"
Shan Yu stood up from his seat without a word and was about to go up his quarters.
"And you don't even say excuse me!" Cruella shook her head "What kind of barbaric upbringing did you experience?"
The man ignored her and continued his exit.
"You ungrateful wrench!" Cruella stood up "I let you stay in my house, give you that entire turkey and let you sleep in Egyptian cottoned sheets and you just stand up and leave!"
Hans stood up from his chair "Mother please . . ."
Shan Yu stopped walking and just stood in the archway.
"Well aren't you going to at least grunt a reply" Cruella went over to the man and was about to poke her pipe on his back when he turned to face her.
At this Hans realized why his father wanted to keep her mother shut and away from Shan Yu as possible but it was too late.
As soon as Shan Yu took a good look at Cruella she stood frozen to her spot, her limbs had stopped moving and so had her breathing. It took about two seconds before she collapsed to the floor and in five seconds Shan Yu was no longer in the same room.
/
"The wine cellar in Burgundy would go to Alice Davis . . ." Mr. Hautecourt read. "The Louise Nevelson Sans Titre Painted Wood to Thalia Mnemosyne . . ."
Yet again Mr. Hook raised his voice in protest "WHY HAVEN'T I TAKEN ANYTHING YET!?"
"Because you'd break them!" the Greek woman replied and they ended up arguing again.
Though Mr. Hautecourt had had enough of it and decided to finish the thing this evening and so continued "My Picasso collection would go to Mr. David Q. Dawson"
The doctor had almost fallen off his seat "What . . . oh my . . . that's . . ."
"I'm not surprised if your father owned Van Gogh's ear" Merida commented.
"Probably given to one of my dad's lovers by now" he turned to Merida who gave him a weird face "What? Extra-marital affairs happen all the time!"
"Lady Ingraine's wedding dress that she wore during her wedding would be given to Tish Katsufrakis" Mr. Hautecourt pointed to the twelve-year old girl who was seated next to Merida.
"Seriously?" Merida turned to the shocked girl "Do you even have a boyfriend?"
Arthur just covered his face with his hands as even more ridiculous possessions were handed out.
"And finally on your inheritance young man" the attorney looked at the boy and he finally lifted his face. "You will be given 500 million pounds which had been frozen for you along with the rebuilt Tintagel Castle in Cornwall you are also given 30% shares in the company and this here note" the attorney raised a dusted envelope which bear the Pendragon emblem.
Merida just whistled "Wow, that's a lot of money" she whispered to him "You wouldn't mind paying a few of my student loans would you, it's ok I can handle 45% interest"
Before Arthur could produce a reply his phone was vibrating in his pocket for the ninth time "Excuse me I have to take this" he then threw his coat on the chair and dashed out.
"Wait you forgot your father's note!" Merida snatched the envelope from the confused man and ran after the boy.
As soon as they were out the door Tish said "I didn't know Elsa Vinterdotter was Scottish"
Arthur didn't go far as he was just by the balcony "Taran, if you're planning on making me infertile with all that . . ."
"Hans is in the hospital" it was Elsa who spoke.
The blond closed his eyes taking in his current situation "Does he know you're there?"
"I don't know Taran is trying to see if he could devise an escape route" Elsa sighed "But he's been gone for a long time now"
"You're worried he's been caught" Arthur paced around "Ok, I'll be there in a few more minutes . . . I just have somethings to wrap up"
Merida opened the glass doors to the balcony "THERE YOU ARE!" she waved the envelope in the air.
"Can Eilonwy walk?" Arthur asked.
"She's trying but she's not exactly quick . . ."
"I'll see if I could do something, tell Angharad to meet me at the hospital helipad" he then quickly hung up and turned to Merida "Is Jane gone?"
"She's been home hours ago" Merida crossed her hands "You're planning to use her car"
"They'll know it's me if I use Sir Ector's" he placed his phone on his pocket.
"How bout any of you 'family's' car or the lawyer" she waved.
Arthur bit his lip "They'll know Hautecourt's as well and aunt Thalia's car tends to stick out like a sore thumb"
"I saw a bike shop just a few blocks from here" Merida offered.
"Worth a shot"
/
"Is my mother doing fine?" Hans asked the doctor as soon as she wall wheeled to the ER.
"We're not certain young man we'll have to do some tests" the man said before going through the double doors.
Hans collapsed on one of the chairs nearby and waited, if it wasn't the police station it was some family therapy office he just couldn't have one normal Christmas for once in his life. It was kind of stressful and annoying that for several times he actually did try to run away from it all, but his father had caught him and made sure he never done such a thing again.
Shan Yu was quickly escorted to his room and according to their maid he was snoring so loud the rabbits nearby started running away. He had tried to call his father but the line was always busy, but then again his father probably wouldn't bother with it and even scold them for annoying Shan Yu.
If he had his way he would have thrown that Mongolian parasite of the house and kicked his behind for good measure. He would have just ignored the whole Vinterdotter issue and just marry some decent girl that didn't have any complications attached, and he certainly wouldn't have to see that annoying look on Wart's face because people liked him more in Disney.
His father had simply taken complete control of his life and they was nothing more than he could do but by down to his every command. Even before as soon as he had come out of his mother's womb his father had already been displeased with him, always comparing him to Wart.
