"Hans."
Elsa lowered her arms, the fight draining from her like water bursting from a ruptured dam. The soldiers, likewise, went off the offensive stance. Hans simply stared back at the ice queen, silently offering the young woman to speak first. After all, even though the coronation had been cut short by her little breakdown, she was still next in line for royalty. Hans had to be respectful. The chilling winds whipped across all of their faces, and one of the soldiers couldn't help himself from sneezing.
"What are you doing here?" Elsa finally asked. Her voice was thick and dripping with scorn, and she held none of it back for the sake of the prince. She was in no mood to conceal it right now. At the same time, Elsa did not wish to erupt in front of 'Anna', whose footsteps through the snow were growing closer.
"I was...well, no, it would take too long to explain everything all at once."
"What?"
"Queen Elsa, I'm sorry, and I don't mean to seem like I'm talking back to the leader of the country, but for the sake of my men, at the very least, could we hold off on discussions until we have stepped out of the storm and into somewhere...less likely to kill us with frost?"
Elsa had forgotten that 'normal' people were usually susceptible to the cold. She waved her hand and the gates behind Hans split open, releasing a hollowed groan that echoed throughout the mountain; it was like the very palace itself was bemoaning to have to grant entrance to these dangerous visitors.
"Thank you." Hans flashed the ice queen one of his 'pretty boy smiles', something that Elsa assumed he practiced extensively in the mirror every morning, before turning away to enter the palace with the soldiers accompanying him. Their boots clicked on the surface of the icy floor, but it was because of their boots that they could hold onto their traction, but Elsa would have gotten quite a laugh from watching the pompous prince falling on his rear. Instead, he waltzed right in, as if he owned the place. Just like he thought he owned her sister's heart. Elsa despised him.
"Elsa? That man..." 'Anna' walked up beside her, and Elsa was almost briefly surprised by the lack of heavy breathing or exhaustion from running through the snow, but then she remembered that her companion wasn't really human.
"Yes, that man is from the palace. He's-"
"He's Prince Hans from the Southern Isles. I...I know who he is."
"What?" Elsa nearly smacked her head into 'Anna's, she spun around to face her so fast, "How do you already know who he is if you haven't even met him before? I mean, you HAVEN'T met him before, right?"
'Anna' gaped, lacking the words to explain herself. She had nothing she could say as a justified reason for her knowing the prince; his identity literally popped into her mind the moment she saw him. She had made several unannounced trips into human territory over the past few weeks, mainly for the sake of obtaining food for Elsa, but even then she never bothered to learn anything about the royal affairs; all she needed to know was what Elsa told her. Now she was suddenly recalling names and places she shouldn't have known. Even stranger, when she thought about Hans, she didn't feel herself getting riled up. Instead, she felt sad. Simply sad. Like there was something she desperately wanted to tell Hans, and it was on the very tip of her tongue, but she couldn't recall it no matter how deeply into her memories she dug.
But her desire to protect Elsa was even stronger. She wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he attempted to harm her love. She would even fight off the armed soldiers if it came to that; her ice body could handle taking much more damage than one made of flesh.
"I haven't, but...it was...a lucky guess?"
"A lucky guess?" Elsa cocked an eyebrow, "Now you're just fooling with me, Anna. I never mentioned Hans before, and yet you knew who he was...and that's not to mention some of the things you say, they're so strange..." She took the ice statue's hands into her own, and stared into her eyes, the worry plain on her face. 'Anna' didn't know what to tell her. Part of her wanted to kiss her again.
"Excuse me? Queen Elsa and, er, her friend?"
Elsa and 'Anna' turned their heads. Hans was standing in the doorway, staring at them.
"Are you two going to come inside? I'm afraid I can only spend so much time here; unlike you, my queen, the cold DOES bother me, just a smidgen."
Elsa nodded. "I'll be right there, Prince Hans."
"Thank you!" Hans grinned and he left once again, the soldiers standing in watch not too far away.
Elsa looked back at 'Anna' again, but the ice statue was refusing to meet her gaze any further. She simply stared at the ground, hugging herself as if she was suddenly hit by the chill of cold air. Yet that would be an impossibility. Elsa sighed, shook her head, walked away, all without another word. They would need to discuss with Hans his reasons for the unannounced visit and to try and remove him from the premises as calmly and quietly as possible. Elsa would wait until after then to continue speaking with 'Anna'. She wanted to help her new friend any way she could, because she loved her.
'Anna' stared off at the far-off woods at the bottom of the mountain before following Elsa into the palace.
