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Also quick shoutout to IAmWhoIAm317, loney, and ssj5grl for the reviews really appreiciate them. And to ssj5grl, I see the fatal mistake and will get around to correcting it and its why I'm asking for a beta reader so I'll have less mistakes.
Elsa briskly walked back to the conference room that had been cleaned up for the summit. She was actually surprised to see that all the dignitaries had actually remained inside the room. When she walked through the doors with her guards, all the foreign security immediately rose ready to defend their sovereign. The dignitaries themselves were quietly talking amongst one another, all except Alrick who was still staring into his hands.
"Queen Elsa, is it true that one of the Princes of the Southern Isles has been assassinated?" The blonde expected question as soon as she returned and projected her voice to address the room.
"That is correct. Prince Albert and his entourage from the Southern Isles are all dead. Whoever did this was skilled enough to do so without anyone hearing the commotion of them killing the Prince. Currently, we have no suspects, but my guards are scouring the entirety of Arendelle looking for any traces."
The room busted it out with dignitaries being outraged at the notion that an assassination could be carried out right under their noses. It was honestly a really bad scene when some of them started to get out of their seats and prepared to leave. Throughout the commotion, Alrick still hadn't moved from his thinking posture.
"Queen Elsa, an assassination in another kingdom could be treated as an act of war! If the guilty party is not found soon, the Southern Isle could break away from our alliance agreement and start a war that will draw in many kingdoms!" Other dignitaries agreed with the sentiment as Elsa frowned wondering what she could say to placate them.
"Then it would be wise to not place blame on Her Majesty and focus on finding the culprits."
The entire room went silent at the quiet voice that came from Alrick's lips. His eyesight was still on his hands as he continued to speak.
"While its true it could be considered an act of war if an assassination of a royal family member took place in another kingdom, that is only true if the kingdom committed the assassination. So far, Queen Elsa has made no move to invoke war of any kind, even when her family has been threatened twice by the Southern Isles. Politically speaking, the Southern Isles would not have the claim that they have been wronged and deserved retribution. That would mean they would be hard-pressed to find allies willing to attack Arendelle given its a natural trade nexus as well as being protected by an allied pact. So war is a very unlikely scenario even if the guilty party isn't found. On top of all that, there aren't many people who would wish to attack a person who is able to freeze an entire kingdom in a single night. Even if the Southern Isles found allies who would rally to their cause, there's no tactical value in destroying Arendelle. In conclusion, your worries over war breaking out is almost meaningless."
The way Alrick dismissed the notion of war was informing in an emotionless way that was void of any sort of mocking or disrespect. However, the posture of his body that suggested it was a simple idea that he didn't need to look up from what he was doing to explain irritated some of the dignitaries.
"Meaningless?! There have been wars declared for far less! Perhaps to someone like you who has no real experience being a King but excels at being a soldier doesn't understand the political ramifications of what being accused of murder can do to a kingdom's reputation!"
It was then that Alrick decided to look up from his hands to the dignitary. His eyes displayed no ill will as he took in the man with a curious gaze. The man was in his late forties, judging from the slight greying in his hair, he wore his kingdoms colors of green and blue smartly that had the Blackdust King rummage through his memory of which kingdom the man ruled. It took a moment before he recognized the kingdom as Kindleton, an eastern province.
From what Alrick remembered, they didn't have many wars if at all, mostly keeping to themselves and tending to farms. If he were a lesser man, he might've laughed that a King who had likely never seen battle was lecturing him on how war came about. Instead, he spoke with an even tone that conveyed respect.
"You're correct, wars have been declared for much less. You're also right when you say that I have every little experience being a King, however, I've been around many Kings and Queens who have been in similar situations. They have shown me a vast amount of responses in what humans can do when threatened. I have watched comrades die over defending a kingdom's reputation, so I can appreciate how much it matters. All the same, in this situation, it would be more productive to look for the culprits rather than placing blame on Queen Elsa. For starters, it would be smart to ask which one of us here arrived before the Southern Isle ship so we can get a timeline of when they could've been killed and go from there. If we all collaborate and pool our information then we will likely be able to generate some ideas."
The dignitary was surprised to hear such an answer from the King across from him. He almost expected a violent response to which his guard was preparing for as he reached his weapon. Instead, Alrick had given a thoughtful response to the situation that would help solve their problem. The others in the room seemed to have also taken his words to heart as they all sat down. Elsa sent the man a grateful look to which he nodded his head and watched her take her seat at the head of the table.
