Shout outs to tl404 Kinnblade blingzing for the favorite/follow

Special shoutout to Tan-Sky for the review really REALLY appreciated that. I personally think it isn't THAT too well written but i'm trying to make it better, I love that you are enjoying it.

To be honest, Edward expected the field excercise to be a lot more strenous then what they were currently doing. Stonewell had said that he would help teach him how to control Wrath, and even find his balance.

Whatever that means.

They had spent the day walking until they made it to the top of a mountain where there was a rundown temple of some sort built against the mountain face. The Captain led the way inside and revealed there to be a cave where he explained that many years ago there were warriors who trained up here to hone their senses. Inside the cave there was supposed to be a trial of some sort where there would be traps and obstacles that were designed to test one's senses.

It sounded like nonsense to the young man until Stonewell revealed that he used to train here when he first arrived in Arendelle and was one of the last few surviving students. He wouldn't say what happened to the temple as well as the other students but he said that it was good that he brought the young man up here. They made camp at the entrance of the cave to avoid the winter wind and then the Captain began to go into detail on how he planned on helping Edward gain control.

From the documents, it said that when a foreign soul was introduced in a body that the present one still occupied, the two would fight for dominance. Whoever won the struggle would completely devour the soul thus leaving the body with only one soul. The reason for that was it was dangerous to have multiple souls controlling one body due to them pulling on it in different directions.

For example, if a serial killer and a pacifist both shared the same body then each would devote their time to stopping one another. Sooner or later the struggle between them would cause too much strain on the body until finally destroying one another. Edward and Wrath started that way with each both taking control and fighting against one another which should have caused a hazard to the two of them but for some reason, the body held up. However, no one knew how long that would hold up.

In short, the two halves would either have to synchronize or become one, if they didn't then the body was liable to break down.

When Stonewell explained that, Edward couldn't help but sigh again and added him to the count of people who believed that he and Wrath were the same person. The young man still couldn't see that, logically he could see that they were somewhat similar in that they were attack dogs but as much as he interacted with the demon it never expressed a sense of guilt over what it had done. It even kept trophies from its victims, which should clearly show that it enjoyed killing.

Regardless, the Captain gave another option that wasn't present before, he didn't have to be one with Wrath, only keep it from pulling too much on the body. That meant if he could get in tune with Wrath then he maybe will be able to control it.

That was the theory, actually proving it was a challenge.

The two of them spent the next day meditating, the battle hardened old man couldn't stress enough how much the state of one's mind played a role in battle. The entire time they sat there just listening to the wind blow, Stonewell wanted Edward to clear his thoughts of all distractions and just relax. Essentially he wanted the young man to let go of the world. That proved difficult since he always kept an eye on himself and Wrath most of the time. Rahim was taught that constant focus was important and should be maintained, which he excelled at.

It was like learning to use your left hand as efficiently as your right hand.

The concept wasn't difficult yet as much as he tried, Edward could still hear the breathing of the man next to him as well as the subtle shift of rocks blown away by the winter wind. When he heard the whistle of a blade coming right toward him, he instantly jumped to the side and saw that the old man had thrown one of his swords at him.

"You're still too focused, you need to let go. You know, become one with nature."

"Oh that's really easy with a senile old man is throwing weapons at me!"

Stonewell didn't bat an eye as he plucked his sword that was sticking out of the ground. "If you let go and hadn't moved from your position, you would've noticed that the blade wasn't going to hit you. You need to let go of your surroundings and not let anything distract you."

Edward sighed as he shook his head and waved off the Captain before getting back into his meditative state. Letting go was easier said than done, the only times he's truly let go was after indulging in carnal acts with Elsa. That when he truly relaxed and let everything flow away. He suspected it was because it was the blonde who just had that effect on him. Physically speaking, such an act wouldn't completely tire him out, he could keep moving for days before dropping yet with her he just felt lighter. That all the energy he put in keeping up the weight on his shoulders evaporated when he finished with her.

It was a good feeling and one that it would be nice to be able to replicate anywhere but he couldn't bring himself to relax that much. Wrath stated that he had an interest in killing Elsa. he couldn't dismiss that and would always keep an eye on the demon to ensure that it would never come to pass. There was also the fact that whenever he deeply meditated and visited Wrath's soul, he would still land in that reflective plain and see a structure in the distance.

