Arendelle

By Decree of King Claes of the Southern Isles:

After an attempt on the life of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles has been convicted of regicide and has thereby been sentenced to death by stoning. The execution will take place on the twelfth of February on the sixth hour in Ryk on the West Calvarin Isle.

The same clipping from several major newspapers had been sent to Elsa too many times to count that day from numerous subjects of Arendelle; no doubt, the good people of her kingdom believed she would rejoice at the news that her would-be murderer was being brought to justice. And she was. Elsa hated Hans and everything that he was. He had deceived and endangered her beloved, trusting younger sister, Anna, tricking her into thinking that he loved her only to try to seize the thrown. Then he'd gone and turned Elsa's own people against her and tried both to have her killed and to kill her himself. He was a selfish, deceitful, conniving killer, and she was glad that he was being punished as one. And yet…

She could not shake the image out of her head of a terrified, broken man being pelted to death with stones while his own brothers looked on with indifference, perhaps even participating in the execution. King Claes was not Hans' father; he was his eldest brother. Elsa had no idea what kind of relationship the two had, but the fact that Claes had sentenced his youngest brother to a brutal death was nevertheless unsettling. Anna was a good person, a remarkably good person…but Elsa knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that under no circumstance would she allow her sister to be stoned to death. She would have avoided execution at all cost.

She shook her head. This was ridiculous; she was the last person on Earth who should be worrying about Hans' fate. She went to find her sister; Anna hadn't seen the article yet, and Elsa hoped that she'd be able to knock some sense into her.

"Good. He had it coming to him. Want to have some hot cocoa with me?" Anna said, casually tossing the clipping aside as if it were a weather forecast and not the announcement of someone's imminent death.

"Oh…um…sure," Elsa replied, taken aback by her sister's non-reaction.

As Anna walked over to the cupboard to take out two mugs, Elsa wondered if she was simply overreacting. Granted, stoning was hardly an internationally accepted form of execution and considered by most to be far too brutal, but it wasn't unheard of…particularly not where the Southern Isles were concerned. King Claes' father, Noak, had been a stoic and peaceful leader, but Claes ruled with a tight fist and certainly did not shy away from treating convicted criminals harshly.

Still, to doom his own brother to a violent, painful death…

"Stoning, though?" she persisted, trying to, at the very least, find justification for her qualms. "Isn't that a bit barbaric?"

"Well, yes," Anna conceded with a roll of her eyes. "but I think it's fitting for a barbarian like him, don't you?"

"I'm not saying they should have let him off or anything. I just…I can't imagine how Claes could have decided to sentence his own brother to death. I didn't think people were capable of that."

"I don't know. Maybe they hated each other," Anna said, stirring her hot cocoa with disinterest and sliding a mug over to Elsa. "Plus, he tried to kill you, Elsa, not just anybody. Arendelle is a huge trading partner of the Southern Isles, and they're not doing so well right now. Claes had to send a message, and he had to make sure you weren't about to cut him off. Getting Hans out of the way solves everyone's problems."

And there it was. Anna was right; Claes was doing this for Elsa's own benefit, as well he should. It was the logical thing to do and the just thing to do…so why did it make her feel so uneasy?

The Southern Isles

Hans lay stretched out on his back on the floor of his cell, knowing full well that an attempt to escape would be completely futile. If there was one thing that the Southern Isles didn't lack during these hard times, it was their state of the art, maximum-security prisons. His trial had been utterly pointless, and everyone knew it, including Hans himself. There had been no confusion, no doubt; Hans had tried to murder the ice queen. Now all that awaited him was his sentence.

I'd better get used to the atmosphere in here,he thought to himself. There was no doubt now either. Claes was not going to go easy on his little brother; he never had before when he had done nothing wrong…and he certainly wouldn't now. Hans was certain that he would spend the rest of his life locked up in this godforsaken cell.

He despised Claes. He despised all twelve of his brothers. His parents had died too early in his life for them to have any significant impact on him, so the person he became was a direct result of what he learned from his brothers, and what he'd learned was that power was everything, everything. He was beaten over the head every day, every moment of his life by the fact that he would never be king, and a prince who would never rule was worthless.

So what had they expected him to do? Sit around and accept it? No. He would show them that they were wrong. Since he wasn't born into a position to be king, he would earn it. That's what he'd thought when he set out to marry the princess of Arendelle and kill off the queen. No one would be laughing at him then. Now he had failed, and the whole world would laugh at him.

There was a soft tapping at the bars of his cell. Reluctantly, Hans lifted himself off the floor into an upright position to see who had come to disturb him. He let out an exasperated groan.

"What do you want, Rolf?"

Rolf was a year older than Hans, the closest to him in age out of all of his brothers. Rolf was barely any closer to the throne than Hans was, but he never let him forget it.

"Why'd you do it, kid?"

"Will you stop calling me that? Do I look like a kid to you?"

"Kind of. You're sitting on the floor…wait, never mind. I'm sorry."

"You're what?"

Not a single one of his brothers had ever offered him an apology. Rolf rolled his eyes, ignoring the question.

"Really, though. Why'd you do it? You don't even know Queen Elsa. How could you hate her enough to want to kill her?"

What a ludicrous question. He didn't hate Elsa. He didn't hate Anna either. He'd never seen them before the coronation; no one had. They were nothing to him, absolutely nothing. They simply had the misfortune of standing between him and a crown, and they had to be removed. However, Hans was hardly in the mood to waste energy on explaining this to his brother.

"What does it matter, Rolf? It's done."

There was a palpable silence in the air, and Hans knew that there had to be another reason for his brother's visit. After what seemed like hours, Rolf spoke again, in a voice low enough so that it was nearly a whisper.

"I've just come from your sentencing decision, Hans. They're going to formally reveal it to you tomorrow, but…I don't know; I thought you should find out from me and not Claes."

Why it mattered which of his disgusting brothers told him he was never leaving this cell again was beyond him, but he remained silent.

"Hans. You're going to be stoned to death in ten days."

His heart sank and his head spun wildly; he began to feel as though he might be sick. It had never occurred to him that he'd be put to death. He'd simply never acknowledged the possibility. To save face, he let out a low chuckle.

"Well, then…see you in Hell, brother."

Hans' tone of voice did not reveal to Rolf that this was, in fact, his greatest fear.

Arendelle

Elsa carefully and quietly opened her bedroom door and peered down the hall to make sure that no one, particularly her sister, was awake and heading in her direction. Finding the hall empty, she slowly shut the door again and sat down at her desk. With a shaking hand, she wrote.

King Claes of the Southern Isles,

It has come to my attention that Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, your youngest brother, has been sentenced to death after his attempt to take my life this past summer. Although I appreciate the gesture on my behalf, I would like to be perfectly clear in stating that neither I, nor Arendelle, will stand behind this decision. I hereby offer to meet with you personally to negotiate Arendelle's sending of economic aid to the Southern Isles in exchange for the life of Prince Hans. Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Queen Elsa of Arendelle

A/N: Hi, all! Thanks to anyone who's taken time to read what I've got so far. Please, please, please offer any kind of feedback you have for me; I'd love to hear what you think of the general idea.

Also, for anyone who has been following my other story, Peril, don't you worry! I haven't abandoned it and will continue to work on both stories.

Thanks again to all of you! I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

M.E. Raine