Of Frozen Bitterness
Chapter 2: What Then
AN: As promised, an update! I'm glad to have received reviews and don't worry - I don't plan on abandoning this story. Also, I would like to credit disneysfrozenguy for the amazing fan art of Elsa and Hans that is my cover photo for this fanfic. Thank you for letting me know through the reviews.
And guess what. This fanfic might have five chapters at the very most. Forget the tri-chapter. I'll be needing more room for Elsa and Hans' relationship. So, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
PS. Best viewed in 3/4 screen option on the website itself.
Elsa wasn't sure whether it was a notion of dominating Arendelle or love that Hans told her. But either way it, it made her irk and falter at the same time. She doesn't really know who or what Hans is like. According to Anna, he was vibrant and fit for a King. But as soon as she found out that he lied about Anna dying and that he had let the "act of true love" slip off like it was nothing - Elsa had everything on who Hans really is. He's a sadistic bastard who cares only about himself and he only desires to take over Arendelle.
There was no way in any heaping hell was she going to let him get close to taking over her Arendelle.
"Hans..." She trailed off stiffly before balling her hands into fists. The frost was beginning to settle, so cold that it made chills run down her spine. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, but..."
"But?" Hans prompted.
It looked as if it was a flurry of quick movements. As Elsa waved her hand before Hans, he was immediately thrown out of the open window just behind them. She ran over to the window and looked down at the damage she's done. Apparently, Hans had landed on a pile of snow and was already shaking underneath the cold. He looked up with window with his smoldering face and Elsa rolled her eyes at it.
"So how's the snow?" Elsa asks in mock delight.
Hans wrapped his arms around himself as he tries to get up from the snow. "Pretty cold. A lot like you, I should say!"
Elsa put a hand on her chest, looking as if it was a compliment. She smiled devilishly at him as she yelled, "Thank you! Now don't come back with you and your... whatever you just told me while you were still... not freezing."
"But I meant it!" Hans almost sounded like he was whining, which almost made Elsa smile. Almost.
With another wave of her hand, she let the window close as she headed back towards the grand hall. Only very limited people attended the said funeral. There were other royals from different kingdoms, the palace's helpers, the maids and the staff and care takers that have helped her and Anna grow into the person they are now the moment she and her sister found out that their parents had died.
Earlier that very winter morning, the Duke of Weselton arrived. Elsa didn't know what idiot had allowed him in, but he was fortunate not to have been thrown out the window like Hans was. He was the first person to call her a monster, which had caused her to run away and make her own ice palace. The thought of it was too repulsive, that she had to send guards to escort the duke out of the palace whilst being tempted to freeze him.
As she stares at Anna's frozen state, she can see most of the staff crying, sniffing and wiping off their tears. Elsa was very much tempted to shed her tears as well, but she had done that already far too many times... just not to the point of touching Anna. It was her fault that her sister is dead. She wasn't even sure how these people inside the grand hall still trust her, even if the entire kingdom finds her a monster thanks to her showcase of powers during her coronation night and the Duke of Weselton's accusations to create an uprising against her. But then again, her parents limited the amount of people to work in the palace and they've all seen what Elsa can do. Perhaps only the closest of people can understand her. And now, the only person that truly understood her was gone... all thanks to her stupid powers.
Elsa's musings were distracted by someone pulling at the bottom of her black dress. When she looked down, she almost jumped in surprise to see Pabbie, the elderly troll and two other trolls with him.
"I'm sorry to come in a state like this, your highness." Pabbie said as the two other trolls bowed in respect.
"It's alright, Pabbie. Anna would have appreciated you coming." Elsa said as she nodded towards her sister.
A small silence went between them as they stared mournfully at Anna.
"There really is... no other way?" Elsa asked, hopefully but her reaction was so stoic, you'd think she was a talking monument.
"Such power is limited." Pabbie nodded. "However..."
