Without Mercy
(A/N: Second chapter up today. Since the first chapter went up so early, I decided to put up this one as well. Kind of runs hand in hand with it anyway, and the chapter after this I'd like to post tomorrow. Given this one was originally part of the last - at least a bit of it was - I figured why not?)
The ship had been reclaimed. Hans, tended to by now, was gazing numbly at the Admirals and the men with them who had started this attack. He felt nothing. Just hollow. "Prince Hans?" he was finally aware of someone saying. He looked over as if unable to process anything more than a voice saying something. How many times had his name been said, now? "What are your orders?"
Hans turned back to the Admirals and blinked again. "Take-take them and their men and lock them up… Make for Arendelle. It's the only place we may be able to reach in time to save… to save the ambassador… These men do not even get a glimpse of their shore. Blindfold them, if you must… They do not leave this hold until I have met with Queen Elsa…"
"We are forbidden from going within a day of it!" one of his men protested.
"Unless it's an emergency. This, as far as I'm concerned, classifies. Get them out of my sight. I have a letter to write," Hans said. He turned on his heel, marching away from the bound Admirals and crewmen.
Frozen
Queen Elsa of Arendelle:
I beg you, give me leave to return to your kingdom, please. There is no time for explanation. All you need know is that there was mutiny against me, orchestrated at the hands of your Admirals, and now my brother is on the verge of death. He threw himself in front of a veritable firing squad for my sake. He needs help. Desperately. The best that can possibly be offered, only he doesn't have the time it would take to get to the Southern Isles.
Let us enter. If you won't because of me, then I'll jump overboard if I must, just let my brother come, please. I am frantic. There is no time for further exchange. If your next letter comes with a refusal or offers to bargain, I will abandon this ship and let it sail on without me. Justic is dying. There is no time for games.
Sincerely,
Prince Hans of the Southern Isles
…
Prince Hans Westergaard:
Make all haste here. The palace doctors will be waiting for you. Everything that is in our power to do will be done.
Queen Elsa of Arendelle
Frozen
Hans entered his brother's cabin. Bandages were wrapped around Justic's torso. He wore no shirt, anymore. There was no point in it. The blood was soaking through pretty well everything. Hans didn't know himself how the doctor had kept Justic alive thus far. He didn't want to know. Cauterization, maybe? Stitches? Both thoughts made him shudder. The doctor remained hovering over the prince. "Someone up there likes him," the doctor said to Hans, looking gravely over at the youngest prince.
"Hans…" Justic faintly whispered. Almost so faintly it couldn't be heard in that pitch black room with the windows covered and the only light the candlelight… They had dressed the room for mourning. As if his brother was already a corpse. Hence the darkness, hence the black and wispy canopy, hence the candles and smell of the room. Like… like spices or flowers or a mix… The clothing in which he would be… be buried lay off to the side, as did the tools and ointments and linens that would be needed to tend the body and wrap it for the trip to the Southern Isles… Wrap it because by the time they got there, it—his brother—would be rotting…
Hans was quiet. This couldn't be happening. He went to his brother's side and looked down at him. He couldn't understand or explain the painful ache in his chest, or the burning of his throat and eyes or the tightening of everything. How had he survived when he had been hurt worse than his sibling? …No, he hadn't been injured worse… He knew that was a lie to himself. He blinked then reached tentatively down, taking his brother's hand. Gently he squeezed it. Justic's eyes flickered open and fell on his brother, bathed in candlelight. He was silent. "Leave us," he ordered the doctor.
"Justic, he has to…" Hans began.
"All that could be done for me at sea has been done," Justic weakly said. "There is nothing more he can do now, other than keep me company… Believe it or not, I would sooner keep the company of an annoying little brother than a doctor, in these moments." He didn't say last moments, Hans noted. Perhaps Justic was trying to soften the blow, trying to… to protect him... Yet the youngest prince knew what the sixth meant... If these were Justic's last breaths, he wanted his family at his side, not a stranger. His only family here right now was him. The doctor bowed solemnly and left the room. "I am afraid…" Justic murmured.
Hans felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. "You're going to be alright," he said.
"Don't kid yourself. Or me," Justic replied.
Hans felt the burning in his eyes again, and the lump in his throat. He swallowed, bowing his head and closing his eyes tight. He knelt at his sibling's bedside, resting his forehead on the edge of the bed and holding his brother's hand tighter. "Why did you do it?" Hans hissed, and whether it was anger and hatred or sadness and fear in his tone, Justic didn't know. Nor did it really matter which it was. The question remained the same and the answer would not change.
"Because that is what brothers do," Justic replied. "Alongside torment each other."
"You despise me," Hans said.