The two of them weren't fighting for dominance anymore, Wrath only took over when Edward himself panicked and couldn't move on his own. As per their agreement, the demon just kept to himself and rarely if ever spoke aloud. Surely such a time would be great to let go of all of his fears and thoughts but what stopped him was Wrath being able to take over at Anna and Kristoff's wedding.

There were so many things that could've gone wrong.

Wrath could've killed so many people especially with Talib being in the party. Edward furiously thanked God over and over that the demon only recited his speech and talked to Elsa before relinquishing control. It was so sudden and natural for his consciousness to simply take a back seat to the demon that it was unnerving. If something like that could happen anytime then he couldn't see himself letting go anytime soon.

The same whistle of a blade coming quite close to him had him flinching but remained where he was. He hoped that Stonewell would be satisfied with that but he could hear the old man blow through his nose in disappointment.

"You're still focusing too hard. At this rate we'll be out here for an entire month instead of a week." Edward opened one eye and gave the old man a glare before going back to trying to meditate. At first they were only supposed to be out here for three days but the Captain extended the time for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was because of him learning about Wrath and decided three days wouldn't be enough.

The young man huffed in annoyance, the lax state of mind he had with Elsa was next to impossible to achieve without her. He didn't want to think that he needed to sleep with her to let go of everything but doing it without her was quite difficult. His fear of Wrath going wild was enough to keep him from fully letting go and allowing the demon a free pass to do as he pleased without interference.

The same sound of something coming his way reached his ears and this time he fought really hard to not move a muscle. As it got closer and closer, he smiled to himself when he felt his body hadn't moved in the slightest but was quite surprised when his nose exploded in pain. His hands instantly few to his nose to feel some blood dripping from it. His eyes whirled in rage toward the old man who was wiping off his bloodied knuckles.

It was obvious that the Captain had punched him in the face after saying that he needed to let go of his surroundings and become peaceful. How counterproductive that was since Edward was about to blow his top in anger as he choked it down enough to hold himself back from jumping the old man.

"What. The. Fuck. Was. That. For?"

"You weren't getting it, so I thought of trying a different approach."

The young man really wanted to tear the old man apart so much so that he tried accessing Wrath's abilities as he had done in the past. They didn't come of course but his left arm grew more tense and its claws grew so much sharper that they pierce his palm. He knew that he needed to calm down so he tried closing his eyes and breathing but the telltale sound of a sword whistling through the air halted his attempt.

Edward caught the blade in his left hand and threw the old man a seething dark glare before crushing the metal in his hand. "You might want to back off for a moment." Stonewell wasn't intimidated in the least as he drew another sword with his off hand.

"No, I think I should keep going. I'm actually getting somewhere with this method."

The old man swung his other blade much faster than his first forcing his opponent to jump back. Before he could land, a barrage of strikes came in his way from the two swords in the Captain's hands. Edward reached down for his own weapon but remembered that it was with the rest of their supplies in the cave. With nothing but his arm to defend himself with, the young man dodged and used his claws to fend off the old man's attacks.

Despite his reflexes and the power his left arm provided, the Captain still managed to land multiple cuts on his body as they kept fighting. Getting fed up with the old man, Edward attempted to throw a heavy haymaker at him but ended with his left hand having a blade through his palm and one at his throat. This forced a stalemate as the young man's angry breaths were the only thing that could be heard on top of the mountain. Stonewell on the other hand was calm and looked like he hadn't broken a sweat in their small bout.

"You're angry, it's not unsurprising or bad but you allowed it to lessen your fighting ability; again. You must remain calm at all times and fight with your best state of mind." With that, the Captain ripped his broken blade from Edward's left hand while moving his other one away from his throat. The young man flexed his hand a bit as he felt the wound close almost instantly. Part of him wanted to throw another punch at the old man to get even but he looked at the man in front of him and noticed something.

Stonewell's eyes were focused intently on him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered. There was no cigar in his mouth to pull his attention away like the other times they fought, this time, the young man had his complete and utter attention.

Edward was given another moment to rest before the Captain exploded into action once again. There was no wasted movement coming from him at all, each attack had purpose and flowed seamlessly into his next one. From a bystander's view, the old man likely looked like a hurricane of blades as he pushed the young man across the mountain top.