Hans' cold, calculating eyes followed 'Anna's every movement as she made her way around the small room, offering a plate of flavored ice cubes to all of the soldiers. All of them declined. Elsa and Hans sat across from each other on separate couches, with two soldiers filling the cushions on Hans' either side. These two companions of Hans' were clearly of a different breed compared to their brethren. The soldiers that 'Anna' tended to were a motley lot, likely a group of farmers and homeless from town hired by Hans; he probably offered a great reward to aid him in finding and confronting the ice queen. It seemed that over the week since the icestorm began, most of his actual soldiers abandoned him for warmer climates. The two still loyal to the prince were larger, bulkier, tougher; they gave off an aura of professionalism from their rigid stances and watchful eyes. They kept their hands on their weapons at all times.
Elsa didn't like it, and she made sure to display her disapproval using her face, but Hans seemed to be ignoring her and kept his leering gaze transfixed to the ice statue. That only displeased the ice queen even more. It reminded her of the coronation all over again, and she hugged herself even tighter.
"Amazing, the work you did on this one." Hans remarked with fascination, "It's looks so real! I mean, really! Just like her! It has her looks, her smile, her mannerisms, even her voice! Remarkable!"
"Y-Yes...I suppose so..." Elsa brushed back a hair that had suddenly gone stray, "In any case, we should focus on business right now. Prince Hans, please tell me, what is it that you want from me? This palace is my home now, I've abandoned my old residence and the people left behind...and I am not wanting to have any visitors here." 'Except for Anna.' Elsa mentally added.
Hans sighed. 'Anna' kept watch on him out of the corner of her eye. One of Hans' personal guards was staring back, the other glaring intensely at the ice queen. It honestly felt like they were being held hostage inside their own home.
"It shouldn't be difficult to understand why I'm here, Queen Elsa," Hans replied.
"Drop the moniker, I'm not a queen." Elsa shook her head.
"Well, I can't really do that, you see, because you are. You were decided as the heiress to the royal family of Arendelle, and even though you basically ran away during the royal coronation, you're still considered to be the new queen and as such you're responsible for both this country and its people. Everyone has agreed that that's the case."
Elsa grumbled under her breath. 'Anna' nervously fingered the plate in her hands; even a plate made of ice could be turned into a deadly weapon if thrown hard enough. She would protect Elsa, no matter what.
Hans continued, "I was there when you first unleashed your powers, and I've seen the damage you've done by bringing about this eternal winter. People are going to die of cold and starvation if things aren't changed soon, don't you understand that? So I came here to plead with you, Queen Elsa...you need to have some mercy on Arendelle's citizens and stop the snowfall before everyone freezes to death! You can bring summer back, can't you?"
Elsa shook her head. "I can't do it."
"Please! Think of the children, at the least!"
Elsa shook her head again.
"W-Well, baring that...what would the former king and queen say about this? What about Anna, and I'm talking the real one, not this ice imitation you have walking around? Surely you've talked about this-" Hans' voice started to raise as he became more desperate.
Elsa scowled, interrupting, "I don't mean I can't do it because I don't want to. It's because I really can't. My gift is to be able to create snow and ice out of the air, not to remove it. It only goes one-way, and after that, it's all up to the natural elements. The snow stays, the ice stays. There's no way for me to stop it anymore...and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Hans' eyes narrowed, incredulous. Even the soldiers began to mutter among themselves. Elsa felt so ashamed; all she wanted was to let it all go, to be happy. She didn't want to have to deal with any of this.
"You can't be serious. Queen Elsa, if you don't stop this now, the entire country will have to be abandoned! No one can suitably live here except for you!"
"You have to understand, Hans, there isn't anything I can do! I wish I could, but...I can't..." Elsa gripped her knees hard enough to nearly dig her fingernails in; her eyes drifting to the floor and away from Hans' face, "...I really can't..."
Hans began to feel utterly hopeless, but he still pressed on. He didn't want to become the ruler of a land of ice; he honestly despised the cold. He gave Elsa a sad, disappointed look, but he was being stern at the same time. "You have to do something! Queen Elsa, you're the one responsible for this country's current situation, and...and if you can't fix it...you know what that means, don't you?"
Elsa wished she could just shut her eyes and make everything go away. 'Anna' started to grow uneasy as well, as if she could feel Elsa's own deep-routed despair rising up inside of her, a terrible sensation that seemed to be constantly prevalent, but always hidden in the back of her mind until now. Even people who made Elsa cry could not be forgiven. Hans didn't wait for the ice queen to reply this time.
"It means that you've become a traitor attempting to destroy her own country. I may just be a royal guest visiting your homeland from the Southern Isles, but I will take on the duty to stop you myself if no one else can. I can't let things stay this way, and you must be aware of that."
"I just want to be able to live happily with Anna..." Elsa muttered.
Hans stood up, as did his guards. Elsa gasped, wiping away the wetness in her eyes as she prepared to defend herself. 'Anna' leaped into action.
