Melting a Frozen Heart

Chapter 1

His 10th Birthday.

Today should have been a great day considering it was his birthday, but it was not. Hans was forgotten on the most important day of the year, his birthday. It was just like any other day. Some of his older brothers had continued with their duties, as they always did. They were focused on arranging a trading agreement with Arendelle. Hans could hear their loud voice roaring through the walls, some of them did not sound too happy. He could also hear the servants trotting around outside his door. They had forgotten everything about their youngest brother.

Hans had tried to ask one of them what day it was, "just a normal Friday" he had smiled back, as he left him alone in the hallway.

It was a clear morning, not a cloud to be seen. Little Hans was lying on his bed, examining the King in the fairy tale book he had received from Lars; the only brother who had remembered him on his birthday. The rest of them pretended he didn't exist.

The small boy absorbed the book. It told a tale about a kingdom where the king and queen were the sweetest people in the whole land. Hans couldn't really relate very well to the story, but he wished his brothers would treat him the way the royalties treated their siblings in the book. He grew tired from reading and wanted to explore the castle, he greeted one of the servants while walking down the hallway.

The boy was just standing outside the Great Hall, with the book in his hand when he heard steps coming towards him. Hans bit his lower lip and warily glanced around. They were all alone. If he screamed for help, would someone come to his rescue? He wanted to yell, but he dared not to. Hans could hear his heart pound in his ears. He turned around unwillingly and was faced with the twins.

"What's this?" Rudi asked, grabbed the book out of his hand and dangled it over Hans' head. The older man then flipped through the pages of the book and laughed.

"A fairy tale? Hans, you know you will never be the King of this book, right?" Runo smirked.

"Give it back!" Hans yelled while jumping up reaching for the book.

They continued to mock him, as they always did. They threw the book back and forth and made Prince Hans run and jump to get it back. He could not even have a break on his own birthday. One of them tightly gripped Hans' shoulder, and every time he tried to run away, they would stop him. He did not know what to do, and he had nowhere to run.

The young prince could feel the grip on his shoulder loosen a bit, and took the opportunity to get away.

"When I grow up I am going to rule my own kingdom and I will be a better King than all of you!" said Hans as he clenched his fists. His lips snarled with rage as he stormed out the room, vowing never to return.

"Oh, we would all love to see that happen, wouldn't we?" Rudi laughed.

Hans watched two of his brothers play chess in the library. Why didn't they want to play with him too? Every time Hans asked his them to play with him, they would reply that they did not have time for play right now. Hans sighed. He knew that his brothers would not notice him. After all, he was the 13th son. But the others seemed to like each other quite a lot, they just did not like Hans. He realized that his brothers would never consider him to be one of them. Tears threatened to fall, and he had to press his small, emerald eyes shut in order not to let them. Competing with 12 older brothers was hard. He never got the attention he longed for. He also realized that he would never be as smart as his brothers, not as popular, not as good, not as powerful and in the end, he would never become the king of their kingdom. But what hurts the most was... he would never become as loved. It made his heartache. It really did. Still, they forgot that his birthday mattered just as much as Rudi's birthday, or Runo's. The auburn-haired prince hugged his knees tighter to his body as he watched Caleb teach his brother everything he knew about chess.

Whenever his older relatives had birthdays, the King and Queen would invite friends, families, and royalties from far and near to a royal ball. They did indeed invite people to Hans' birthday as well, but it was just a play to the gallery, a show that would convince the guests that everything was alright in their kingdom. His brothers would usually come to the youngest brother's celebration too and pretend that they liked him. But it was not a genuine birthday party, they only went to his birthday to the rumors that would start spreading if they did not come. There was a difference between his anniversary and his brother's. The air was always tense and stiff during his jubilee, and the atmosphere was totally opposite during his sibling's parties. Hans would always watch them from the sideline, he would watch the smiles on the other brother's faces during their festivities.

The other boys did not only receive birthday presents from family, friends or other royalties, they also received gifts from their admirers. Hans was sure some of the older brothers sometimes received hundreds of gifts. When some of them received something they did not want for their birthday, they would complain. The boy failed to understand why they could not just be grateful for what they had gotten. Almost no one ever thought about the 13th brother, except Lars who was the only brother who treated him kindly. He fought against his tears, he would not cry on his birthday.