"I thank all of you for staying and helping me get to the bottom of this. Currently, we only have one clue, a letter that was left on the Prince's body." Murmurs went across the room as the blonde produced the bloodied piece of parchment.
"What does it say, Your Majesty?"
Elsa turned to Alrick who looked attentive as she held out the letter towards his direction so that it may be passed down to him. "There is no one record of who wrote it, however, it seems that whoever did wanted to give a message to King Alrick."
Everyone in the room turned to the man who read the letter once with an almost irritated expression and calmly rolled the parchment back up before passing it along. The single sentence accompanied by the specks of blood alluded to a plot that someone planned on assassinating the man. As the parchment made it to everyone in the room, they all couldn't help but stare at the man who still had a calm expression on his face.
"I haven't been entirely forthcoming with all of you…" The dignitaries in the room looked to the man in confusion as they waited for him to continue. "...a few weeks ago, I was attacked by some masked assailants, they targeted my council as well as my family. Likely they were trying to take over or weaken my kingdom, fortunately, we were able to repel them. Unfortunately however, we couldn't get any information on who they might be working for. While it's true that Blackdust has made many enemies in the past that we cannot fully make up for, I came here to at least try and repair the wounds my kingdom caused around the world…"
It was at this moment that Alrick decided to get out of his chair and bow his head to everyone in the room. The gesture was unexpected to be sure, for someone of such a violent and dangerous reputation being willing to bow to foreign sovereigns made his speech more compelling.
"...I can admit there are many who would see that my endeavor is foolish and an insult to my kingdom's warrior mindset. Perhaps it was these men who killed the Southern Isle delegation and left this message for me. If this is true, then I would like to apologize, it was never my intention of putting anyone else in danger. I would like to work with all of you and join this new era of peace where I can watch my family grown without having to worry about watching them being sent off to war."
The room was quiet for a moment as they all took in what the King was saying. Elsa already knew that Alrick wanted to be apart of the alliance she was in to boost trade and promote peace. While she still held out suspicions that he wasn't being completely genuine, he deserved the benefit of the doubt. The rumors surrounding him suggested that his skill was shrouded in magic, which he used to overcome impossible odds. While there was no way to prove if he possessed abilities similar to hers or Edward's, his relaxed posture around all the different guards in the room spoke volumes.
"When you say, 'there are many who would see my endeavor foolish and an insult to my kingdom's warrior mindset.' do you mean the previous King's followers?" Stonewell already had another cigar in his mouth as he addressed Alrick. The two of them had another stare down that lasted for a few moments before the older man got a response.
"Yes, when I usurped the throne, a large faction of our military left Blackdust and scattered. I've been trying to keep tabs on them but my attempts have been less than successful."
"Wait a moment. You said usurped, as far as I'm aware, the position of King is decided by the most competent fighter in the entire kingdom fighting and killing the King. Since you're here wearing the crown, I assume Rakat's dead, that would make you the legitimate heir to the throne. Why would you be considered a usurper?"
Alrick took a deep breath before exhaling.
"You are correct when you say the most competent warrior in the kingdom becomes King, however, there are more rules than just that. Whoever takes the throne is considered the strongest, however, their 'heir' is the second strongest warrior at that time. To completely gain the throne, one must either kill both the second and the King or become the second and kill the King. When I initiated the coup and fought the King, his second was nowhere to be found. I scoured the entire kingdom but found no trace of him whatsoever. The fact that he is still alive puts my position in jeopardy, even though I ratified the structure of our government to a proper monarchy with a council, he still has the right to challenge me."
Stonewell turned the words over in his head a few times. Alrick was revealing a lot of secret information to foreign kingdoms in the room that could easily come back to haunt him in the future. It was an olive branch of trust that certainly fits his character. It also strengthened the theory that someone wants him dead, if this second wanted the throne, then he needed to kill Alrick. However with the King changing the state of the government, the second might not even be able to get to the man to challenge him. That left assassination which was a specialty in Blackdust's violent past.
The old man knew that the King came here to join the alliance that Arendelle was in. It was a smart move to provide for his kingdom as well as strengthen his position as the ruler if he can provide for them without taking from others. One concern with that was the possibility that not everyone in the kingdom might not feel that they should change their heritage. Alrick was certainly a capable warrior, of that no one could contest, but he was still human.