"Grab her! Don't let her ice powers stop you!" Hans ordered. The guards started to move in, their spears and swords raised. Elsa was intending to stop them by encasing their legs in ice, but before she could begin to weave her spells, the ice statue had already jumped in between her and the oncoming mob.
"Anna...!"
'Anna' snapped the ice plate in half, and, wielding a half-moon slice in each hand, charged straight at the guards. She wasn't going to waste time taking on all of them; it would be too risky, considering her ice's fragile state. If she cut down the leader, the rest would throw away their arms and surrender. It was her best bet, and then she and Elsa could live in their ice palace, together and forever. 'Anna' knocked away the first two guards with the back of her arm, they were easy pickings, not suitable for capturing an ice queen at all. 'Anna' bent her head forward, slamming herself into the third guard. He tumbled backward, the back-end of his spear jabbing his fellow conspirator in the gut. She reached out to grab one of them by the head, but instead she only felt herself grasping air.
'Anna' stumbled, an iron spear point lodging itself in her chest, deep enough to almost come out the other side. Hans' personal guard, either one of them 'Anna' couldn't tell them apart, was staring her down. The other personal guard grabbed 'Anna' from behind before she could hit the ground. Her arms were thrust behind her back, and because she lacked the sense for pain that a human would, the two men did not go easy on her with the rough-housing, making sure to twist her wrists and grind her hands when they tied them together. Hans approached her with a sword drawn. 'Anna' wanted to check over to Elsa, to ensure she was okay, but the prince grabbed her swiftly by the chin.
"This...this has to be some kind of disguise, right? You can't really be..." Hans murmured to himself. 'Anna' had no idea what he was rambling about. Hans raised his sword and struck the ice statue on the face with the hilt, and everything went dark on the left side of 'Anna's peripheral vision. She could hear the broken shards of ice tumbling out her face and scattering onto the floor. Hans peered inside the newly-created hole. 'Anna's head hung limp; she felt so drained of energy all of the sudden. And yet, some unwavering, almighty presence inside of her, far more forgiving than she ever thought she could be, did not hate Hans entirely for this. He just didn't understand, that was all.
"...There's no one inside?" The prince asked, his eyebrows high enough to risk flying off his face. It seemed he had been expecting the ice Anna's existence to just be a trick, maybe that the real Anna was hiding inside.
"Prince Hans! Please!" screeched one of the guards from aside, "Stop her, or else she's going to kill us! Please, get her to stop!"
Hans responded to the call, and let out a strangled gasp. "Q-Queen Elsa! What're you doing?"
The guards that 'Anna' had knocked over were trapped together in a sheet of ice, their entire bodies covered except for their heads. Elsa stood over them, her hands outstretched and trembling, her eyes bulging wide. She started to move her fingers inward, to form a fist, and the guards screamed in unison, the ice clenching around them.
"Elsa..." Hans briefly let the moniker slip from his mind as he tried to speak to her, in his calmest voice, "Elsa...what are you doing?"
"Let her go now." Elsa hissed with teeth barred.
"Elsa-"
"Let her go, I said! Do you want me to...to kill them?"
Hans gave a curt nod and a wave to the two men behind him, and 'Anna' dropped to the floor. A few more cracks in her face started to form.
"Now, let me have a chance to speak." Elsa breathed; she was starting to gather herself again. To see her friend, who looked just like her sister, to be attacked like that...it had sent her into a frenzy. Now she was able to think more clearly, like a queen should.
Hans gave her the go-ahead.
"I'm willing to work with you to try and find a way to reverse my powers, Hans, if that's what you really want! But...but please, just let me be! Leave her alone! And...and let me see Anna! Those are my conditions!"
Hans' face fell. "Anna?"
"Yes, Anna! My sister, the real one! I want to see her!" Elsa shouted back at him.
"Wait...wait a minute..."
"I want to see Anna! I miss her so much! I-I want to apologize to her, and tell her how sorry I am for yelling at her, and everything else I never got to say since our childhood!" Elsa was starting to ramble on, but she couldn't stop herself, the motor of her mouth running at full speed. Her eyes started to glisten with oncoming tears. 'Anna' watched her beloved out of the corner of her eye; so this was it, this was just how badly Elsa missed her sister; the sister that she held so much affection for that she was dangerously on the verge of breaking through the moral barrier of society. 'Anna' wished she could cry out with her, but she couldn't. She had driven Elsa to insanity by tempting her with forbidden lust, and now Elsa was crumbling under its weight on her mind.
"Queen Elsa, there must be some kind of mistake-"
"I need to see Anna right now!" Elsa stomped her foot.
"Anna...I thought...she was with you..." Hans tried to explain.
Elsa's eyes widened even further. "No."
"I haven't seen Anna for almost a week; from what I heard, she had gone out into the blizzard...to find you."