Hans dug his nails into his frail arms, hugging his small body tightly. The auburn haired boy pressed his nails so deeply into his skin he wouldn't be surprised if he started to bleed at any second. He watched a drop of blood trail down his arm, but he did not care about it.

It hurt that his relatives could not even remember him on his birthday. He had tried everything and there was nothing else he could do to get their attention. Hans tried to get them to notice him, but they never did. Not only was he ignored by his own, some of his servants ignored him too. He had asked them many times if they wanted to play with him, but mostly they were so busy they did not even notice. He was like air to them.

Hans blinked once, twice, trying to get rid of the tears that threatened to fall. He looked at Caleb and his younger brother playing chess again. The younger one was picking up on it really fast. The small boy could hear Caleb complement the other male, again and again, speaking to him in a warm, friendly voice. They were laughing and smiling. Hans felt jealousy rise within his spirit. He could hear some parts of the other male's conversation.

"How long have you been playing chess?" Jurgen wondered with genuine curiosity in his grating voice.

Caleb smiled and ran a hand through his brown hair,

"I've played since I was 4 years old." He said, moving his bishop until it was parallel with his pawn. "Our father taught me." The younger male was slightly shocked, the king had thought Caleb to play chess. There was no way he could beat him.

Why could not his brothers laugh and play with him too? Was something wrong with him? Was he really that worthless? Why could they not notice him? Did he truly mean so little that no one remembered his birthday? The small boy did not know what to think. Hans shook his head and sniffled woefully.

"Did you hear that?" Caleb wondered, but the other male shook his head.

"Hear what?"

"That strange sound." The oldest brother laughed.

"I was too focused on the game, I did not hear anything," Jurgen smirked.

"Checkmate." Caleb declared, taking the pawn ahead of his queen and trapping Jurgen's king. The younger brother looked a bit confused and it took him some time to realize what had happened. The blonde male stared at the board for several seconds before the cruel truth of the situation dawned on him.

"B-but how..." he stammered, realizing his brother had bested him in only 4 moves. Caleb did not reply, but his eyes mocked his younger brother.

He felt so numb. Almost every year was the same. He grew older every year, and on came another year of pain, another year of tears. He had never gotten a proper birthday party. The only thing he had gotten was a fake illusion. An event to keep the people of the Southern Isles ones who were supposed to be close to him ignored him. Hans almost despised his birthday, he was even more overlooked then.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" A familiar voice asked him. He looked up and locked eyes with Lars. Hans could see kindness and compassion in the older man's light green eyes. The boy with the emerald eyes nodded, and Lars sat down next to him. Hans bit his lower lip, what if someone saw Lars speaking to him?

The older male had been looking at him for quite a while, and the younger boy had looked sad and lonely. Of course, Lars did not tell him. He knew that his younger brother was stoic and that he would ruin his pride if he spoke about the matter.

"Want to know a secret?" The older male whispered and jabbed him gently with his elbow. Hans looked at him, leaned in and nodded softly."I have been up since early morning, making a cake for your big day. Do you want to come down to the kitchen and eat it with me?" Lars finished and laughed when he saw Hans' face light up. Lars always had a way of surprising Hans with the unexpected. Whether it was a trip to the library to show Hans what the rest of the world looked like and tell stories about foreign kingdoms, or even one year taking Hans horseback riding, but there was always something to make Hans feel loved. Lars knew how important birthdays were. The small child pushed himself up from the floor and walked to the kitchen with his brother. Just the thought of eating cake with someone who cared for him truly cared for him, made Hans smile like an idiot. Doing something so simple, as eating cake with a loved one, really cheered him up. Gone were all the thoughts about jealousy, hurt, sadness and all the other negative emotions that had filled him up minutes before.

Hans checked himself out in the mirror later that evening. He wore a white suit with a pale blue shirt and a royal blue tie.

Someone knocked three times on his door,

"Prince Hans, your guests are waiting for you in the Great Hall." One of the servants said while she poked her head through the half-open door.

The young boy smiled at her,

"I'll be right there." He replied.

"Oh and I almost forgot" the young woman smiled and entered his room. She had hidden a small present underneath her apron and she offered it to the boy "Happy Birthday, your majesty!" Henriette grinned as he unwrapped her present. The woman had traveled to a lot of foreign lands before she had started working at the castle, and to Hans' surprise, she was also artistically talented. He smiled while he ran a finger across the paper as he studied her painting of Arendelle.