Humans make mistakes, get old, and can't be on guard every moment of every day.
Sooner or later, there would be a time where he would be vulnerable. The question was if a loyal soldier to this second would have the guts to attempt to capitalize on the opportunity and end his reign.
"You're doing everything you can to set up your kingdom on the odd chance of your untimely death. The note was right, you are running out of time. So maybe whoever killed the delegation from the Southern Isles work for this second. However, the question remains, why would they only attack Prince Albert and not the rest of the other kingdoms?"
That made everyone in the room ponder for a moment, what was there to gain by killing a Prince from the Southern Isles? It wasn't like their kingdom was particularly special, they were essentially the same size as Arendelle with twelve Princes ready to succeed one another should one perish. While everyone was thinking, the doors to the conference room were opened as a guard briskly walked until they made it to the Captain before urgently whispering in his ear. Stonewell took the cigar out of his mouth as he fixed the guard with an intense expression.
"Are you certain?"
The guard nodded as the old man crushed the cigar in his hand before turning to Elsa.
"Your Majesty, there has been a development in the Southern Sea, one of our trader ships noted a very large fleet of ships heading toward the Southern Isles."
"What colors were the ships flying?"
"They were flying Weselton colors, our trader ship was largely ignored by the fleet as they continued on their heading. According to the Captain of the ship, he noticed there was a large plume of smoke in the direction of their heading. After conversing their charts he was able to conclude that the nearest landmass in that direction was the Southern Isles."
The topic of the room that whoever killed Prince Albert had was targeting King Alrick shifted to the idea that Weselton was invading the Southern Isles. That large amount of troop movement couldn't have been a coincidence. That did, however, raise the question of why would Weselton invade the Southern Isles, they weren't even enemies. As far as Elsa knew, there was no bad blood between the two kingdoms at all.
The blonde pondered the situation a bit in her head before something occurred to her. There was a large plume of smoke in the direction the fleet was heading. Where there is smoke, there is fire, and the larger the smoke, the same with the fire. Meaning the Southern Isles were already on fire before the fleet could get there, which didn't make even more sense. If that was truly an invasion fleet, then shouldn't they already be at the kingdom burning it instead of sailing toward it?
Unless they aren't an invasion force.
That opened up a whole new can of worms that she couldn't get any definitive answers to. Her mind raced with multiple possibilities and scenarios that she shot down until she came up with a few logical theories.
The first being that someone else was invading the Southern Isles and that Weselton was coming to assist them.
That theory had a few holes in it, such as out of all the allies the Southern Isles had why would they choose Weselton who were far away. In addition, how would Weselton have known of the invasion before any of the other kingdoms, and arrive in time to assist? The only way Weselton would've been able to send troops soon enough to help was if they knew of the invasion ahead of time, which brought about the second theory.
That Weselton was indeed invading the Southern Isles. Naturally, this would cause the kingdom's allies to send their forces to defend the kingdom. Weselton was a large kingdom but it was no match for the alliance that the Southern Isles was in. Invading would be a foolhardy move on their part and she knew the King of Weselton was no fool.
The third theory she had was that there was a coup to take over the kingdom and Weselton was throwing their hat in with whoever was initiating the coup. Elsa instantly thought of Hans attempting it but remembered he was at the bottom of the line of successors. For him to become King, he'd have to murder all twelve of his brothers who she thought would be a daunting task considering they all might not even be at the same place at one time. However, with the death of Prince Albert fresh in her mind, she had no doubt that someone was targeting the kingdom's royal family.
Hans wasn't capable enough to plan something of this magnitude, the man was impulsive and didn't think things through effectively. Even when he tried to usurp her throne twice, he left too many things to chance. Not to mention with his recent failure and her letter to the Southern Isles informing them of their wayward Prince, he wouldn't be in any position to plan a coup.
These were all theories in her head that she had no way of confirming unless someone actually went to the Southern Isles to learn of the situation. Elsa really didn't want to send any of her military to do so but the agreement pact was still in place, meaning she didn't have much choice. She was the one who was the most successful negotiator when it came to the alliance so it would fall on her to attempt to end this situation diplomatically.
