Deadlock
Chapter THREE, The Method to the Madness
"Hans—?!" Anna growled.
"Wait, like the Prince?"
"No, what my sweet cupcake meant to say was Hansel! Yes buttercup, your sweet Hansel is here!" He shot her a look and put a finger over his lips to indicate that she should stay quiet. "I see there is some confusion here between you and my lovely wife?" This guy would have to be a complete idiot if he didn't recognize the thick sarcasm attached to Hans' words.
"Wait—wife?!"
"Wife?"
"Of course! She disappeared after a large, savage-looking blonde buffoon with a dopey-eyed reindeer ran past us and managed to snatch my wallet. I told her not to go after him because I was afraid of what would happen if that oaf got his slimy hands on her, but she was too fast and I had to run after her into your tavern!" He took another careful step towards the duo, holding his hands up as if to prove that he wasn't trying anything funny.
"…So that's why she was lookin' for 'em then?" The bartender's stare veered back towards Anna.
"Honey?" Hans looked towards her, as if to imply she should speak.
"Yeah…yep, that's it! Except I don't remember him being nearly as large, savage and buffoon-ish as my dear sweet husband seems to." The clear venom in her voice did not go undetected. "You must excuse my darling husband, you see he has a problem with his memory and sometimes tells tall tales that aren't always true." Her eyes didn't leave his for even one moment.
He responded with a fake laugh. "That's my wife! Quick as a whip, with a tongue sharper than a knife!" Finally Hans reached them, grabbing Anna's wrist to set it free when the bartender loosened his grasp in what was probably confusion. "You know, she always did have a nasty habit of biting the hand that feeds her, but lets just keep that between you an me." Despite the fact that he meant for the statement to be heard in secret, his volume level and hearty laugh said otherwise. "Now dear, lets get going before dark so that we can report the robbery to the guard!" It was extremely hard for her to take her pick between dying and letting Hans hold her waist as he helped her off the tall bar.
She looked at him with a sour face when he set her down, and he shot her the same, charming smile that she only knew was fake because she had gotten lost in it once before. "Thank you for taking care of her for me! We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience we could've caused you or your fine establishment." He bowed slightly, at which point Anna wondered how much of his pride he had to suck up to do so. "Good afternoon!" He nudged her. "Honey bun…"
"Ah—yes! Good afternoon!" She laughed with as much cheese as she could muster, halting everything immediately upon them exiting out the door.
Actions spoke louder than words (And Anna was never good with words), which is why instead of giving Hans the thorough tongue-lashing he deserved, she found her hand winding back for the punch.
"Ah, ah, ah." Though she had flung it forward, Hans had seen it coming and caught her fist in his own hand. "You're more brainless than I had imagined if you thought I would fall for that trick twice, Princess."
She attempted to remove her fist from his hand before the reality of how much stronger he was than her came to pass. But if things were going to go down like this, then Anna was not going to go down without a fight. Without a second thought she swung her free hand towards his stomach, which he dodged as he caught her at the wrist. "Woah, somebody clearly didn't forget to drink their tea this morning."
"Let…me…go!" She grunted, flinging her body around in an attempt to free herself from his clutches.
"So you want to do this the hard way?" She felt the slam of the tavern's exterior on her back before discerning that Hans had pinned her to the wall. "Because we can do this the hard way!"
Despite the strong grasp on her wrists, she still struggled. "Let me go this instant!"
Her screams continued while he maneuvered her wrists into one of his hands and used the free one to clamp over her mouth. "That thing I did back there, it was called saving your life! You might want to be a little quieter and listen to me before I inform the guards that a Princess of Arendelle is here unannounced." He said the last part with a sneer, freeing her mouth to further secure the grasp he had on her wrists. "I wonder what the King would think of that—A spy from Arendelle snooping around in the midst of all the tension between our Kingdoms."
For the sake of her sister she chose to bite her tongue, breathing heavily with a determined face after the physicality of fighting to be free of him.
"There, now that's the sweet little cupcake Anna I know."
"Watch it." She spat, hoping he would let her go because she couldn't bear to be this close to him for any longer.
"I see you haven't lost your spunk."
"Why don't you just kill me already." Somehow it seemed that the angrier she got, the wider the grin of Hans' face stretched. "That's what you want, isn't it?"
"Actually I'm here to talk about what you want."
She couldn't think of anything he had that she could want. "What is that supposed to mean?" Her wrists adjusted, causing a pain to surge down her arm from how harshly he was holding her.
"A certain blonde haired imbecile, toting along his overnight pack with an abhorrent reindeer."
"Kristoff?!" In one swift moment her tough exterior broke, worry flooding her delicate features.
"Oh, I've hit a nerve, have I?" His laugh made something unsettling churn in her stomach.
"Please, what have you done with him? Is he okay? I'll do whatever if you just don't hurt him!"
"Calm down, I haven't done anything with your less than charming ice-boy." He shifted his hands against her wrists. "Promise you won't bite?"
She nodded because she didn't see any other option.
"Good," He started as she rubbed the red marks on her now free hands. "As you have a tendency to not do anything discreetly, I overheard that you were looking for Reindeer Games—"
"You mean Kristoff."
"Whatever," He brushed a stray hair from his brow before he continued. "What I'm trying to say is that I can help you."
"You know for a second I thought you might be Prince Hans, but then I heard the word 'help' come out of your mouth and now I'm quite unsure." She crossed her arms with a frown.
"Cut the cute, I'm not here to play games. I know where Kristoff is, or I can help you find him at least."