From Edward's point of view, all he could see were his opponent's eyes on his at all times. He tried to track the two swords that were coming at him relentlessly yet they were utterly like blurs that made him have to guess where they were attacking from. His reflexes allowed him to avoid grievous injuries when he guessed incorrectly but he couldn't keep this up for long. He was getting pushed harder and harder that his anger earlier gave way to slight panic as he tried to keep up with the old man's moves.

It was like fighting Wrath in the Dark Forest years ago.

No matter what move he made, his opponent always had an answer. It was essentially being used as a training dummy that could dodge. He couldn't even begin to strike back. Edward thought back to all their sparring before and wondered how he ever managed to keep with Stonewell. Clearly the man he was fighting now was leagues different from the one he sparred with almost daily.

He needed to do better, he was here to learn how to get stronger and actually use Wrath. Before when he used Wrath's abilities against Envy, the demon said that with his abilities it should've taken minimal effort, yet he restrained himself with foolish notions. He replied back then that holding onto his humanity wasn't a foolish notion, only to be countered with humanity's history is filled with mostly war.

He didn't have an answer to that at the time, unfortunately it was true since human's always fought over the most trivial things. The seven deadly sins were all reasons enough for humans to fight one another. With him being Wrath, it should've come more easily to him but due to the circumstances of his life, he tried avoiding battles.

Even now, he was looking for a way to end this fight between him and Stonewell before things got out of hand but no matter how he looked at it, the old man was too good of an opponent to fight half heartedly. As the two of them continued, he began to think that maybe embracing the idea of fighting would better his current situation. He gained complete control over Wrath in that bandit base when he wanted to kill those two men and he was able to put up a good fight against Zavis because he knew that he had no choice in fighting and it would also save Elsa.

Yet right now, there was no reason to fight Stonewell besides the fact the old man was fighting him for some unknown reason. It was dumb to fight for no reason at all, they shouldn't be fighting in the first place. He tried to speak to the old man and have him stop but the swords kept coming.

Another savage swing was sent his way and made his block with his left arm that left a deep cut on his hand as another swing came from the opposite way making him duck under it as the blade flew over his head. This gave him a very brief opportunity at a counterattack with both blades off to the side of his person. Taking a step forward to get closer, the young man tried to come up with an uppercut that would've finished the fight if it connected but a thought entered his mind.

Block low.

He didn't understand the thought until he realized that a leg was coming toward his midsection. Forgetting the uppercut, he brought up his arms in time to block the incoming kick that sent him skidding away. He still remained in a stable fighting stance as he wondered where that thought came from before he was once again besieged by a rain of sword swings.

As they came in too fast for him to accurately predict in time, another stray thought entered his mind.

Swing from eight o'clock.

Just like before, he noticed the old man's attack before it came his way. With more time to prepare, he was able to grab the arm with the sword in hand while blocking the other with his arm which brought them both face to face. "You're still focusing too hard."

The deadpan way the old man said it made the young one twitch in annoyance but he kept his grip to prolong the moment of peace between them. "It's hard to focus with you trying to kill me. I thought you said we were up here to teach me how to control Wrath not kill me."

"We are. The problem is though, is that you aren't acting like you want to control that power of yours. From all the reports I've read as well as the description of what Alrick said when you and his son fought Zavis, you should be moving much faster and hitting harder than you are right now. Maybe it's because you were fighting someone who wanted you dead or perhaps you've suddenly grown an affection for me and don't want to see me hurt. Regardless of the reason, you won't learn how to unless you use Wrath for what he was meant for."

Stonewell dropped the sword in the hand that was being blocked before reaching and grabbing Edward by the scruff of his coat then bringing him for a hard knee to his chest. When it made contact, the young man wheezed a bit but kept his grip on his opponent's other arm. Using his grip on Edward's collar and his own captive arm, the Captain spun around before harshly throwing the young man on the ground. His opponent's grip loosened yet remained firm but that mattered little to the aged warrior, with his adversary on the ground and his arm free, he was about to put an end to this.

Dropping a knee on the young man's chest, Stonewell used his other leg to kick up his sword then caught it with his free hand. Edward looked up to see the Captain staring at him with an expression promising nothing but death. He had seen people stare at him with the same exact look before but coming from someone like Walter Stonwell was completely different. It held the weight of all the years he had spent fighting as well as the sheer intent of killing the person under him right now.