The fact was, if the Southern Isles were truly getting invaded and Weselton was already on their way, it was likely her forces would arrive too late to change anything. All she could do was assess the aftermath and then decide if military intervention was necessary.
"Thank you, Captain, you've left us with much to discuss. King Alrick, I apologize but for now, we must put aside the possible threat on your life and attempt to learn more about this pressing engagement." Alrick waved off her apology, completely understanding of the situation. The summit had now turned in a new direction, from taxes and policies to possibly preparing for another war. If Weselton took over the Southern Isles that would mean war and Elsa wanted nothing more than to stave off that possibility.
She had hoped a boring summit meeting would keep everyone from noticing her happier demeanor from last night. Now, with what could be happening, her happier mood was completely destroyed and replaced with worry and fear for what this could mean for her kingdom.
Sitting on a window sill down by the docks in Arendelle was Greed who watched with disinterest as the townspeople bussed around one another. He had been in and out of the village for a week setting things in motion before returning. There were wanted posters of him set up around but with enough coin, he was able to keep his whereabouts secret. If he was being truthfully honest, it wouldn't be too big of an inconvenience if the guards did find him, he could simply fade away and return at another time.
The reason he was in Arendelle was that he had to ensure all the Princes of the Southern Isles were all killed so Hans could take the throne. Tracking them down was a chore, they were scattered in the wind and he had to go through lengths to find them. Albert was the last one and he was set to be in Arendelle for the Gathering. As Greed waited for the Prince to show, he scouted out the village to get a basic layout for Father's eventual attack.
It wasn't until he saw a familiar face did his breathing halt for a moment. Returning in a sleigh with the blonde-haired man that was with the Princess was Wrath. He could recognize that face anywhere, after all, Wrath was the reason he was a Sin in the first place. Greed could remember back when this body was human. He was one of the Mystic Guard survivors from Elysion. He stood behind Alrick as he initiated the coup for them to remove Rakat from his throne.
He remembered asking what was the point of a coup when the Commander could've easily just challenged Asger and Rakat for the throne. Alrick replied that if he did that then nothing would change, Blackdust needed to rise up and say no to the current way of life. That the weak had no say in government was wrong and that the King should be held accountable.
Back then, he thought of his wife and daughter. The two most precious things in his life, he would give anything for them. He didn't want his little girl growing up in a world where might made right, so he followed his Commander. At first, things were going their way, they recruited the civilians and cut off all supplies to the warrior elitists. Rakat was furious so he turned the sword on the people which lost him a good portion of his military.
The fighting lasted for five years until one day the unthinkable happened. He remembered walking into his home and finding blood splatters everywhere. Immediately he rushed to his daughter's room, what he saw in there brought him so much pain that death seemed like a mercy. It took time but he was able to block out the image of his wife cradling their daughter in her arms.
During that time, he turned grief into anger when he learned that Rakat had ordered all of their families be made an example of. Alrick couldn't hold off the vengeful soldiers and committed to an all-out assault on Rakat. During the assault, the Commander as well as the Lieutenant was cut off from the remainder of the Mystic Guard. Remembering their training, they all proceeded to the throne room where the same familiar face Greed saw was waiting for them surrounded by the bodies of other soldiers.
At first, there was confusion, Rahim was killed earlier in the Dark Forest, how was he here? In addition, his skin was tan and he had red eyes which brought even more questions. When one of them asked how he was here, Rahim ignored the question, only drawing his katana and speaking one sentence that marked the beginning of their end.
"I don't imagine this will take that much longer than how long it took for your families."
There was shock amongst their faces as they remained still and couldn't comprehend what he was saying. When Rahim tore through the first four of them in the blink of an eye, they all understood then.
This traitor was the one who killed all their families.
They all rushed him at once from every direction but there was no touching him at all. He evaded every attack with no effort whatsoever, not one weapon touched him or his blade. When he danced through all of their attacks, he initiated his own.
It took one swing for each man.
There was no wasted movement, it was as if they were all standing still compared to Rahim. Greed remembered watching the traitor whip his katana off to the side after every single kill to keep his weapon clean before moving on to his next victim. Before long, it was his turn. The moment the two of them locked eyes, memories of his wife and daughter filled his mind as he saw them both one last time before he charged forward attempting to avenge them.
