Voices in My Head

A.N: So I'm back on the fanfiction scene with a short Frozen AU :) This was actually in response to a post I saw on Facebook and it made me think...what if Hans was really a good guy? I really did like him in the movie so here's hoping I did him justice. This was my first time writing in the present tense so please do leave reviews and tell me what you thought of it.

As always: Read, review and enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen.

Ooo

It hits him out of nowhere.

One minute, he's helping the guards carry Queen Elsa out of the ice palace; the next, he's doubled over as a sharp pain hits the back of his skull like lightening. Hans clutches his head and falls forward to his knees with a cry of pain and a guard immediately moves to help him.

But the pain leaves just as quickly as it came and the prince waves off the concerned guard and stands up to check his head. There is no cut nor any sign of physical damage and Hans thinks that it's probably a form of migraine. He has been stressed; what with running a country for the first time in his life, making sure that the people of Arendelle didn't freeze and worrying for the safety of Anna.

There is a slight throbbing at the base of his skull but Hans shakes his head and concentrates on getting back to the palace safely. He ignores the pain until they reach the castle doors and the new Queen is carried inside.

He wants to question Elsa about her sister but that is when the pain returns in agonizing force and in the haze, he doesn't hear the Duke's men slyly mention that they will place Elsa in a cold cell rather than her bedroom, for the protection of the people.

There is only the ache in his mind and Hans blindly stumbles to the comfort of his bedroom where he collapses onto the large bed. His head throbs terribly and the prince can feel tears smarting in his eyes but he rubs it away when a guard knocks on his door to give him some comforting news: Queen Elsa is awake.

Hans is able to feel hope for the first time since seeing Anna's horse return without her and he ignores the pain in favor of making his way down to the dungeons. As he crosses into the cold stone cell, the prince hopes that Elsa will forgive him for her accommodations. To his surprise, the Queen cares naught for her new lodgings but rather for the safety of her people.

For the first time, Hans sees more than the regal passiveness that Elsa first regarded him and sees a woman who is desperate to keep the people around her safe. He sees the fear in her eyes as he tells her that Anna has not yet returned and understands that despite popular belief, Elsa does love her sister. It is this newfound knowledge that allows Hans to make a firm promise to help the Queen and remove her from the dungeons as soon as he can.

Hans returns to his room once again, mulling as to how he would go about in convincing the Duke that Queen Elsa was not a monster but simply just a frightened woman with powers beyond her own understanding. He only hopes they will hear the conviction in his voice and believe him. Praying to every deity he knows, Hans calls for the Duke and the advisors and speaks to them about what he has witnessed in the dungeons. Unfortunately, the Duke is adamant in the fact that Elsa is a monster and while the advisors are not as negative in their views, they still regard the blonde Queen as a danger to the rest of Arendelle.

Angry that he cannot get them to change their minds, Hans tells them that he will go out to find the young princess again. If Elsa does not know where Anna is and she has not yet returned; Hans cannot bear to think what must have happened to the innocent girl. He just has to find Anna. But here, the advisors are just as determined as Hans is and they tell him why he cannot go look for the princess: he is a prince and the ruler (however temporary) of Arendelle and he must put his heart aside and think for the people. This is what he must do.

Hans feels a sense of despair overcome him but it vanishes when the door opens and there in the hands of her servants, lies Anna. Oh, the joy he feels at seeing her face again! Hans rushes to her, to feel her warmth, to see her smile, to hear her voice…but something is wrong.

Anna is not warm but frozen to the touch. Her voice shakes in fear and there is a grimace of pain on her face rather than her radiant smile. And then the princess begs for Hans to kiss her. He is in shock for a few minutes and his words stutter to a stop. It's not as if he doesn't want to kiss Anna, for there is nothing more that Hans would like to do at that moment. However, he does have an audience and kissing Anna is something he would like to do behind the privacy of closed doors.