"I will tell you this now, Edward. You are a threat to Arendelle, plain and simple. I want you to learn how to control Wrath and if this Father character ever comes here, he will be in a rude awakening when you tell him to fuck off. Yet from what I'm seeing, you are weak. You are a threat to Elsa because of your inability to learn control. I will not allow this, you will die on this mountain if I deem that you will remain a threat to her Majesty. Wrath wasn't made to be feared, he was made to kill his enemies, simple as that, you may want to be different and that is certainly your choice. You want to live in peace, then do so, you want to avoid fighting then flee as far and as fast as you can. Yet if you wish to stand next to Elsa and defend her from whatever threatens her then you need to get it through that skull of yours that every time you hesitate, there's a chance she'll be lying there dead. It doesn't matter who it is that is fighting you, if they put you down then Elsa will be next, if you're okay with that, then I guess I'll be going home a little earlier than expected."

With that Stonewell swung with the absolute intent of removing Edward's head from his shoulders. It was fast, way too fast to counter but for some reason everything stopped. The old man froze with the expression still on his face and his sword still in position to come down and remove his head.

Edward thought that the Captain was just trying to prove a point and stopped after giving him a healthy scare. He was about to speak when he noticed a bird right above them, he knew he shouldn't take his mind off the man in front of him but the bird couldn't be ignored. It was just an ordinary bird with its wing spread likely flying somewhere warmer.

Yet it was frozen in midair.

It was just still in mid flight, like it was on an invisible surface with its wings spread out. He wanted to point it out to the Captain but found he couldn't speak as well. He tried moving but he was also frozen in place as well. He almost began to panic when something finally moved above him. At first it was a shadow and hard to distinguish but when his eyes adjusted, he was surprised to see himself.

A perfect copy of him was standing above him looking down with a neutral expression on his face. He had his arms crossed as he leaned over and blocked the sun from view so they could look at one another eye to eye.

"Well you got yourself in a fine mess I see."

Edward was confused and didn't know what to say. Here he was talking to himself when everything around him was frozen in place. Perhaps Wrath was playing another trick on him as the two of them were about to be killed by the Captain. It has been a while since the two of them had spoken to one another and usually they would either do it in that space or the demon would speak to him in his mind. Why would he send a perfect copy of himself to speak?

"You do realize that you're far stronger than the old fart right? Plus you got a free arm right now, I don't see the problem with you."

The young man tried to respond to himself, saying that he was just thrown off by the Captain's bloodlust and would make a move but still couldn't speak. The copy of himself continued since he got no response.

"Unless the problem is that you're once again afraid. Come on, you've been told this over and over that you have an irrational fear. So what if Wrath wants to kill Elsa, he has to get past you first. So far you've been letting him pull your strings as he pleased time and time again. Hell if you really let go and had him fight he'd probably be overwhelming the old man in an instant. Instead you're getting your ass kicked and is now about to be killed. What if Stonewell was Hans and after killing you he set his sights on Elsa. You think that just because you can die you can come back and try again? Life doesn't work that way, Wrath himself still plays by God's rules. You can either heal or be stronger, not both. While you're healing and saving yourself, the person behind you could be killed by someone that you should've beaten easily."

The way the copy of himself talked, Edward thought it was Wrath trying to give him a pep talk or something. Having Wrath talk about himself from a third person certainly was odd, especially while using the young man's body to speak.

"Walter's got the right idea, every time you hesitate, someone could die. Look in his eyes, there's not a shred of hesitation in them at all. You two have been training with one another for weeks and he even said that he believes that you would make things right after hearing everything about you. Seems kind of odd that he's going to just kill you after saying all that and trying to teach you how to let go. He's the Captain of the Arendelle guard, not the General of their military. The difference between those is that he is the shield that protects the kingdom's head, if he falls then there is nothing stopping anyone from killing the ruling monarch. A man in his position can't afford to have liabilities roaming around."

That hit Edward hard as he looked up at the man above him. His eyes were steeled and ready for the kill. They were annoyed a while ago as he tried to teach him to let go and had the chance to kill him earlier but didn't. Now there was nothing in them except the cold indifference the man would likely lay on someone who threatened his home.