Rahim sheathes his sword and backed just out of range of the incoming attack. Just for a moment, the two of them locked eyes with one another again that lasted for an eternity. In those red eyes, he could see the runt that hung around the Lieutenant all the time wasn't there in the slightest. All the anger the boy had was gone, just emptiness was in those red depths as the massacre he was causing didn't register in his mind.
That brief moment ended when he felt his legs give out, Greed remembered looking down to see that there was a fountain of blood coming from his waist. He then remembered hearing Rahim sheathe his katana with a click and then falling backward. What made it odd was he was sure his knees hit the ground so he should've fallen forward. However, when he saw his legs still in their kneeling position as his back hit the ground, he understood.
He was going to quickly go into shock with the amount of blood loss before fainting but he was conscious enough to watch Rahim kill the remaining survivors before hearing the Lieutenant enter the room. That was the last thing he remembered before everything going black and him waking up in Talib's lab.
Logically, he should've been confused or just furious when all his memories flooded back but he was at peace. As if the memories belonged to someone else and not him. The alchemist explained everything, from his previous life to his death and rebirth as Greed. When he was finally free to do whatever he pleased until he left Blackdust, the newly reborn Sin went back to his home.
There was nothing there, just a run-down home with absolutely nothing of worth inside. He walked throughout the house until he walked into his daughter's room where he sat on the small bed. Fond fatherly memories played in his mind as he sat there, however, he still felt absolutely nothing. He knew he should've been furious that his wife and daughter's killer was still alive, worse that he was working with them, yet there was still nothing.
As the memories kept playing in his mind, one stood out. The last time he saw them alive, he left a necklace in a small box inside the bedside table for his daughter. It was a simple chain with a small golden bird hanging from it. He remembered getting it for his daughter's birthday and had been holding onto it until he got to see her again. With the civil war raging, he hadn't been able to see her. He remembered placing it inside the table while she slept and gave her a kiss on her cheek before leaving.
Greed looked next to the bed and just now noticed the destroyed table. He knelt down and sifted through the pieces of wood before his finger hooked around something. When he saw the chain of the necklace, he felt something.
Hope.
He felt the hope that he had one thing that tied him to his previous life that made him human. Gently he held it and moved the piece of wood on top of it and tugged on it to free the golden bird so that it could fly.
Only to find that the bird was in pieces, the small clinks it made as it essentially turned to dust before his eyes crushed that feeling of hope in his chest.
That was when he felt rage.
Wrath had taken the only thing that remained for him of his old life, of the love he had for his family. Such a thing was priceless to Greed and for Wrath to steal it from him was an insult he couldn't stand. He tried returning to Talib and forcing the alchemist to tell him where Wrath was but Father intervened and had to educate him.
Greed learned then that acting on emotion was foolish and became Father's most loyal dog. However secretly he decided on what mattered to him most.
Father's plan succeeding was one, he suspected it was because of the education so let it be. His life was right after that, he would never allow himself to lose his new life and would find a way to remain alive even after Father's plan. Finally, all the material gain he could amass so that he could say he had everything. Yet there was one thing he knew wanted more than anything else.
He wanted Wrath's life.
Seeing him with the blonde mountain man was painful, he wanted so much to go down there and remove his head from his shoulders but knew better than that. Wrath was a monster, one who would easily see him coming even with his new abilities. So Greed waited and watched whenever he was in Arendelle.
He kept far out of sight so Wrath wouldn't expect anything but the more he observed, the more he realized something was off with the Sin. One of his abilities allowed him to know what someone wanted most if he concentrated hard enough. When he focused on Wrath, there were two thoughts that appeared in his mind. That was odd, usually, he could know the one thing someone wanted most but there were two things that were equally important to the Sin.
What made it more puzzling, was the fact that they were both of the same thing, or person rather. Queen Elsa appeared in both thoughts but in different contexts. One of them was a clear picture of her, just her, there were no words or thoughts just her. The other was a blurry picture of her that had some rambling that couldn't be understood.
It was today when Wrath, left the castle and was walking all over the village did Greed finally understand both thoughts.
One wanted to protect Elsa from anything and have her for his own.
The other wanted her dead at his feet.
This raised new questions that Greed didn't care to know, all he needed to know was the Elemental meant something to the Sin. The bandit leader couldn't help but imagine how crushing it would be when he showed Wrath her lifeless corpse.