Elsa's attention ran a muck as she looked down at Pabbie. "However?"
"There is another process. Although this may require a lot of steps. One of which I'm not sure if you'd want to do or not."
"Pabbie, I'd do anything for Anna. You know that. Please, Pabbie. I need to know."
"Even if it requires your heart?"
"I would do it whole heartedly."
Pabbie looked around the grand hall and prompted Elsa to follow him towards the garden. As they exit, Olaf the Snowman tailed behind them. The cold atmosphere hit her like it was just something she'd normally meet. They walk down the snowy cobblestone pathway that lead to the fountain. Elsa still felt absolutely guilty that she couldn't remove the winter in the middle of summer. Ever since her panic attack, she hadn't realized that she had set the entire kingdom into an everlasting winter. It just made her feel a lot more like a monster than she already does.
Elsa saw Olaf following them, so she took his twig hand and pulled him alongside her. Olaf smiled at Elsa sadly as they followed the troll deeper into the garden.
"Have you ever been in love with a man, your highness?" Pabbie asked as he turned to start walking backwards. His two companions continued to walk normally.
"Oh, that's awesome. Let me try that!" Olaf said delightfully as he began to copy what Pabbie was doing.
"In love?" Elsa asked as she looked at her left side, pondering at the thought. She spent her whole life trapped in her room for the sake of keeping Anna safe. How on earth is it even remotely possible for her to fall in love? It's not like she trapped herself there only to have secret meetings with her secret Romeo (which she didn't have). "I've been in hiding for as many years as I can remember. It's impossible for me to find a person to fall in love with."
"Which will make this a very difficult process to go through." Pabbie warns. "I need your word, Elsa. As soon as you agree right now, there is no turning back."
"Am I not allowed to know about this difficult process of yours before I give you my full verification?" Elsa asks, suddenly worried of the event that she would face upon agreeing.
"Whether or not you know, it'd be easier to see how determined you are to unfreeze your sister by letting you agree with the said process. Don't you fret, your majesty. This will not require any extreme measures, but it may require something that you rather... despise."
Elsa thought long and hard as she walked around the garden with the Trolls and Olaf who was stumbling every now and then from walking backwards. It was obvious how much she loves her sister and darn right, would do anything to unfreeze her. But the real question is that; why was she hesitating? Was it because of how gravely or dangerously Pabbie sounded while talking about the other process or was she just scared that she might lose Anna even more if she agrees to this.
But the Trolls, especially Pabbie the elderly troll had saved Anna before. Most definitely, he can be trusted on this one. Elsa just wasn't sure how well she was going to handle it once she...
"I'll do it."
Pabbie nodded as he stopped walking backwards. When Olaf saw that Pabbie had stopped, he stumbled back and groaned.
"As you can see, your highness. Any act of true love may acquire Anna's thaw. This isn't some typical love story where the act of true love must come from the partner of the victim. By partner, I mean love interest." Pabbie explained. "Quite frankly, Kristoff and Olaf's perception of true love is simply just that... through the person that Anna is in love with. But we all know from that moment that Hans isn't Anna's true love."
"Must you make mention of his name." Elsa murmured under her breath as she cooled herself down. "Please go on."
"Your highness, you are the key to Anna's thaw. You are the only person that can perform the act of true love, since you were the one who froze her. But in order for you to thaw Anna, you will need a very crucial requirement."
"And that would be?"
"In order for you to perform the act of true love, you must... How should I put this? Find your own act of true love. If such has coursed through you, that's the only time that you can unfreeze Anna."
"Pardon?"
"Oh, oh, I know!" Olaf raised his twig-like hand as he neared Elsa. "Elsa, you need to fall in love so that you can save Anna!"
Pabbie nodded. "The snowman is right."
"F-fall in love?" Elsa asked, confused. The word was very alien to her. She, the ice cold Queen of Arendelle, fall in love? It would take a martyr just to see that happen. "With who?"