The name made another crack appear in her armour. "How do I know I can trust you? And why would you suddenly want to help me?"
"Think of it this way, you have something I want and I have something you want also." There was a moment of silence, which he chose to respond to after Anna failed to say anything. "Neither of us can move without the other. We're at an impasse—a deadlock."
"What could I possibly have that you would want?"
"My freedom."
She raised an eyebrow, looking at him like he was a complete loon.
"I see this warrants explanation." He shifted with a sigh. "Since our little endeavor last Summer things have been…less than ideal for me here. The summary is that I'm not allowed to leave this place or even the castle without a platoon of guards tracking my every move—"
"So where are those guards now?"
"I deceived a whole Kingdom into believing that I was their would-be King, you think I couldn't escape a few bumbling guards?"
She hated how much sense he was making. "Then why do you need me?"
"Because I can't keep dodging them forever, and the only way my father's agreed to let me do such is if I 'redeem' myself, which I can't do because your stubborn sister won't let me step foot on anything even remotely associated with Arendelle."
Stifling her laughter because of how cruel her sister could be was proving extremely difficult.
"Laugh all you want," His agitation only made holding it in harder. "But without me you'll never find your 'true love' and without helping you I'll never be able to leave this place."
Finally she silenced the giggles in one gulp. "And how am I supposed to know this isn't some elaborate plan to kill me?"
"You trusted me once—"
"And look where that got me."
"Your drive to find Kristoff trumps your fear of me killing you. Besides, there'd be no point in offing you now, it'd only make my problems run deeper and your whole Kingdom is already convinced that I'm the spawn of Satan."
He had a point. "Al...Alright." The words left her mouth with a bitter taste. "But I'm serious Hans, if you so much as think of double crossing me, 'dead' is what you wish you'll be and 'lock'—" She cursed her mouth for talking before she knew was she was even going to say. "And 'lock' will..."
"'Lock,'"
Oh no, she had given him an oppourtunity.
"'Lock,' is what you'll be doing with those pretty little lips of yours once you realize how lucky you are that the handsome Prince Hans is assisting you in finding your plain country bumpkin."
"In. Your. Dreams."
"Try not to blush too hard, I'm not interested in children anyways." He waved a hand in front of his face before turning on his heel and walking away in the dimness of the sunset.
"I'm not a child!" She protested after him. "And where do you think you're going?"
"To grab my things, is that a problem?"
"I - don't - know." Choosing that answer somehow made her feel less stupid for asking.
"You're so needy." He sighed. "We'll meet by the pier in the morning, and try to wear something that makes it less obvious that you're the beloved Princess of some foreign Kingdom."
"I do have a disguise, thankyouverymuch."
He stopped, nudging a head back to her. "Oh heavens, its not something idiotic like a shawl, is it?"
"…"
"Just…meet me there at dawn, bring whatever you think you'll need for the journey." He resumed with a look the read like he severely needed a nap.
"Journey? Where are we going?" With a jolt she went after him, matching the speed his large strides with her short ones.
"Reindeer Games was at the docks this morning, I saw him boarding a boat while conversing with my brother—"
She cringed at the word, remembering the slimy man that she had accidentally proposed to.
"The vessel was headed to one of the many other islands in the Kingdom, if it had been one of the smaller ones than that would've been ideal, but it's a smaller island than this one nonetheless."
"And what am I supposed to tell the ones who brought me here?"
"Do I have to spoon feed you everything?" He snapped, causing her to shiver. "Tell them anything as long as you leave me out of it."
He continued walking away as she mimicked him silently. "A deadlock, he says." Muttering, she kicked a stone on the ground while still in disbelief about the whole thing. In what world did she ever imagine Hans, out of all people, being her only hope to get Kristoff back? Perhaps if she fell asleep she would wake up to find out that this was all a dream. A cruel, strange dream—maybe even a nightmare.
Or…definitely a nightmare.
Notes:
Sorry it's a little shorter, the next one is longer I promise! This is just where I imagined the chapter ending…but hey, Hans is officially in the hiz-ouse! (whoop, whoop!)
Anyways…I know I say it every single time but THANK YOU again for how much love you are allshowing me. It is blowing my mind that a little project I did to start getting my thoughts out in a story is being read by so many wonderful people. It's been so fantastic and I do not deserve it!
A special thank you again to those beautiful commenters, Guest, Guest, Guest, Nerdrus, Superstar9015, Steshin (again! C:), Ava-Potter gal, and Guest! It makes me so giddy to see comments on my story and they are greatly appreciated! You are all the sweetest people ever! Also, thank you for everyone who is reading, I am still being floored everyday when I see the views on this.
U r all awesum.
But really, I thank so much because I am truly amazed and grateful. Thank you all c:
Also to answer Guest's question, it's a secret ;) Okay fine, jokes. I didn't want to put it in the official 'couples' pairing brackets or whatever those things are…but this will end up as a story where Hans and Anna have an ending. There may be hints of Kristianna and the like alone the way, but as I kind of (but not effectively) tried to convey in the notes on Chapter One, this is my way to see Hans and Anna have an ending that isn't totally tragic. But we will see ;) there is much more to come! (Alcohol, anyone?)
Chapter Five is in the works right now, and it is coming along swimmingly! I'm having far too much fun with it (which could either be taken as good or bad…) so I hope this is enough to hold you all over until Chapter Four is released!
Again, sorry for the shortness and thank you for sticking with me through Deadlock so far. It seems to just get more and more fun to write/see this story develop!
I hope to hear from you all!
With even more love than last time,
-BrittBerry
