AN: I'm back with another Frozen in OUAT story. Like the first one (which fills in the gap between the alternate Arendelle and the Snow Queen arc), this one will fill in the gap between Anna, Elsa & Kristoff returning to Arendelle and Anna's wedding and will cover the fate of Hans and his brothers. I don't own the rights to Frozen & OUAT.
Hans had been chilling on Elsa's throne. He finally succeeded in his dream of usurping a kingdom, knowing that he wouldn't get his own kingdom. Little did he know that Anna and Kristoff survived his murder attempt, reunited with Elsa in Storybrooke and were on their way back to Arendelle to reclaim their throne, Elsa having been informed of Hans' actions back in Storybrooke by Anna before her and Kristoff crossed into the place and his time as Arendelle's king was destined to be shortlived. Blackbeard had been arrested for treason and Hans knew that he was next. Speaking of which, the door to the throne room flew open and in marched Anna, Elsa and Kristoff.
"Anyone wishing to see King Hans needs to have permission", Franz, one of Hans' brothers, had said. The trio ignored him. "Hey!" he drew his sword but Kristoff drew his ice pick.
"I beat you twice, I'll do it again", he threatened. Franz conceded. Hans ordered two of his men to stand down and stood up from the throne.
"Anna? You're dead", he said.
"Nope. Alive as I'll ever be!" she retorted back but then she got serious. "Step down, Hans. Don't make us get rough with you because we will and you've seen what Kristoff and I can do". Elsa was amused at how Anna and Kristoff were to take on a couple of grown men and actually win, although that was Kristoff's second time fighting them and Hans only won that fight when he held Kristoff at swordpoint. To the trio's surprise, Hans actually agreed with them.
"Sure, I'll step down", he said but whispered in Franz' ear. "Get them", Franz nodded and when Hans hopped down from the throne, Franz, Jurgen and another one of Hans' brothers, attacked them. Franz was once again subdued by the deadly ice pick, Elsa caused Jurgen and the nameless man to slip on an ice floor and Hans, well, he received a punch to the eye this time around, courtesy of Anna.
"ENOUGH!" Elsa said, stomping the floor for emphasis. The fighting stopped immediately. She turned to Hans. "When my sister & I had you arrested and sent home to stand trial, we were under the impression that you would be either punished or executed for your crimes and your betrayal of our kingdom. You got lucky that we opted for those things when legally, we could have just ordered you hanged or sent a firing squad on you but when I received a letter from the Isles saying you've been cleared of everything, I suspected you bribed somebody to get those charges dismissed and I'm starting to think you did. Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, you're placed under rearrest", Elsa announced. Hans again smirked.
"On what charges? You're correct. I did get your previous ones thrown out BUT it wasn't by bribery. I simply twisted my story around", he said.
"They will be the same charges as before", Elsa said. Hans' smirk dropped and his brothers immediately dropped their swords in surrender when Elsa directed her icy glare towards them. "As for you gentlemen, I trusted that you would discipline Hans for his actions but obviously, I was wrong as well in sending him to you. You gentlemen are also under arrest for attempted regicide and willing involvment in Hans' usurption scheme. Punishments will be determined pending a trail. Prince Hans will be placed in the dungeons without trial. That is all", Elsa announced. It was done at once. Elsa's guardsmen escorted the prisoners to the dungeons to await trial, which will be held next morning.
Next morning, while Anna and Kristoff were preparing for their wedding, Elsa wrote to the Southern Isles, informing them of her intention to imprison Hans and his brothers under Arendelle jurisdiction instead of sending them back to their home kingdom as per the norm. She sealed the letter and sent a manservant to mail the letter to the Southern Isles, which now presneted a problem: if the Isles found out about Elsa's plan, they could send a man out to retrieve them and threaten war over the issue, which was why Elsa needed to get the trial done and over with so she could walk Anna down the aisle, like she promised she would. "Do you want to see the prisoners now?" a guard asked.
"Bring in the brothers but not Hans unless noted otherwise", Elsa said.
"Very good", the guard left to pick up the brothers from their cells in the dungeons. He came back quickly with the brothers in tow and in chains.
"Sit down", Elsa said. The brothers knew that they were in no position to snark back and sat down. Not a word was uttered. "So, how do you guys plead to this?" she asked.
"Not guilty", all four of them said in unison.
"Really? Because from the looks of it, you four were willingly helping him", Elsa said. "You four will testify one at a time and I will listen before deciding a verdict". The testimonies were tricky to depicher because they all amounted to the same thing: Everyone was surprised and shocked when Hans returned from Arendelle in chains and a list of his crimes was delivered to them. They did trial him but he convinced them that his actions were for Arendelle's best interests so they saw reason to dismiss the charges and that Hans bribed them to accompany him to Arendelle for a second attempt at usurption.
"You forget that when Anna left to go find me and return me to Arendelle, Hans took an oath to protect Arendelle and its' royalty and he broke that oath when he attempted to kill both my sister and myself. He is a traitor and you should have NOT cleared him of his crimes and from the looks of it, you gentlemen are traitors as well", Elsa said. "Bring in Hans. I want him to validate what his brothers had said, since they were the ones who trailed him intially", she told her guardsman. The guardsman went back to the dungeons to retrieve Hans and during that time, a letter returned from the Isles. Elsa read the letter and figured this could be used as leverage aganist them. She was smiling when the guardsman escorted Hans, also in chains, into the room.
"Your majesty, I thought I wasn't to receive a trial", Hans immediately noted.
"You're right, You're not. But I have one question: Your brothers' testimonies added up to the exact same thing, which means that one of them is lying. It's your job to tell me whether or not they're telling the truth. Since they were the ones who trialed you when my sister & I sent you back, I'll ask you: Are all your brothers' testimonies true or is one lying?" she asked, staring Hans directly in the face. He nodded.
"They're all true. Everyone was displeased with me when I was returned in chains and I was trialed but I knew I would get the death penalty if I told it EXACTLY what happened so I twisted my story a little bit and after Franz threw your charges out and Jurgen pardoned me, I figured, there was NOTHING stopping me from trying again", Hans stated. Elsa smirked. She pulled out the letter she just received from the Isles.
"I have here, in my hand, a letter from the Southern Isles. It says: To Queen Elsa of Arendelle, we are appalled to hear of the crimes of Prince Hans and his four brothers in your kingdom. You are free to handle it as you see fit, signed Sir William of The Southern Isles. My ruling is this: Hans will receive 5 to 6 years in the Arendelle Dungeons for his prior treachery and current crimes. He will be returned to the Isles after that time for further punishment. You gentlemen, his brothers, will receive 2 to 3 years in the dungeons and will be returned to the Isles for further punishment. It's clear that you 4 were unwilling participants in this, although how much unwilling remains to be seen. I will question you 4 in due time but that's where my verdict stands now. This trial is adjourned. I have a wedding to attend to. Someone is expecting me to walk her down the aisle", Elsa said, banging her hammer to lock in the verdict. The guardsmen escorted the prisoners back to the dungeons while Elsa went to honor her promise to walk Anna down the aisle at her wedding.
AN: That's It! That's It! I spelled out the reasons for the punishments: Hans also needed to serve time for his prior treachery in addition to his current crimes while Elsa wanted to investigate further just HOW unwilling Hans' brothers were in helping him in his second run, implying there's the possibility they were lying to get a shorter sentence, which is indeed common in real life cases. R&R!