That would have to come later though, Greed confirmed that neither Father or Talib knew Wrath was here when he was attending to matters. That meant he had an opportunity, he supposed he could just appear right next to the blond and end her life but Talib expressed an interest in her and asked he not kill her just yet. The Sin knew the alchemist was trying to persuade Father to not kill Elsa so that he may study her thoroughly.
If there was anyone who could change Father's mind it was Talib, but the invasion of Arendelle was still in the works. Hans should be arriving back to his home to stabilize the kingdom with Weselton forces who will discover his fallen brothers. Greed had ordered they attempt to kill Hans to keep up appearances but knew he should watch over the Prince just in case.
As he watched Wrath converse with some older man, an idea just occurred to him. It made him smile with his fangs as he got to his feet. If his idea succeeded then he could give Wrath a small taste of what was to come. It was time he visited his old kingdom. Greed concentrated on where he wanted to go and felt himself become weightless and blow away like dust in the wind.
In the deep recesses of Wrath's soul stood the demon looking out past the battlements. Edward was going with completely unaware of the bald man watching him. The Sin, on the other hand, felt that flicker of anger a week ago and has been waiting and watching since. Somehow the taste of anger was familiar it wasn't until the man thought of his past did it finally make sense.
It took a long time but eventually, Wrath found the pair of daggers that belonged to Rahim's partner that took Lilian and her father away from Elysion. Taking them in his clawed hands, the demon remembered killing the man, as well as killing his wife and daughter. The brief flash of guilt that surfaced was quickly pushed down with murderous intent.
If Ian wanted a chance to take his life than Wrath would be more than happy to give him the chance. The problem was, if Edward recognized Ian as someone he killed, his human emotions would get in the way.
With the night that he and Elsa shared, Wrath felt Edward's power slowly grow, it took effort for the Sin to keep its murderous persona unaffected from his host's. The hunger for more anger began to wane as the desire for the blonde grew. When Edward made this deep into the Sin's soul, Wrath was impressed.
No one had seen this deep into his soul, he doubted that alchemist or Father were aware of this place. They had kept him as a mindless monster, however with Rahim, that all changed. With the gift of thought, Wrath was able to reflect and come up with a few things. The one thing that was always on his mind was his host being able to completely take control for a time. Even if they were the same being, something like that was odd. That led Wrath to place a little wager with himself, if Edward could somehow dominate him then Wrath would completely submit and relinquish its thoughts to become just power for his host.
Conversely, should Edward lose and Wrath is able to swallow his soul then it would kill every single person in Arendelle, with Elsa being the last.
Logically, it made no sense to pit two halves on the same soul against one another but Wrath never thought twice about killing yet Edward did. Never once the Sin ever consider what he was doing was wrong so for a piece of his soul to think so was mind-boggling. If murderous half of his soul was defeated by his guilty more human-like half than Wrath would concede it was wrong.
Until then, all the Sin could do was wait. It was slow but Edward's power grew, he was still unaware of how much but the feelings he felt began to flow into Wrath who had to push them down. If this continued then sooner or later the demon wouldn't be able to take complete control of his other half in a critical situation. The fact remained that they both shared a life and if Edward couldn't hack it then Wrath would.
For now, Wrath would just keep an eye on Ian, the moment he tried anything was the moment that the Sin would truly be able to remind itself that it was Wrath.
Not Rahim.
Not Edward.
Only Wrath.
In the capital of the Southern Isles, there were men fighting one another and bodies decorating the halls. Fires had broken out throughout the kingdom as the mysterious force just began to attack without warning. Weselton soldiers had just made landfall and hurrying to reach the King with Hans guiding them. Surprisingly the Prince was capable with a sword, having to be able to kill most of the invaders in two-to-one combat.
When the wayward Prince arrived in Weselton and had convinced the King that he was attacked by unknown assailants and forced to run. He skillfully created the illusion of him worrying for his brothers and hoped that the King would send reinforcements to help. The ruling monarch considered this and asked for time to decide which Hans used to find the Duke of Weselton.
It was quite easy to see that the little man still had a grudge against the 'Ice Witch' as so eloquently called her. It took very little time for Hans to explain his long term plan for Arendelle which gained him an ally. The first step to that plan, however, was getting the King to actually send men to the Southern Isles to stop an attack on his brothers. The Duke was able to sway his liege's mind to send a force to see if the attack was true, if it wasn't then they could claim a reward for rescuing Hans. When they arrived to see the kingdom burning, the men leapt into action as they hit the shore running and fought to the castle.