"You are a really big one, if Father could just turn a switch at any time and you would kill Elsa, then Arendelle is doomed. Before you left, you were with her alone all night. She was in your arms, do you know how easy it is to kill someone when they are in your grasp like that? I'm sure he considered that scenario and planned this little trip to definitively erase that threat. There's no mistake, he is going to kill you now and there's something you should know. Wrath hasn't killed anyone in a long period of time except those two men in the bandit cave. That means that his energy is at an all time low. I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't revive you if you were to die enough times."

That made the young man's eyes widen at the information. It just now occurred to him that he was right, the black dust he used in his fight against Envy was large in comparison to what he had reserved since killing off the Mystic Guard. His body may have been enhanced and he could restore a bit of his strength but unfortunately, the only way to truly replenish his supply, he would need to kill someone consumed in anger. That must've been why Wrath hadn't allowed access to his abilites anymore, he had used too much without replenishing any of it. He looked at the Captain with fear now as he focused on the blade poised to take his life.

"Edward, you are going to die on this mountain, the truth is Walter Stonewell is not someone you can beat on your own when he really is going for the kill. Whenever you got the upper hand while the two of you were sparring in Arendelle, Wrath always made small nudges in the right direction to get you ahead just like he did a while ago with giving you two hints. If you are really going to stand by Elsa then you have no choice but to learn to control Wrath."

The copy of himself began to walk away as the young man had a feeling that everything was about to move again. As he looked at Stonewell and himself walking away he finally managed to make his mouth work.

"Wait!"

His copy halted midstep before turning around.

"Aren't you Wrath?"

The copy of himself smiled before shrugging his shoulders. "I am Wrath, yet what is that you see?" The copy then vanished leaving Edward alone in the still frozen space around him. The young man knew this wouldn't last long, so he racked his brain for a way out of this. He was battle hardened as well but he was shaken to see the old man he had come to trust actively trying to kill him. Stonewell had said that Wrath was made to kill his enemies and it was ok if he wanted to be different. Edward did want to be different, he didn't want to kill unnecessarily, he didn't want to cause slaughter anymore, he wanted to be peaceful.

Yet he also wanted to protect Elsa.

He knew he could defend her without bringing about massacre but he was afraid of what was inside him. How was he supposed to get over that fear where any day could be the day he could kill Elsa. Perhaps it would be better to let Stonewell get it over with it. With all that he's done maybe it would be better if he didn't come back to Arendelle.

The blade began to slowly move closer and closer as his thoughts began to grow darker and darker. Klein was good and could continue teaching his class. Hector was an asshole but could definitely protect Elsa. Stonewell more than proved to be a match for him and could probably handle whatever came their way in the future. Alrick was hunting down Rakat's remnants and would likely be on Father's trail soon enough.

He wasn't really needed, it was nice to stay in Arendelle but perhaps he was finally ready to get what a monster like him deserved.

"No, I'm not going to have you sit here and call yourself a monster anymore."

A rather stern face and two beautiful gems of sky blue eyes had his free hand moving forward. Edward's face scrunched up in pain as the blade slid into his right palm until it reached the guard and stopped its descent. Stonewell's eyes only narrowed but he was quickly thrown off when a leg hit his back and the grip on his arm let him go. The old man rolled into a ready stance as the young one got to his feet with his back turned and the sword still impaled into his hand.

The Captain walked a bit to the side and picked up a fresh set of swords that he lugged with them and prepared to unleash another assault on the still man in front of him.

While this was going on, Edward looked out toward the empty sky and noticed the color. It was the same as the ones he loved staring into, the eyes that truly brought him peace. He said that he wouldn't call himself a monster anymore, he may have thought he was but she didn't. She wanted him next to her and he said that anything hard was worth it for her. Letting go while she wasn't around was definitely hard, the Captain behind him wasn't helping but she was worth it.

Stonewell was right, he was a threat, and him being so close to her scared him.

He didn't think it was irrational because he knew how strong Wrath was. Yet Elsa said that he shouldn't be concerned what Wrath could do, he should focus on what he could do.

Edward closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, he heard the Captain's foot dig into the snow before it pushed off. The young man blocked that out, he was going to let go right now, he was going to get this or he wasn't coming down this mountain. He willed the world around him to become pitch black, he made everything go away. He banished every thought in his head, from the impending threat to Elsa' beautiful smile. When his mind was finally devoid of all thought, he opened his eyes to see Wrath standing in front of him in a dark void.

