Just like the eagle does in its wings as it flies
As I do in freedom, I believe and I know
That my world could very well fit in a pocket
Love it, and forever make me believe in you

I believe in you
Just like the sun believes in each sunrise
Like in my own evolutions
Like fear believes in courage
I believe in you, my star, I believe in you

'Creo en ti' (I believe in you) Miguel Bosé

"Sooo…how did it go?"

Elsa turned to look at her sister gingerly stepping into the balcony.

"Disastrous, as you probably know by now" she said softly, walking to her to conduct her back in-doors "Let's step inside, it's a bit cold"

'Because I'm so fumed I might or might not have chilled the castle-grounds'

Oh, irony.

"Kai did hint it hadn't exactly gone according to plan" Anna admitted as Elsa closed the doors behind them. Her sister hummed a humorless laugh before taking a seat next to her tea-table and resting her forehead in the back of her hands.

"What was I thinking?" she muttered.

"You weren't, DUH" Anna replied, sitting on the chair opposed to her sister's. It had been put there not so long before by Gerda, once it became obvious that the princesses weren't content with the scarce interaction they'd been having up 'till then.

"What am I going to do with him?"

"Neuter him. I've heard it works for aggressive dogs"

Elsa raised her eyes, lips thinning over her teeth.

"Anna, I-I am serious" she staggered, fighting the smile that wanted to form in her lips.

"So am I" Anna deadpanned. The battle for seriousness was lost without a shot. Both of them laughed themselves silly like they used to when they were younger.

"Perhaps I was being too pretentious" Elsa continued, once the laughter had receded "Trying to fix up someone who clearly has no interest in bettering himself"

"What, so he actually said it?" Anna retorted, incredulous. Elsa shook her head.

"Not really, but I can take a hint"

"OK, let's see, what did he say when you told him what you were up to?"

"I didn't"

Anna's face fell.

"What, for real?"

"Should I have?"

"Oh, my GOSH, you're incredible!" Anna heaved, her hand flying to her forehead in frustration.

"W-what? What did I do?"

Anna remained silent for a few seconds, glaring at her, before leaning forward slightly, as in conspiracy.

"Listen, Elsa, this is something you always end up doing and God, GOD, IS IT ANNOYING!" she rolled her eyes up and pressed her cheeks with both hands in a mock mask of despair "But I'm guessing it's not intentional, so hear me out"

Elsa awaited, eyes curious.

"You do things your way, right?" Anna started "And I guess being Queen and all I can't really blame you for it, but would it kill you to tell the people involved in your decisions what you're up to instead of assuming everyone will accept them blindly because apparently you know better?"

Elsa mouthed for a few moments, unsure.

"I don't think I understand" she finally muttered.

"OK, make me say it. Back in the ice castle—" Elsa articulated a long groan, which Anna promptly ignored "I freaking climbed a mountain to find you. A freaking mountain. And not just any mountain, but the one with wolves and rocky climbs and precipices. And when I finally reached you, what did you do?"

Elsa was too mortified to even try to reply, so Anna replied herself.

"You sent me back without any real explanations"

"Wasn't the ice castle explanation enough, though?" Elsa sighed.

"What I wanted was an explanation on why my own sister spent years treating me as if I had the plague or something"

"I was just trying to protect you…" Elsa muttered, hardly noticing how the chair she was sitting in was starting to scorch. However, Anna did, so she reached out for her sister's hands and grabbed them with her own, warmness colliding with cold.

"I know that now" she said soothingly "But back then I didn't know what had happened when we were kids, or what the trolls had said about your powers, or how afraid mom and dad and you were that they were a curse rather than a gift"

Elsa pursed her mouth, remembering the years of pure anguish at the thought that she seemingly had been born for the purpose of destruction and nothing more, that she would never touch another human being again with her bare hands because she'd hurt them.

"All I wanted was my sister" Anna continued in a softer tone "And yet she kept pushing me away with no real explanation. And I sorta wondered whether she thought I was stupid and wouldn't understand-"

"No, no, of course not!"

"Or maybe there was no explanation and she just didn't want me around. All I knew is she kept rambling on how she didn't want to hurt me as if it were something bound to happen"

"I did hurt you…" Elsa replied.

'And I almost killed you. Not once but twice or goodness knows how many times. I don't even know how many times you were in danger because of me during that time'

The though made her try to pry her hands back, but Anna was having none of it.

"I'm OK, aren't I?" she stated, tightening her grip on her slightly, just enough to let her now she wasn't letting go.

"But-"

"Elsa, I'm OK. It was an accident, you didn't mean to hurt me and I know you won't again"

Her sister's eyes focused on her with wonder and the tiniest bit of amusement.

"How do you do that?" she said with a small chuckle.

"Do what?"

"Let bad things…go. So easily. Like they never happened"

Anna shook her head amusedly.