"Thank you." Hans looked up and Henni could swear that she saw a small tear run down his cheek.

Hans had always called her Henni ever since he was a small boy. And she had been one of the kindest people he had known in the castle. Although she was 8 years older than him he thought of her as one of his best friends. No one else knew of their friendship, and they both were aware that things had to stay that way or Henni might get in trouble. This woman had supported and helped him so much when he had been feeling down.

Henni sat down on his bedside and talked for some minutes. Talking with this ash blonde lady had always been easy for him. Henriette knew that he would have to meet his guests at the ball soon, so she waved at him by the door and left him alone in the room.

"Wait" He yelled, "Henni are you going to the ball?" he added and tilted his head to one side while looking at her with his large, green puppy eyes. She shook her head lightly and laughed bitterly

"servants are not allowed to join today, it's the King's order."

Hans tried to hide his disappointment but failed miserably. Henni offered him a genuine smile as she closed the door.

"You'll be fine, your majesty."

He glanced out the window and spotted all the people who had met up to celebrate him on his big day. His heart stopped when he saw two small girls the middle of the crowd. One of them wore her blonde hair in a braid, the other girl had her light strawberry brown hair in two pigtails. It could not be them, could it? He recognized them although he had only heard about them from others. The young prince had asked the servants if he could see the guest list a hundred times, but no one would show him the list and no one confirmed that the Royal Family of Arendelle would join the festivities.

The sound of loud voices echoed down the hallway as Hans made his way to the Great Hall.

His heart was racing, his palms were sweating, and he felt sick to his stomach, He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this nervous. The young prince knew that he would hear it from his brothers and his parents if he messed up and brought shame to their honor. He could not afford to mess up.

They lifted their draped horns and trumpeted a fanfare.

"His royal highness, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." at that, everyone's eyes turned to the grand staircase and watched as the young prince hesitantly made his way down the stairs to his 10th birthday celebration. Everyone was wearing their finest clothes and Hans could feel a lump in his throat.

The shy boy raised his chin and tried to convince the people in the hall that he was not nervous. He would not show his emotions. Hans looked away momentarily as if glancing at an invisible chap on his shoulder. Everyone's attention was focused on him. His body was frail, and his auburn hair was slicked back. But his most appealing feature was his friendly, emerald green eyes. They were stunning and captured the hearts of girls all over the Southern Isles. One thing was for sure, even if he was a small boy his demeanor made him seem much more mature compared to his age. Hans was a graceful young prince with delicate features. He knew if he did not show excellent behavior during this ball, he would get in trouble later. Hans had decided that he would try to act like his older brothers during the celebration, in order to make a good impression on the guests. His parents had told him over and over how they expected him to behave in a situation like this.

His parents were waiting for him on the throne, and the first thing he did was making his way over to greet them. He could see right through the Queen's forced smile, but he did not say anything. His father did not smile at him, the King's face looked stern but at the same time kind. As custom required, Hans bowed to his parents and received a few words of congratulations. Hans wanted to love his parents, but it was hard when they pushed him away and favorited his older brothers. They would always point out his mistakes and often scold him. Of course, they would sometimes be affectionate towards him too, but Hans wanted them to love him as much as he wanted to love them. Hans knew that it was not considered proper for them to show affection towards him at public parties, and he also knew that he had to mask his own feelings during the celebrations. Hans exchanged some encouraging words and smiles with his parents, and then he started rounds of greeting all the nobles and heads of state. He saw the Duke of Weselton walking towards him, and a small smile found a way on Hans' face.

"Your Highness, congratulations on your 10th birthday and may the coming years be filled with happiness and perhaps a little bit of love. If you are not too young for such matters. Actually, I think you might be a bit too young to understand love yet. Maybe I should have left that part out. I guess what I am trying to say is; happy birthday Prince of the Southern Isles."

The Duke of Weselton was a short and slender looking man, this was the third time Hans had seen him coming to the public celebrations in his country. He also knew that the duke had a habit of talking non-stop.

"Thank you, your grace." Hans bowed to him and tried to hold back his laughter.

As the Duke of Weselton kept talking; the auburn-haired boy could not help but keep looking over to the young princess of Arendelle who was standing a few meters away from him. He would sometimes lock eyes with the blonde princess in between the conversation with the Duke. Hans couldn't help but notice how her blue eyes seemed to glisten like cold ice underneath the chandelier. He was so consumed with his thoughts that he almost forgot to pay attention to the older man's words. It seems like the Duke of Weselton had noticed this because he quickly wrapped up what he was saying.