"Believe whatever you want to make this easier," Justic replied.
"Don't play that game with me!" Hans shot, looking up with eyes flaming. Justic looked icily at him. "Those words in Arendelle, the threats, the things you said, the past… They were not the words and actions of someone who loved me! Why did things happen as they did if you cared, huh? Why?!"
Justic was silent, watching his sibling. Finally he answered, "Because it is so much easier to hurt and torment and hate someone, than it is to tell them, or yourself, that you love them so, so much you would suffer and die for them innumerable times over if only it meant they lived to see another day, another hour, another minute… At least for the Princes of the Southern Isles it is..."
Hans felt himself shaking, his lips parting in shock and disbelief. "Why?" he finally managed to breathe, voice breaking.
Justic shook his head solemnly. "I do not have the time left to me to give you that answer," he said.
Hans wanted to burst into tears, but he refrained. No easy task, might it be said. "Don't die… Please, please, don't die," he begged, voice cracking as he rested his head against his brother's. "I need to know. I need to understand. Why? Why don't I want you to die?"
Justic was quiet. After a moment he pulled his brother down suddenly into a hug. Hans caught his breath. He couldn't hold back any more. He burst into tears, hugging his sibling tightly back, clinging to him like he was a lifeline. Never had this happened before. Never had he felt the arms of a brother around him, holding him, comforting him, giving him strength and reassurance. There had been no embrace, no touch, no affectionate gesture, no kiss. At least none that he could remember aside from Iscawin's brief display at his near execution, more an impulse and relief than anything. Nothing. Rarely from mother who had died too soon, not from father who was ailing so, so quickly and yet gradually that they could hardly keep up or understand how something could move so fast yet so slow. Now this… Now a brother held him tightly to his chest… Now he felt the first sense of affection and care—more than care, love—he had ever had, and it was on said sibling's death bed. Was that how it would always be?
Hans was suddenly aware Justic was crying. He drew back, looking afraid. Justic met his eyes and shook his head, mouth quivering. "I have never been held like that before," he said in hardly a whisper, and Hans felt himself shattering. There was truth in the words. There was truth… His brother had suffered the same… Maybe it was true, after all, that they all had…
"I won't let you die," Hans whispered. "I won't let you die!" He sobbed, falling over his sibling again and holding him tightly. Justic returned the embrace just as desperately. Was it just him, or did it suddenly seem like Justic was becoming stronger again? Seem like Justic had suddenly found the determination and motivation to live again? He marvelled. Could such power truly be drawn from just one loving touch or gesture? He decided now was not the time to think about it. He just wanted to relish it. Please, please, please; let Arendelle be reached soon…
Frozen
The ship pulled into Arendelle. The doctors, sure enough, were waiting. With them stood Elsa who looked tired and stoic, Anna who looked worried, and Kristoff who looked unsure. Swiftly the men carried Justic off of Hans's ship, Hans staying close to his side. "Prince Hans, where are my men?" Elsa questioned.
Hans looked sharply at her, eyes dangerous. "Waiting for your judgement, Queen Elsa. In my ship. And there they will stay until their sentence is carried out. Be smart about the fate you choose for them, my queen. Stoning, burning, hanging, or beheading. It shouldn't be too difficult of a choice. Elsa cringed but said nothing, looking woefully over at the worried families who as of yet still did not know that they might never see their loved ones again. She dreaded telling them.
"Elsa, surely there's another way," Anna said as Hans disappeared with Justic and the doctors. Elsa was quiet, tears threatening her eyes. She didn't know, but she got the sinking feeling there wasn't. She bowed her head.
"Let's return to the palace," she said to Anna and Kristoff, not answering her sister's question. Anna's eyes filled with pain and sadness. She could guess at what the silence meant. Kristoff gently squeezed her shoulders, pulling her close to him. She looked woefully up at him. He smiled tiredly but comfortingly down at her.
Frozen
She and Hans paced around each other, around the table between them. His eyes burned like an inferno and hers were as cold as an icy storm. "Judge them. Now," he ordered.
"It isn't up to you when I decide their fate," Elsa answered.
"They tried to kill me! They may have killed my brother!" Hans yelled, slamming his hands down on the table and leaning dangerously over it.
She slammed her own down, turning it to ice and leaning towards him right back. "Those men have families! Families that may die without them! Pity them!"
"Like they pitied my brother or me?!" Hans shouted.
"You are a monster," she hissed.
"So I've been told," Hans replied, going back to pacing, as she did. "The penalty for mutiny is death, just like it was for treachery."
"And yet I spared and saved your miserable life!" Elsa shot.
"I didn't ask you to!" Hans snapped.
"Oh yes you did. I know you wrote that letter, remember?" Elsa replied.