"Are you afraid of me?"

He remembered Wrath asking Elsa the same question and he knew that the blonde wasn't afraid. He wished he could say the same but he couldn't, looking at the demon in front of him was like looking at the worst part of himself. He was afraid that he would show Elsa this ugly part of himself and hurt her. It was hard to admit that but to get what he wanted he would have to own it.

"I am afraid of myself, not just you. I'm afraid of not being enough that my weakness will once again hurt the people I care about. Like it or not, you're a part of me now and I can't afford to be too scared to use what I have at my fingertips."

The demon tilted his head at the honest answer as if he just noticed something he hadn't before.

"Then what will you do?"

"I'm going to use you as much as I can to protect the people I care about, I'm going to put my faith in you. Do what you want with my body but give me the strength I need."

Wrath was silent as he looked in the young man's eyes and saw that they were determined. The red glint in his eyes was evidence that he was done holding back. The demon felt nothing holding him anymore and that Edward's attention wasn't focused solely on him to keep him from doing anything. He also felt no resistance as he prodded at the young man's mind, even with him aware of the demon, he didn't attempt to bar him from making any moves.

"Then face your opponent, let nothing hold you back, and strike with all the force you can muster."

The world instantly snapped the mountain top as the footsteps of the Captain got closer and closer. Edward grasped the hilt of the sword that was still in his right hand and slowly pulled it out ignoring the pain. When it was out, he took it with his right hand just in time to block the two swords coming his way. Stonewell was about to move his blades away then strike again but the weight behind the one blocking his increased greatly in an instant and forced him to remain where he was.

"I warned you old man, you should've backed off when you had the chance."

The Captain's eyes widened when his opponent spun around and swung at the locked blades. The fist destroyed all three blades before catching the old man in the chest and knocking him clean off his feet. He was launched backwards and when he hit the ground he continued to roll until he hit a rock that was jutting out the ground.

Stonewell felt the air leave his lungs when he hit the rock and found himself having trouble moving. He really didn't expect the kid to hit him as hard as that so soon. It was definitely surprising, his chest hurt like hell but he supposed he should be grateful. He noticed before impact that Edward had opened his hand and hit him with a palm strike which was harder yet mitigated the chance of his knuckles going into his sternum. Judging by the way his eyes looked in that brief moment, he didn't seem scared anymore. And it seemed that he let go of the world around him for a brief moment and didn't let anything distract him.

This kid really was something.

The old man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar and was about to light it when a sword cut the match head off before he could bring it up to his cigar. Looking up he noticed that Edward had picked up another one of his swords and had it at his side with him staring down at the Captain with a red glint in his eyes.

"So what's next?"

Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra were on their way back to the capital of Corona when they decided to stop by the Snuggly Duckling to say 'hello' to all of the blonde's friends there. While the handmaiden still didn't understand how the Princess could make friends with the seemingly savage group, they all were angels in her presence.

They adored her and asked that she have a drink with them to which she declined since she still wasn't of age yet. There they were, standing in the tavern and watching all the bandits sing some song about having a dream with music coming from a guy with a ball and chain in a corner. Cassandra had a mind to ask about him since she was trying to be a guard herself but Eugene would always say that the guy played a mean tune and kept stealing from people.

She couldn't wait until they got back to the capitol so she could report into the Captain of the guard. He had sent her as the main force of security for the Princess and when she returned it would've been a mission accomplished. The Captain was very reluctant to have her be the bodyguard for the Princess and only allowed her because of the blonde's insistence. With them going and staying for a few extra days, the handmaiden felt that she had proved that she could be a full time guard.

Then maybe dad can see that I'm not a little girl and that I've grown up to be just like him…

It was a childish dream she could admit, but it was what she wanted. The Captain was her role model since she was a little girl when he took her in. She remembered never being good enough for her real mom and when she left her alone, he stepped up for her. She tried to be good enough for him, which he would say she was in everything but he still was hesitant with letting her be a guard.

Cassandra sighed as she decided to get a breath of fresh air outside. Even though she was supposed to be guarding Rapunzel, she knew that the blonde could take care of herself and that Eugene was with her. She propped herself on a nearby barrel and just let her thoughts wander when Atilla walked by talking with another thug from the pub.