Thankfully, the advisors and the servants file out and Anna begins to explain what her sister has done to her and what can save her. Hans feels a fearful rage take over him; Elsa has hurt the one person she should love; the one person who saw her as more than a monster. But Anna calms him when she says that only an act of true love can save her and the young prince understands.

True love's kiss. That is what will save Anna; will save Arendelle. Hans leans forward, confident in his love for the girl in front of him when suddenly, everything just…stops.

And then, pain. Unlike the first few instances of the day, the agony bowls over Hans in maddening terror and he cries out. But his mouth makes no sound. His body does not contort in fear. And in the few seconds of clarity that he does have, Hans realizes something terrible. He is not in control. Someone or something else, has taken over his being and Hans is imprisoned within his own mind.

And then thoughts and emotions flood over him and he remembers jealousy at being the youngest and never having the chance to rule, anger at being ignored for the better part of his life. They all hit him, one after another until the thoughts suddenly switch from his life in the Southern Isles to his time in Arendelle.

Memories of Anna crashes through his mind: dances with Anna, singing with Anna, loving Anna, trusting Anna. Anna as she agrees to his impromptu proposal, Anna as she begs Hans to understand that her sister meant no harm, Anna as she trusts the Kingdom of Arendelle to Hans. All those recollections are supposed to be tinged in happiness and love but instead, they are tainted in lust, greed, jealousy and evil.

Hans wants to cry out because this is not what he thinks anymore! He is done wanting to rule! He only wants Anna; not her crown nor her kingdom.

The whole thing seems to take forever but in truth, it must have been a millisecond, for Anna is still leaning forward to kiss him. Hans wants to yell at Anna to leave him because something is seriously wrong but he is powerless to do anything.

He can only watch helplessly as the thing that has taken control over his body lets poisoned words slip from the mouth that was mere centimeters from kissing the girl he loved. Hans wants to cry in anger at the lies spilling from his lips, wants to yell that Anna is not naïve and that he loves her; but he is imprisoned in his own body and mind and can do nothing but watch as traitorous hands snuff out the flames that could save the dying princess and then lock the heavy door.

Just as Elsa was chained in the palace dungeons, so is Hans chained in the depths of his own mind, unable to do anything but merely cry out and scream that the person stalking out of the castle and into the blizzard is not him.

The only thing he can do is cry. He cries when the treacherous lies spill from his lips, when he tells Elsa that she has killed her sister, when his hand removes the sword once given to him by his proud father and when it swings down on the heartbroken and distraught Queen.

And then suddenly, Anna is there, with her arm outstretched and half turned blue and his sword swings down on her and he screams 'NO!' in his head. But it is a sick twist of fate when the metal breaks into a million pieces for it has ricocheted off of a frozen Anna and the aftershock of the explosion throws Hans backwards into something hard and he blacks out.

When Hans does awake, it is to see that the frozen world of Arendelle is now thawed and he thinks that perhaps there is a God because both Anna and Elsa are alive and he wants to tell them that the person who lied to them was not him and that it would never be him. But he never gets the chance.

Because Anna lets those harsh words slip from her lips, 'The only frozen heart around here is yours.' That's right before she punches him hard enough to throw him overboard and break his nose.

And Hans is horrified, because Anna believes that he is evil and so does Elsa and he wants to beg for Anna's forgiveness. But she cannot forgive him. She will never forgive him. Anna believes him to be the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth, an arrogant, heartless pig who cared only for money and power and she has no words for him, the man she once loved as he is unceremoniously thrown into his ship's brig.

And as the ship pulls away from Arendelle; from Anna, Hans can only cry hot tears in his cell as he laments the loss of a wonderful woman.

And until his dying day, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles would never know that his love was so cruelly taken away from him by a family of trolls who only wanted a sweet princess with a streak of white in her red hair to be the fixer upper for their blonde human son with the moose.

Ooo

How was it? Tell me in a review and hopefully I'll see you guys again :D