Hans smirked icily, but the smirk quickly fell. "I wrote that letter for Kelin-Sel's sake. I believe I mentioned as much during our little dance. Or not. I hardly remember what it was I said during that incident."
"Spare them," she said to him. "Please. You promised you'd do all you could to bring them back alive."
"And I did. Bargain is over. If you don't have the guts to give them the punishment allotted them, Elsa, then I bring them to someone who will. My brothers!" Hans shot.
"Take them, then! Let their blood and the blood of their families be on your hands, Hans. Yours and the hands of your siblings! The Southern Isles history is caked in murder and gore and lost lives of undeserving men as it is. What's a bit more?" she demanded. She wiped her eyes, tears appearing, and turned, swiftly leaving the throne room and feeling dirtier than she ever had before in her life. She had condemned them. Oh god, she had condemned them. They and their families all. Hans, lips parted in shock, watched after her. After a moment he closed his mouth, a flash of uneasiness passing over his expression as he looked out of the window towards the ships where the mutineers were being kept.
Frozen
Queen Elsa of Arendelle:
Word has come to us of the attempt on the life of our youngest brother, and of the fact that Justic, as well, was attacked and gravely injured in the process, protecting Hans. Pray for your sake that my brother lives, my queen, or his death and this attack will be considered nothing less than an act of war against the Southern Isles.
King Moren Westergaard
…
King Moren of the Southern Isles:
I beg your mercy and understanding and patience. If I had suspected there would be mutiny I would not have sent them. They were afraid for their lives and for their families. It was not on my order the mutiny was carried out! As we speak, Justic is being tended by the greatest doctors my kingdom has to offer, and Hans has recovered well.
With a heavy, heavy heart, your majesty, I send you the men who mutinied against Hans to be judged by you and your brothers. I am not strong enough to condemn them to die. Not when I know at least some of their families will not survive without them. I cannot condemn so many. Consider my sending them to you an apology, and a play for continued peace.
Queen Elsa of Arendelle
Frozen
Elsa put down the quill and gazed numbly at the paper. She was a monster… Words could never hope to describe how horrible she felt and how guilt stricken. Sleep would never come to her again, she almost believed. She looked out the window solemnly. She prayed mercy would find the men imprisoned on Hans's ship, but she knew none would come. She closed her eyes and willed it all to be over. For Arendelle. All for Arendelle. Rising, she sent off the letter with a pigeon. She needed to speak to Hans. She knew where he'd be.
Silently Elsa crept through the halls. Why was she the one creeping through her own palace, she dryly asked herself? She approached the corridor down which the palace infirmary was located, and peered around the corner cautiously. Hans was standing outside of the door with a healer. The prince was holding his head in his hands, eyes closed tightly. She felt a chill race down her spine. Had Justic died? That possibility made her feel ill. Hans looked at the healer, suddenly appearing about five years older and drained. "So that's it, then? You've done absolutely everything you possibly can?" he asked the doctor.
"I am sorry, Prince Hans," the doctor answered. "Everything has been done, everything has been tried. Whether he lives or dies is out of our hands now."
"Will he live or die?" Hans deadpanned.
The doctor was quiet. Finally he answered, "Hope, but don't hope too much." With that the doctor left. Hans stood frozen in place. He fell back against the door to his brother's room and slipped down it, burying his head in his knees and shaking his head. Oh god, this couldn't be happening. He massaged his forehead. Elsa watched silently before carefully slipping around the corner and into sight, if he should happen to look in this direction. She paused a moment, squinting. Was he praying to the gods? His lips were silently moving in unspoken words and his eyes were shut. His head was bowed as well, and his hands clasped together. Finally he rose and turned, opening the door to his brother's room and going in. Elsa nibbled her lower lip then went towards the room as well. She wanted to try one more time to gain mercy for her Admirals.
She slipped into the room quietly and watched Hans kneeling at his sibling's bedside. Room black, candles lit. It was more a wake than anything. Hans was holding his brother's hand in his, looking down at Justic silently. "Whatever your question is, if it pertains to your Admirals and mercy the answer is no," he said.
"You could try to be the bigger man for once," she bit. It slipped out before she could stop it, and she immediately regretted that it had. Hans had every right in the world to demand lives in repayment for the blood his sibling had shed.
"Leave. Now. If these are his last moments, the last thing I want around is you," Hans bit. She noted all too well how he had called her 'thing', not person.
She was silent. "I will do anything," she finally said in a whisper. "Name your conditions and price, and it will be given to you… Don't leave their children fatherless and their wives widows, their parents in grief and their siblings in mourning."
"Poetic," he remarked. "But naïve. I was just beginning to think you weren't as big of a fool as Anna was."
