A year after Prince Hans of the Southern Isles was banished interminably from Arendelle, he found himself on a sleek sailing ship headed straight for its port.

How had it come to this? Why had his brothers released the sociopath from prison and permitted him to return to the nation-state where his crimes had been committed?

Hans had developed a strange power. A very strange power indeed. A . . . frozen power. A power that he knew wasn't unique.

After he had first released ice crystals from his bare - albeit shackled - palms, he had demmanded an audience with Petya, the most sympathetic of his brothers. He had agreed to allow him access to the library, which Hans had sorely missed. The library was the only place where he could find some release . . .

In any event, there was no time to revel in the books. He quickly located the section on magic, which he had previously scorned as being the stuff of children's stories and folktales. Most of it seemed ridiculous - black forests full of trolls? Princes turning to glass? - but at last, he found a rather legthy section about what he was looking for in a rather moldy toe entitled Olde Northern Spellworkes and their Executioning.

Apparently, when Hans had raised his sword to kill Queen Elsa, and a frozen Princess Anna jumped in front, the sword hadn't been the only thing that shattered. The queen's magic had met with an equal force, and they both fragmented. The sword literally broke. The spell was more complex. As a shockwave had reverberated through their immediate vicinity, some of the fragmented spell had latched onto its attacker. The magic had found its way into Hans.

Apparently, it was a very rare circumstance (as if magic wasn't rare enough already). Besides the whole 'shattering' business, the new partial possessor of the magic had to have a certain something unusual already. Apparently powerlust would do. The magic had found a willing host, spiritually starving in that cell, and latched hungrily on, beginning to grow. It wasn't very long before Hans found that he too could command the frozen elements at will.

Well, almost.

Unlike Queen Elsa of Arendelle, he wasn't quite capable of making immense glacial palaces in moments or using delicate yet ruthless spears of solid ice . . . Yes, that idea appealed greatly. Actually, all he could really to as of yet was form snowballs in his hands and cause refreshing little flurries. A welcome side effect was that cold temperatures didn't seem to cause any discomfort anymore. All he felt was a delicious sense of freedom when the mercury plummeted. And he was gaining more control over the magic with each passing day.

According to the book, their mutual powers coudn't be complete unless they worked together. Together . . . the passage of the text was vague, but it seemed that if they united, their magic would be "greater than anything that the mortal mind can yet conceive, rivalling the creating aurora tundras."

So. He had to get to Queen Elsa.

It was simple, really. All Hans had had to do was convince his brothers that he was a menace to himself who needed the queen's help and advice to survive this immensely painful experience, et cetera, et cetera. It also helped that he pretended to be extrmemely repentant and morally reformed. This was how he had found himself out of prison and on this lovely fast ship speeding towards Arendelle.

Once he arrived, it hadn't been difficult for his representative to get an immediate audience with the queen. His presence alone was enough to cause political tummult.

Queen Elsa stormed in. It seemed that she could never walk anywhere, she always had to storm around like some sort of snow cloud on the warpath.

"Prince Hans, we demmand to know what your presence here means. You have been unconditionally banished from our kingdom."

Her use of the majestic plural was adorable. As much as Hans didn't want to objectify such a powerful political leader, he smirked slightly.

"Your Majesty," he said, bowing smoothly. The queen's expression of cold, reserved anger didn't falter. Hans decided to skip the Prince Charming ac for now.

"I find that I have your magic."

"W- what?" A tiny line etched itself between her brows.

"I too can control snow." He held up his palm and made a little puff of snowflakes and cold air. Queen Elsa gasped.

"How?" was all she said.

"You cursed me, Your Majesty." He rifled through the book, stopping at a premarked page and showing it to her. "According to the ancient rules of magic, we are bonded for life. Like it or not, our destinies are now inextricably linked."

Elsa snatched the book, her eyes greedily devouring the page, desperately seeking falsehood in his words. Her Southern Isles reading skills weren't flawless, but she got the gist.

"No, no, no," she mumbled, uncsonciously flicking her wrist and sending an thin layer of ice skimming over the window pane, making fantastic fractals. Hans merely watched her as she began pacing, her shoulders hunched.

"I'm afraid so. What's worse, I can't control it, not even marginally."

The implication that Elsa had "marginal" control over her magic stung like a nettle. She spun on her heel, ready to retort, but he was still speaking.

"Only together can our powers take full effect." He waited a moment for his words to sink in. "Queen Elsa, we must work together."

Elsa considered the man standing before her. There was truth to what he said. She had known it before he had shown her the snowflakes. She had known since before her own powers started fading - nothing major, just a blurring where reflexes had been sharp, a slowness and blockiness to her skills. If she was completely honest with herself, she had known since his attack had failed. There had been something. At the time she had been obviously involved in the moment, and afterwards she told herself that it had been shock and concern for Anna. But no, this was confirmation: some of her magic had become lodged in this monster.

She sank into a chair, ice spreading across the floor. "What do we do now," she inquired huskily, not bothering to inflect her voice to form a question.

"The book has some instructions, but they're extremely vague. Firstly, we need more information." There was no hesitation in his voice. She hated that self-assuredness.

"You've had time to plan."

"I'm a crazy sociopath who was locked up with a new superpower, a book, and a load of resentment. What do you honestly expect?"

"You have a point," she conceded. "Where do you propose we get this information?"

"Haven't the foggiest idea."

A smile tugged at the corner of Elsa's mouth. "I do."

"What is it?"

"See, I have some friends who are love experts. . . "