"How foolish of me. Boring such a fine young man with such dull words was ignorant of me. I should have been more considerate. Please accept my apology."

"No damage was done. Thank you, your grace." With a final bow, Hans turned and continued plowing his way through the hall.

Hans spotted his brothers from across the room, some of them had gathered in a circle with their backs turned towards him. The 13th born prince could hear their laughter soar across the room, and some of them were flirting quite vigorously with their spouses. One of his aunts was expecting a child any time now, and her husband kept running his hand over her baby bump. The other brothers seemed to focus more on the competition between themselves than on Han's anniversary. They had always been competitive, they had always tried to be the most successful Prince. And they could not even let go of their competitive instincts, not even on his birthday. They were not interacting much with the other guests either, they had their own private bubble in the corner of the Great Hall.

"Oh stop it!" His pregnant aunt exclaimed, laughing heartily while slapping away her husband's hand.

Many other nobles stopped the young prince to offer him their congratulations, and Hans figured that it could not be helped since he was the guest of honor for that night. He had to admit that he liked getting the attention, for once someone was noticing him. Although his parents did not host his anniversary out of love, there were still people from far and near who had come to celebrate him, and that itself was a nice change from his everyday life. He kept pushing his way through the crowd, and then he was standing face to face with the royal family of Arendelle.

Queen Iduna and King Agnarr walked over to the young boy and reached out her hand to greet him.

Elsa was clinging to her mother's hand for her dear life. Never before had she seen that many people at once in a castle. She looked up at Iduna, who smiled back at her.

"We would all like to congratulate your royal highness in reaching the big 10." Everything about this lady was graceful, the way she spoke, the way she moved and her attitude. The brunette was as graceful as a swan. And he could tell that the King was proud of her.

She offered Hans a friendly smile, and he tried to smile back. Hans could see the young blonde girl wearing the light blue gloves clinging to her mother's skirt for her dear life, she looked both frightened and a little shy. (Why is she wearing those gloves?) Hans wondered he must have been staring because the Queen tried to shelter the young girl's hands behind her back. It was clear that his staring had upset her, and now she seemed to be a little bit stressed.

"You know Hans, being the guest of honor I bet you have many more guests to greet, we should not keep you busy, it was nice to meet you." She grabbed both of her daughter's tiny hands and hinted that they should walk across the room in order not to get attention from others. The small prince watched as the Royal family scurried across the Great Hall.

Hans was enjoying the soft music the musicians were playing, but then he laid his eyes on a much younger girl, she could not have been much older than 5 years old. Her smile reached from ear to ear as she stepped in front of her older sister. She kept vigorously waving "hello" to him, and he could not make up his mind on whether or not he should wave back. He decided not to, and pretended that he did not see her anymore. It did not hit home with the younger girl, she got more and more upset that he would not notice her. The little girl tried everything to get his attention, but nothing worked.

The music came to an abrupt halt and everyone fell silent as the king rose up from his chair about to hold his speech. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say a word before someone interrupted.

"Hi! I am Anna, I would like to give you a hug on your birthday, but my parents say I am not allowed to." Her voice echoed across the Great Hall.

Hans parents had also noticed this girl and Hans looked utterly embarrassed. Queen Iduna quickly pulled Anna back and covered the young girl's mouth with her hand. The brown-haired woman quickly apologized to the ones that stood next to her and tried to explain that young Anna was just a little child, a wild one but she did not understand when to speak and when not to speak yet. Although some of the guests looked absolutely annoyed and the queen's words did not seem to convince them. Hans' father cleared his throat and pretended the child's outburst had not just happened. He held a long, monotone speech and wished Hans happiness on his 10th Birthday. Hans was not sure whether or not to believe his words, it seemed forced. But he would not complain. Not today.

"For how long are you going to ignore me?" Hans turned around and stood face to face with a princess from a foreign country.

Her hair was brown and her eyes were light blue. She was a bit older than him, perhaps 12 or 13 years old. Her arms were crossed above her chest, and her foot was tapping impatiently. She was wearing a big, pink, fluffy gown. Her hair was gathered in a messy side braid. Hans smiled shyly as his eyes widened in fear. This was the princess who had been crazy about him ever since his father had introduced them to each other. She had sent him presents and gifts to him every single year hoping that he would notice her.