"Yeah I was out looking for some more ingredients near the river downstream and saw loads of bodies floating there. They probably got caught in the dam coming down again, poor bastards." The other thug hummed in agreement as he rubbed his chin.

"They have anything good on them?"

Attila looked shocked as much as he could with that helmet as he recoiled in disgust at what the man said. "I didn't search their bodies for loot! Besides they were all wearing the same uniform, soldier boys don't carry much in their pockets."

Cassandra's ear perked up at the information as she made a mental map in her head where the river beyond the dam was. It was along their way to the capitol so she could check it out. Most people in Corona knew it was dangerous standing under the dam since it came down so often, so for a group of people wearing the same uniforms getting caught by it was a red flag in her opinion. She didn't want to jump to conclusions but it could've been a foreign enemy force amassing at the dam and they unfortunately got caught in a tidal wave.

It was worth checking out to be safer than sorry.

The handmaiden went back inside to collect Rapunzel, telling her that they really needed to return to the capitol as soon as possible. Eugene of course wasted time questioning what was the rush but the dark haired woman was in no mood to entertain his questions. Soon they were making their way toward the capitol, night was beginning to approach as the three of them finally made it to the river.

Atilla was right, there were bodies washed up along the river. The Princess wanted to check and help them but Cassandra laid a hand out and told her to wait for a moment. With a hand on her sword, the handmaiden checked the bodies and saw that they were all killed before being drowned. They all indeed were wearing the same uniform but had nothing in their pockets as well. The black haired woman thought they should hurry home to report this but was stopped by Eugene who pointed to something further upstream.

"Isn't that one of those quiet guys from Arendelle?"

Cassandra looked to see a darker uniform floating downstream toward them. With some effort and rope, they were able to fish the body out and could see that the man was dressed in the same clothes as the ones on the Blackdust ship that was docked in Arendelle. The woman wondered what they were doing in Corona when they only had business in Arendelle, this was definitely something that the King needed to be told of.

Rapunzel and Eugene agreed then prepared to get back on the path back to the Capitol. As Cassandra watched them do so, a frown marred her face. She didn't say anything but she could tell that the soldier from Blackdust was killed recently, judging by the fact his wound was still bleeding as well as the fact that his body was just now flowing downstream. She didn't want to say anything in front of the Princess to worry her but something was going on at the dam.

Bodies upon bodies littered the dam as Alrick was dragged by two men toward the base of the valley. His men had fought valiantly but couldn't overcome the insurmountable odds, one by one they were killed before being thrown into the river after all was said and done. They had managed to kill off quite a few of the enemy which made him proud of his soldiers. He was ready to die by their side as long as they bought time for the other group to return to the capitol.

But for some reason, the enemy wanted him alive.

So they dragged him and brought him down into the valley then into the tunnels. He was so battered from fighting for so long that his head spun like crazy, pain wasn't an issue because he was so exhausted. He was actually surprised he could recognize that he was in a tunnel right now given the state of his mind.

Minutes of him being dragged passed until he was brought into a door where one of the men knocked on it and waited to be told to come in. When they opened that door and walked in, Alrick was instantly released and hit the ground, too weak to catch himself. He laid there for a moment as the two men left the room and closed the door behind them. The King tried to regain his wits and push himself up to understand his situation but he was far too weak.

"Man, you look fucked."

Alrick's mind instantly spiked as he heard someone speak above him. It wasn't the words that made him redouble his efforts to get to his feet, nor was it the fact someone was in there with him. It was the voice that said them made him put all of his effort in getting up and glaring at the man above him.

Asger the Crusher looked much older than he did before the civil war but still had that cruel smile on his face.

"Well that really sucks Mystic, I was hoping that I could start playing with you right away, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait for a while."

Hey guys its my 1 year anniversary of this fanfic WOO! Unfortunately I kinda feel that this wasn't an amazing chapter, I mean I like the whole Stonewell trying to kill Ed thing but idk wasn't feeling it. I've been SO busy and honestly I can't wait for the weekend. Hopefully I'll have a better chapter this weekend. Please drop a review as well as a follow and favorite. If you have anything you wish to say to me PM me and I will respond as soon as possible.