There was a time that Hans felt that he had taken more of an interest to his nephew than to his actual son. He had never been to any of Hans' football games during primary school, but the man always seemed to pick him up on the day a tennis tournament was being held.
He remembered one day they were probably nine or so and they were on a school trip in Bath visiting the Roman Baths. They were in two lines twelve girls and twelve boys following their teacher and a tour guide explaining the history of Aquae Sulis.
Hans wasn't really paying attention to the man's talk he was just staring at the pool of water that was currently emitting steam, he then began to wonder if a person were to fall in would his skin burn.
"You know Hans' mom kinda reminds me of Freddy" one boy told his friend.
The other boy looked at boy 1 "Freddy?"
"You know the one from the Rocky Horror Picture Show?" boy 1 replied.
Boy 2 looked confused "Freddy?"
"Aren't you a little too young to watch those things?" Arthur stopped walking to turn to the two boys.
"Well, how do you know it then?" boy 1 crossed his arms.
Arthur blushed "Uhh . . ."
"Ha!" boy 1 pointed a finger at him.
"I don't remember a Freddy" boy 2 said.
"That because it's Frank" Arthur corrected.
"YEAH HE LOOKS JUST LIKE HANS MUM!" boy 1 blurted out.
Hans clenched his fists he didn't know what they were talking about but from the sound of it Frank or Freddie wasn't a woman.
Boy 2 then started laughing "You're right!"
"Hey he's right over there" Arthur whispered.
"Come on Artie admit it they could be like . . . twins" the two boys then laughed.
Arthur muttered but Hans heard it perfectly when he said "Ok maybe they do dress alike" it may not be that insulting as the other two boys but it was enough. He didn't do what he did next because of the comment, he just wanted a reason to hit that boy after all the things that he had to hear, after all the attention his father never gave him.
He quickly ran after the blond and without a moment's past he pushed the boy into the heated pool, though he pushed a bit too much that he ended up joining him in the fall. In the pool the young boy ignored the burning sensation in his skin and grabbed Arthur by the neck.
Arthur tried to remove Hans hands from him and it was a good thing someone had managed to pull them out in time or things would have gone a little bit differently. He could still remember standing outside the school bus covered in blankets after their teacher giving them a scolding.
"I'm sorry" the blond said not looking at Hans.
The brunette seemed confused "I'm the one that pushed you"
Arthur never said anything after that and it went on for a few days, he would just stare off into the window not paying attention to class he even got hit a couple of times during tennis. That was one thing Hans did not get he didn't know if the boy felt pity for him or did he actually feel guilty for all the things he's done but actually never done to him.
"Hans Chernobog?" the doctor woke him up from his thoughts.
The young man stood up "Yes that would be me"
"There's something I need to ask you about" the doctor adjusted his glasses "Exactly what happened before your mother had a heart attack"
At this Hans' eyes widened "Heart attack?!"
/
Despite Taran having stayed a few days in the said hospital he had fallen victim into the many similar looking corridors and stairs that seem to go to the wrong floor. He swore that he saw that liver chart right next to the eye clinic but now he wasn't sure anymore.
"Oh they're going to kill me" Taran checked the wall clock as he was passing what he believed was the emergency room with doctors and paramedics running around. "I better get out of here before . . ." he stopped on his heels when he saw what he think was a pipe struck to a woman's right leg.
At that sight Taran quickly held his mouth as his stomach started to churn, it didn't help that when he turned around he saw a man who had a cigar on his eye. "How fucked . . ." he just ran out of the room hoping to remove those images off his brain, he'll need to watch paint dry after this whole ordeal.
He waved his hand on his face "I'll just call for . . ." he reached for his pocket only to remember that he had left his phone in Eilonwy's room "Oh great" he leaned against the wall it was tiring running around a depressingly sickly place like a hospital.
He had only closed his eyes for a few moments only to open then and see Cruella DeVille being wheeled in. He had literally jumped in shock and was both surprised and relieved that Hans was too distracted by the doctor talking to him to notice him.
"What's . . ." Taran stood there for a few minutes before running out of the corridor and after a few minutes found the reception table around the same time Arthur and Merida bolted in. "YOU TWO GET IN HERE!"
Merida was holding her helmet while Arthur seemed to having more problems removing his and the Scot had to drag him towards the corner Taran led them to.
"Something happening to DeVille" the redhead spoke.
Arthur finally popped the head gear off his head "Would you repeat that?"
"DeVille something happened to her" Taran repeated "I don't think he knows Eilonwy is here"
"I don't think he would care if Eilonwy is here" he checked his watch "Let's go we need to transport Eilonwy to the rooftop without being noticed"
Merida looked at him "Exactly what are you planning renting a helicopter?"
"We don't have time for ridiculous stunts" Arthur argued "Get back to the girls and make sure you're all ready to go"
Taran raised a palm "Umm . . . there's a reason why I . . ."
"Should I come with you?" Merida asked.
"You . . . um . . . go with him" Arthur pointed at his friend "He seems disoriented"
"Try going to the emergency room and you'll see why" Taran rolled his eyes "So what do you need?"
"This night to be over"
A/N: Sorry really really late chapter, I'm surprised you guys still want to read this. Probably gonna take longer for a new chap to come up since finals are a pain. Anyway thanks to those who bugged me to continue this.