"Long time no see, Laura Victoria." His voice was muffled as she hugged him so tightly he squeaked for air.

"Aw, I am glad to see you too!" she announced as her arms tightened around his waist.

His nose was pressed into the crook of her neck and he was surprised that she had put on her mother's perfume. He could recognize the scent in a blink of an eye. It smelled like Casablanca lilies, jasmine and rose. Hans pulled away. Their eyes met for two seconds and then he glanced at the chandelier.

"What's gotten into you?" she demanded.

"Nothing. Just taking in how beautiful the chandelier is," he replied.

She groaned. He was hopeless, but she had feelings for him. He just did not like turning people down. It often resulted in tears and angry words being shot across the room. And he knew that she would not handle it if he tried to tell her that he was not interested in her. She would flip. His palms were sweaty if only someone would distract them. He pressed his eyes shut and hoped for the best.

"Aah, young princess Laura Victoria! Long time no see!" an elderly woman said, and smiled warmly.

Hans took the opportunity to run away from the princess. Laura Victoria tried to grab onto his hand and hold him back, but he managed to escape her grasp. He could see the hurt in her eyes, but she was simply too much for him.

Most of the kids had gathered in a corner of the Great Hall, and Anna and her new friends were all over a bowl of chocolate. The youngest girl had chocolate smeared all over her face, she tried to dry it off on her sleeve but her sister stopped her.

"Do not do that during gatherings. You will gross people out." The blonde girl warned her.

Anna sent her a deathly gaze, picked up a napkin and dried off the chocolate smear.

Hans silently walked over to them, and no one had noticed him until he stood beside Elsa.

"Elsa likes chocolate too!" Anna announced with a smile.

"White chocolate. However, it seems like the people of the Southern Isles prefer milk only." She announced.

"The quality of our chocolate is horrible," Hans admitted.

Elsa smirked and tilted her head.

"I never said that. I said you only sell milk chocolate here."

The most formal atmosphere had vanished, and the adults were busy with their things and the youngest guests were playing around in the Great Hall. It seemed like they were playing some sort of game. Hans was watching them, all alone. Elsa then tapped on his shoulder, raised an eyebrow and smiled friendly.

"Do you want to play with us? We are playing tag." Hans hesitated before he nodded.

The young girl then laughed and touched his shoulder lightly.

"Tag, you're it." she grinned and then ran off.

Hans just stood there and did not understand why Elsa had run away from him. He tilted his head and sighed. Was he supposed to run after her? The young, blonde girl came to a halt and looked at him.

"You're supposed to chase me and tag me," she told him.

He became stiff, and Elsa crossed her hands across her chest.

"If you do not want to play tag, or do not like it then just say it. I won't be mad," she added quickly.

He fell silent. And looked embarrassed. Hans simply did not know the rules, no one had ever played tag with him before and no one had explained the game to him.

He was about to open his mouth to reply when a snowball hit his shoulder. (snow? indoors? how?) he wondered, and noticed that the glove on the girl's right hand was gone. Elsa had gone pale and looked ashamed. She had just realized what she had done. Although she meant it in a playful way, it would still make her father mad that she had been using her powers carelessly.

She put on the glove again in a hurry. The kids who had witnessed Elsa's magic all panicked and ran into the Great Hall screaming.

"Wait, how did you do that?" Hans wondered, his eyes wide and voice trembling.

Elsa started feeling spikes of anxiety, she started breathing hard, began to sweat, became tearful, and her pounding heart felt like it was going to burst. Hans tried to move closer to her but she raised her hand.

"No, please do not come any closer," she warned him.

"I just want to know how a snowball hit me inside of the castle." he continued.

"Stop" Elsa's voice was trembling too now.

She did not mean to get into trouble, and not at a party. Hans tried to get a hold of her glove, but just then the two of them were interrupted

"That kid is a witch! She just used magic! My Aurora saw it with her own eyes!" the elderly woman yelled and pointed her crooked finger in Elsa's direction.

The guests came flocking out of the Great Hall. The King of Arendelle laid his eyes on her oldest daughter and sighed.

"I am so sorry father, I did not mean to."

Everyone's eyes turned towards her, she bumped into Hans' shoulder and almost lost her balance as she ran off in panic.

"Wait!" Hans yelled, but she was too far away to hear him.

The King of Arendelle had managed to catch up to her.

"The party is over. We are going home."