Chapter 12: Ready As I'll Ever Be

Night had come to the Southern Isles and inside the castle, the princes and the new king were getting ready for Anna's execution. Hans didn't want to make this a public thing, so he decided to do it inside. Not only that, he wanted to do it himself with his own sword rather than let someone else do it. His brothers still blindly obeyed everything he told them to do due to the effects of Pariah's dust. If they were in their right minds, they would not dare to lay a single finger on the Arendellian royal family. A musical moment was starting to happen as the time grew closer for Anna's death. "Any moment now, Your Highness.", Hans began to sing while looking nastily at his ex-fiancée. Anna just shot him a nasty look back as he began to sing. "Believe me, I know I've sunk pretty low. But whatever I've done you deserve!", he sang. "Hans...", Anna said but got cut off. "Quiet!", he said. "I'm the bad guy, that's fine. It's no fault of mine, and some justice at last will be served!", he sang. "Please listen.", Anna begged. Hans didn't pay any mind to her request and continued to sing. Now it's time to step up, or it's time to back down; and there's only one answer for me. And I'll stand up and fight cause' I know that I'm right, and I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready; ready as I'll ever be!", he finished singing. Meanwhile outside the castle, the crew from Arendelle along with pariah were getting ready to get back inside and rescue the captive princess and were starting to sing the same song. "Now it's time to rise up or it's time to stand down, and the answer is easy to see. And I swear by the sword, if you're in get on board. Are you ready?", Elsa sang as she pointed towards her friends. "I'm ready!", Kristoff said. "I'm ready!", Jacob said. "I'm ready!", Olaf said. "We're ready!", they all sang together. "Ready as I'll ever be!", Elsa concluded the song. "Let's go save my sister!", Elsa said. "And kick Hans' ass!", Jacob said. "I second that!", Kristoff agreed. "Now, how do we get in without being detected?", Sven asked. "Oooh! Maybe our new friend here has some magic stuff that can make us invisible! Do you?", Olaf said eagerly. "No, I don't have anything like that.", Pariah said. "I think I have an idea. Follow me.", Elsa said as she moved towards the castle and the others followed her. They stopped at the castle wall and conjured up a total of 6 snowflakes floating in the air, one for each of them. "All of you, hop on a snowflake.", she instructed. They all did as they were told and got on a snowflake. The snowflakes began to lift higher off the ground and moved towards a small window. One at a time, they all jumped off their flakes and landed in a small room. Once they were all inside, Elsa dissipated the snowflakes into nothing. "Hopefully nobody heard us come up here.", Kristoff said. "What room are we in?", Sven asked. The room they were in looked like it was used for someone of royal status, but it was much smaller than Anna's or Elsa's rooms back at home. It also seemed like it hasn't been used for a while because there was lots of dust all over, but not too dirty. "I don't know, but this place needs a dust buster. Doesn't look like anyone's lived in here for a while.", Jacob said. He then looked over at a nightstand and saw a small book. He went over to see what it was and saw that it had the words "Hans' Journal" on it. "I think this is Hans' room. And here's his journal.", he said. He then opened it up and began to read some of the passages that were written in it. This had been used by Hans ever since he first learned how to write. Hans perfectly documented all the verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical abuse he was delivered by both his parents and his brothers, how all 12 of his brothers were much more favored over him, and how he would always be treated like complete trash all the time. The other 5 were all wondering why Jacob was more focused on reading that journal than he was in rescuing Anna. "Jake, what are you doing? We have to go save Anna before she gets killed.", Sven said. "Guys, come take a look at all this stuff that's written in here.", Jacob said to them. He showed them all the entries that were written and began to understand why Hans was the way he was. All this is proof of why he's doing this. "My God!", Elsa said as they were all disgusted by the things that were written in it. "That's messed up how Tobias pawned some of the family jewels and put the blame on Hans.", Kristoff said as he recounted one entry. "And then Hans got beat for it.", Sven added on. "Looks like Bertram was telling the truth about Hans being abused and having a rough life. To be honest, I really don't want to hurt him as much anymore. He himself is a victim of his past endurances.", Jacob said. "Yeah, no wonder he is how he is. He brainwashed his brothers to get even with them for everything they put him through. And all that trauma must have really warped his mind and led him to do not just that, but what he did last year at my coronation too.", Elsa said. "I guess that really does explain how someone not so warm like Hans is not so warm.", Olaf said. "Anybody who does things like that, deserves some brainwashing.", Pariah said. "Either way, everything he suffered through is not an excuse for his actions. We still have to stop him.", Elsa said. Outside the door, they overheard Phillip and Lars talking. "We better get going down to the great hall. Anna's execution is about to happen and I know Hans won't want us to miss it.", Lars said. "Right, or he'll definitely make us suffer.", Phillip agreed as both brothers went to go where they said they were. Pariah then said to them, "Well, looks like it's just about to happen. If we want to stop your sister from dying, we need to go to the great hall asap.". "Let's go!", Elsa said. They all then made their way to save Anna.