He had seen it time and time again. Each of his twelve brothers in turn had wooed a beautiful woman - noble and common alike - with a song and dance, vanquished any evil that dared stand in their way, and lived happily ever after. As he had observed, so he had read in the history books; of great heroes who killed terrible demons and saved lovely ladies, to share true love's kiss and live happily ever after.
Happily ever after… That was all he really wanted, and who could blame him? No troubles, no worries for the rest of his days, and true love! All he needed to do was find it.
And so he traveled far and wide, searching for a beautiful dame in need of rescue, to fulfill his destiny as her knight in shining armor and slay the dreaded monster. But he had yet to have the fateful duet.
On a warm summer's day, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles found himself in Arendelle. It was truly a beautiful day. The sound of joyous music echoed up and down the street. People were laughing as they danced in the town square. He could not help but smile at the scene. Perhaps love was in the air!
Apparently the town gates had been opened for the new queen's coronation. There would be a ball and and much merry making all around. It was the perfect occasion for him to meet his true love, if he said so himself.
Sitron, his noble steed, carried him down the dock at a leisurely pace, as he took in the scene.
Suddenly, a girl tripped over Sitron and fell backwards into a small rowboat that had been sitting on the dock. Oh no! Was she alright? He quickly dismounted to help her to her feet, thank god she was okay…
Their eyes met and his heart began to race. She was beautiful… Could she be the one? This was no proper lover's meeting, but he could only hope…
He barely remembered to introduce himself.
And she was a princess! If only there was a dragon he could slay for her, he could have begged for her hand-
And then they were falling! Tossed this way and that, he desperately tried to cushion her as he landed on his back, her on top of him.
No! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! He was supposed to sweep her off her feet - she was off her feet, but that wasn't what he had meant! She was beautiful, though, and his heart was racing and maybe, just maybe…
But it was too soon to tell.
That night they met again at the ball and it was the happiest night of his life. They talked for hours, and sang together, just like they were supposed to! It was all going so right! There was only one more thing he needed to do. Hans was down on bended knee in an instant and then they were engaged and it was all going perfect!
But a nagging voice in the back of his head said it was too perfect to last. There almost always was always a monster, a vile fiend for the hero to slay, and he had yet to encounter one…
Hans knew there had to be a villain, but he hadn't thought it would be Anna's sister. Anna had so much faith in her, there had to be a reason for it. Still, he was the hero, and she had frozen everything. He didn't have a choice. He tried to help the people as much as he could, biding his time until Anna returned unsuccessful, terrified that she wouldn't return at all.
The days passed and she did not return. Finally, he let himself do what he had wanted to do from the beginning. He gathered a party himself and headed out to go after her. He found Elsa alone in her palace of ice, beautiful and powerful, like some sort of winter goddess, but terrified of her own divinity.
She did not deserve to die.
Instead he captured her and took her back to the palace, unsure what else to do. She was the villain, and villains always died horrible deaths, but she didn't deserve it - couldn't God see? But if God saw, then why had He made her the villain?
And there was Anna, her heart freezing. If he was her true love, he was the only one who could save her, but he could not condemn Elsa to the villain's fate. There was only one thing he could do.
He declared himself the villain, refused to save Anna - she was good, she would live, he promised himself, though he deep down even he did not believe it - and did everything he could to draw God's wrath upon himself. He would kill Anna, kill Elsa, and God would be there to stop him, like He always was.
Hans knew he would die, but it was a small price to pay.
"Where is my happily ever after now?" a small voice in the back of his mind asked, but that didn't matter any more.
His heart nearly leaped in relief when he discovered Elsa's cell empty, but the storm raged on. He still had to kill her so that he could save her. He ran out on the frozen fjord, ready to land the fatal blow.
His song and dance had amounted to nothing, but there was something more important that he had to do.
At the final moment, Anna ran between her sister and his blade, freezing in place to stop the blow as he fell backwards with a sigh of relief.
God had done His work. All that needed to be done now, was for Hans to die his villain's death.
But he didn't.
Hans sat in his cell on the boat back to the Southern Isles, ready to receive his punishment. Elsa was alive, even Anna had managed to survive, but so had he…
Had something gone wrong? He had not gotten his happy ending, but he had not expected to, not after he had scorned it so and left Anna to die. But he had not expected to be allowed to live either. Had God showed mercy on him? Why him?
Suddenly he heard what could only be described as a rippling sound as a beautiful young woman, in a blue dress, faded into his cell. There was no way she was human.
"Good Hans," she said, "You have sacrificed so much to give happiness to others..."
Note: This story was edited in July 2018 for cross-posting on Archive of Our Own.