"Someone who lacks his own act of true love, much like you do with yours." Pabbie scratched his forehead. "I would recommend you who this person you need to fall in love with is, but I'm not sure..."
"Who, Pabbie? To who do I need to show my act of true love to save Anna?"
The answer that Elsa would have thought she'd get was a regular commoner, a King, she even thought that she needed to fall in love with Kristoff just to save Anna. But instead, she got...
"Olaf!" Pabbie exclaimed.
Elsa's eyes widened in horror. "Olaf?!"
"What?" Olaf asked innocently as he continued to "braid" the hay on Pabbie's cloth. Pabbie frowned at Olaf lightly, causing Olaf to take a few steps back.
"Olaf?" Elsa asked Pabbie.
"What? No, of course not the Snowman, Elsa." Pabbie said, finding Elsa's question absurd. He straightened the hay on his cloth before saying, "Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."
Elsa's eyes widened even more. Suddenly, a very cold breeze, much like a Blizzard's passed by the garden, causing bushes to bend and leaves from the trees to shake. Olaf was almost blown away if he hadn't taken a hold of Pabbie's hay. Although Pabbie was irritated, he grabbed Olaf and helped him settle on the snowy ground.
"Elsa, please!" Pabbie begged.
She swallowed before she tried to calm herself. It took her almost an hour to process everything that Pabbie had told her and it took her almost an hour to stop the blowing blizzard. So she was the only person that can save Anna. Why hadn't she thought of that before? It's not like she was in the right time to think of such, not after seeing Anna frozen. But then again, even if she did know that she can unfreeze Anna; it wouldn't have worked unless she was in love with... with Hans.
As soon as the blowing blizzard stopped, Elsa escorted Pabbie, the two other trolls and Olaf inside the palace. When they entered the grand hall, there were lesser people inside. Perhaps the only people that were there were Kristoff, a few helpers and some of the Kings, Queens and Princesses from the other kingdoms. Fortunately, these were the royals that trusted her and didn't find her a monster at all from the time she revealed her powers. But now that they know that it had been her who "might have" killed Anna, Elsa wasn't sure if they still trust her anymore.
"Why Hans?" Elsa asked in a monotonous tone, forcing herself to not overreact. It just wasn't the queenly way of hers. "I mean... Pabbie, he abandoned Anna. How can he be the very person that I have to fall in love with? Isn't there anybody else?"
"There can be others." Pabbie agreed. "However, Anna's life is at stake. It had been a month since Anna is frozen. Another month like that... and she'll be frozen forever. No other act of true love, not even yours, is going to work. I found Hans the closest person that is merely connected to you and Anna. Unless you'd like to invite hundreds of single Princes and Kings, then it would take up much time."
"How can Hans lack his own act of true love? Isn't he loved enough back in his own kingdom?" Elsa complained.
"That is for you to find out, your highness." Pabbie answered.
"Awkward." Olaf cringed and Elsa grimaced at him, since he wasn't really helping right now.
"I don't think I can ever find myself falling in love with him." Elsa said as she crossed her arms on her chest. "He's a monster. He killed my sister."
"Both of you did. Well, not really killed. Just to the point of freezing her. But I believe you understand what I mean." Pabbie sighed. "You have one month. Otherwise, Anna cannot be thawed anymore."
"Fine." Elsa groaned in defeat. How can she even be agreeing to any of this? This was completely insane. "For Anna."
"You can't fake this, Elsa." Olaf said. "If you don't fall in love with Hans..."
"I know, Olaf." Elsa closed her eyes. "Is there anything else I need to know, Pabbie?"
"There is... I just forgot. What was it again? Ah, yes!"
Elsa wasn't sure which was more horrible; she needing to fall in love with Hans or...
"You'll need to make that broken prince fall in love with you as well."
Perhaps it was the latter.
To be continued...
AN: Too OOC? Too... weird? Let me know through the reviews!