"Naïve?" she questioned, letting the dig at Anna slide. For now.
"Consider yourself fortunate you didn't offer the same to a man of less character than I," Hans said. "You offered anything, after all. What did you think a man would ask from a woman like you?"
"I doubt highly you'd want me in your bed if I stood in front of you naked and threw myself into your arms," she bit at him. It was, perhaps, improper to speak of such things, but she was beyond caring at this point.
"Don't underestimate me," Hans replied, glancing incredulously over at her. "You give me too much credit. I would have thought you'd learned that lesson by now." Although to be fair, he probably wouldn't, but that was beside the point!
"You aren't kidding me," Elsa bit at him coldly.
"Then I won't kid you. Those men will die, Elsa. End of story. Speak of it again, their deaths won't be as painless as a beheading," Hans sharply replied. He felt Justic stir, starting to rouse at the sound of the voices. "Shh, shh," Hans soothed softly, gently resting the back of his hand against his sibling's forehead.
Elsa's eyes for a moment became pitying, but quickly enough she banished that emotion and narrowed her eyes angrily. She turned and began walking out. She paused at the door and sharply looked back. "I hope you hear the cries of their children in your darkest dreams, and the sobbing of their wives. I hope they sear into your conscience, if you have one, like a brand and torment you for the rest of your days," she said.
Dangerously Hans looked up, though not at her. Sharply he turned his head, glaring. "And should my brother die, may his image, his suffering, his words and deathbed, be scarred into your memory just as deeply," he replied.
"You think they aren't already?" she hissed. He glared and said nothing. She shook her head bitterly and left, resisting the urge to slam the door behind her for Justic's sake.
Frozen
"Brothers…" Justic weakly whispered.
"Only one brother, Justic. Only one," Hans softly replied, placing a hand on his sibling's shoulder.
"I want… to see… our brothers… before I die," Justic weakly said.
"You will. You aren't going to die," Hans said.
"Please… Baby brother. Hans. Take… take me home…" Justic pled. "No matter what… what shape I'm in, just bring me home."
Hans was quiet, feeling a tightening in his throat again. He bent down, softly pressing a kiss to his big brother's forehead. Justic's eyes flew open in shock and hope and longing and so many other emotions Hans didn't even dare try to read them all. Perhaps it had been the first and only time Justic had been given a brotherly kiss, as well. At least the first in some time. The emotions flying through the other's eyes… Hans had to swallow and close his own tightly, wishing he hadn't seen. Wishing he suddenly wasn't longing for that feeling as well. He opened his eyes. "All right… All right… We're going home," he said, a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth before falling again. Justic nodded, closing his eyes again. Soon he was asleep. Hans sniffed and turned to leave. There were arrangements to make for the trip home. With luck and good fortune, they would leave early tomorrow.
Frozen
The ships were ready to set sail again, the Admirals still imprisoned. Elsa was glaring stonily and icily at Hans, who stood on the deck of his ship giving orders. He looked back at her and paused, glaring. Elsa shook her head bitterly at him and looked over to the side. Hans knew he shouldn't follow her gaze, and yet he did. He saw children screaming for their fathers, struggling to get away from their mothers and run aboard the ship. The mothers were crying and begging silently for him to let their husbands go. Sharply he turned away from them, closing his eyes. It was the fault of the Admirals their families would be left bastards and widows, not his. He would not give them any last mercy. He was well aware of the curse one of the women screamed at him. He had half a mind to shoot her, but she had five children clinging to her, so he let it slide. The two nations were already on the brink of war for the mutiny. Shooting one of the soon-to-be-widows and orphaning her children would not help matters and would probably get him executed right along with the mutineers.
He smirked bitterly at Elsa. He could practically feel and sense the curses and insults Anna was dying to scream at him from her sister's side, but fortunately Kristoff was warning her away from it. The ships set sail. Hans didn't once look back at Arendelle. No regrets. Never feel regret. Regret was weakness, regret was humanity, humanity meant death, as far as he was concerned. It had never done him any favors, after all. Only backfired and screwed things up even more. It was easier and better to be a monster. Another thing he'd learned from his brothers, he dryly noted… More or less… He immediately stopped that line of thought and focused on the sea and making good time. Justic may not have a lot of it, but if he survived this trip to the Southern Isles, odds were he was going to pull through. Of course, it was already a miracle he'd survived a night, but then Justic was about due for a stream of miracles. All of them were after everything they'd put up with in the past. He couldn't remember the last time a miracle had graced them with its presence. How Kelin-Sel kept up faith was beyond him, but then he couldn't say he'd completely abandoned it either. Or any of them, for that matter.