It took some time but they were finally able to make it to the war room where Hans' third oldest brother Lars was fighting three invaders and was quickly losing ground.
For a moment, Hans forgot his plan and thought back to his childhood, he remembered being shoved in mud and being bullied by his brothers. Only for Lars to step in and make the rest of the four that were there stop because he was older than all of them. He helped Hans out of the mud and got him cleaned up so father wouldn't know he let himself be bullied by his brothers.
Lars was the only one that Hans actually liked among them, he was the only one who after the failed attempt to take Arendelle didn't give him a hard time about it. Their eldest brother had wanted to humiliate Hans and the other ten happily joined in but Lars felt that Hans' poor attempt came from father's poor attempt at raising him. When the King died, none of the brothers felt anything, they all just wanted the throne which obviously went to the oldest.
That made Lars decide he wanted to travel and actually do something other than just sit down in the lap of luxury. He offered that Hans could join him after his punishment was up but some complications arose which had him not be there when his little brother finished his punishment.
Seeing the only one he truly considered a brother, Hans rushed forward with his sword and joined his brother's side as the two of them defeated his attackers. After doing so, Hans was immediately caught in a massive hug as his brother was happy to see him.
"Thank goodness you're alright! When I heard you've gone missing, I was about to set out and find you but these guys started attacking. They've already killed everyone, all our brothers and mom are dead. Albert was sent to Arendelle so he should be safe but I was so worried about you."
"It's nice to see you, Lars, I was attacked while I was away and was able to make it to Weselton. The King sent reinforcements to help, I'm glad you held out long enough."
"Father's probably rolling over in his grave right now. Here he was thinking that you were the weakest out of all of his but you not only survived an assassination but you brought help, knew you'd prove him wrong one day."
That made Hans stop, he couldn't remember the last time he got a compliment from one of his family members. It was actually pretty nice. For a moment, Hans actually began to feel guilty, this whole invasion was his fault. He didn't care about his other brothers' dying but he did care for his mom and Lars. Perhaps he could find Greed and work out a way for Lars to live while he took the throne for being a hero.
All he needed to do was keep his brother close so that he could speak with Greed.
"Thank you for that but now is not the time, we need to gather the rest of our forces to push back these invaders."
"Yes, I think General Julius is holding the line at the…"
Lars didn't get to finish that sentence as a blade quickly jutted out his chest spraying flecks of blood on Hans' shocked face. The older brother tried speaking but all that came out was gasps and more blood until the blade removed itself from the body and tossing the Prince harshly to the side.
Standing behind the now dead body of Prince Lars was someone dressed in a dark frock coat that had a shoulder pad and spiked glove on his left arm. In the killer's hand was a gleaming silver katana that had a serrated design on the back of the blade. Hans immediately swung his sword at his brother's killer briefly overcome with rage but was deftly blocked as the two got close to one another.
His attacker's face was covered with a hood and cloth but when they got close, the Prince was able to see two red eyes staring at him through the shadows. He watched the head lean closer before whispering in his ear.
"I told you, I like to cover my bases."
Hans went still as it just dawned on him who was in front of him right now. With his concentration broken, his attacker swept his legs out from under him before delivering a fast swing that rewarded him with a gush of blood and a wail of pain from the Prince. The Weselton soldiers ran in hearing the noise and saw Hans on the ground with a cut going from the side of his face, down his chest and across his right arm.
Above him was a mysterious attacker who looked ready to finish him off but noticed their timely arrival. A few of them pulled out flintlocks and looked ready to open fire but before they could, the attacker vanished in front of their very eyes. The men looked around the room waiting for him to appear again but when he didn't they rushed to the injured Prince.
Blood was steadily pumping out of the wound, however, it wasn't too deep. The men gathered the Prince to take back to the ship, their commander had likely made contact with the leading General of the Southern Isles. If the body near the throne was any indication, then Hans was the last living Prince of the Southern Isles.
Hey guys, sorry for the long update. I've been busy and honestly this chapter had me stumped on the very few times that I had free time. Believe it or not I keep thinking of what will happen in later chapters. At least I got to explain Greed a bit. Anyway I'll try to knock out another chapter or two before December ends. Please drop a review or pm if you need to speak with me.