"Like they never happened? Of course not. Things happened, whether we like it or not. Like I can't change them anymore? Yes, otherwise I'd go crazy. Like I should learn from them instead of moping about them? Absolutely"

"May I learn to look at the past the way you do" Elsa said with a sigh "…even if that sounds like something the Trolls told you too"

"Aaaaanyway, weepy-story aside" Anna continued with suspicious hurry "You should know what I meant by now, right? I get it that we're bound to have comunication issues for a while, but you have to at least try to start reaching out for others too.! And if you really want to go on with this re-education of Hans, you need to tell him what your intentions are because chances are he's getting the wrong idea because you didn't bother explaining yourself"

"I understand" the eldest sister nodded, recovering her hands to rest her chin on her intertwined fingers with a pensive expression "...but…what if he plays us again by pretending to change just so we set him free?"

It surprised her a little to realize how much the thought unsettled her.

'Because he and I are so alike in some aspects and if he is beyond help, then what will become of me?'

"That does sound like one of his douche-moves…" Anna admitted, resting a finger on her chin pensively "But you can't honestly tell me you believed he could be changed with hug therapy or whatever in the morning and by now you don't believe he ever will"

"Good point" Elsa conceded softly, pursing her lips.

"Besides, if he is anything besides a cut-throat cretin, that is pragmatic. If you tell him your intentions are allowing him to start a new life, he might even like the idea, who knows? I still haven't figured whether jerks are happy being jerks, chances are they're not and he actually likes the idea of changing"

'Except people who WANT to change do it themselves'

'Oh, just like I did, right?'

"And, I mean, just think of how confused the guy must be by now, wondering whether you are testing new psychological torture forms on him or actually trying to help him"

Elsa cocked an eyebrow.

"Anna, are my ears deceiving me or are you defending Hans?"

"Ew, no. I'm supporting my big sister, that's all"

"…and?"

Anna fiddled with her fingers, a playful smile playing in her lips.

"…and I kinda could get used to the image of Kristoff tossing him around like a rag doll when he wants to talk smart to him"

'Just knock'

'Easier said than done'

Elsa ran a hand through her hair and forced herself to take another deep breath. A hesitant hand rose to knock at the door and then fell again. She pursed her lips, brow furrowed in displeasure.

'Why do I even need to knock? This is my castle and he's a prisoner'

'For starters, because it's almost midnight and he's surely asleep by now, and also because that is not how I want to approach him and I know it'

She took another deep breath.

'Can't this wait until tomorrow, though?'

'By then I will have surely come up with a viable way of not doing it, so no, it can't'

She exhaled, her breath drawing soft frosty designs on the door. Then with a rapid movement that ensured she wouldn't have the time to back up, she knocked.

'Please stay asleep'

"…wha-?" a groggy voice called from the other side of the door, followed by a yawn "…come in"

'Of course you didn't'

She squared her shoulders and entered the moonlit room, closing the door behind her.

"I figured it'd be you" Hans said in a sleep-hoarse, low voice before yawning again. He was sitting among the ruffled quilts, his bandaged torso barely surfacing from the cocoon he'd built for himself among them and the pillows. Elsa remembered the chill her temper had created earlier and guilt pricked her slightly "You're the only one who still knocks these days, even the servant-"

"You are also a fixer upper" Elsa hurried, wringing her hands and bracing for the fall.

He eyed her sideways, perhaps waiting for the punch-line of the joke; but when he saw her expression, he turned to her fully, both eyebrows rising in a surprisingly innocent –albeit sleepy- surprised gesture.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand" he said, his voice devoid of its usual bite. She'd obviously caught him off-guard and he didn't have any clever answers for that in store.

"Um, when Anna and Kristoff…" she saw his expression stiffen the tiniest bit and tried another start "…no, um, back when you first…" sensitive topic alert "Um, the trolls said…" did he even know trolls were real or would he take it as a joke? "You see, back when…when I…augh…" she trailed off, resting her fingertips to her forehead in mortification.

He looked just about as disconcerted as she felt. It finally occurred to her that she couldn't explain it to him as easily as she'd done with Anna and Kristoff and chided herself for not thinking of a way to explain it to outsiders before knocking.

"I want to help you" she said, summing it up. He blinked, one eye closing before the other, and switched posture, straightening up.

"Alright, I'm awake now. Excuse me, but, help me with what, exactly?"

"With bettering yourself" he rolled his eyes.

"I know that according to Kristoff I can't even ride but I told you already, I'm just rusty, normally I—"

"No, no, it's not that" Elsa insisted, her hands still wringing. The urge to leave the room and pretend it hadn't happened was crushing her "I mean…with…um…your…your behavior. With the way you act"

He blinked again, pondering and then there was a shift in the air around him. It was as if up to that moment he had been vulnerable and open by effect of the sleepiness and suddenly he went back to his usual demeanor. He nodded curtly, a smug expression filling his features.

"I could have known"

Something about the way he said it made her incredibly uneasy.

"Could have known?"

Hans chuckled humorlessly, slapping the bump under the quilts where his knee hid.

"Boy, was I in for it! You had me for a moment there, with the little speech about knowing my words and about it taking a liar to know another. Clever scheme you had there!"

Her brow furrowed. She was just barely catching his drift.

"Scheme? I'm sorry, but, are you implying-?"

"You know full well what I am implying" he dryly cut her "I can only consider myself insulted that you thought I'd be gullible enough to fall for it"

She frowned openly this time.

"You've got it wrong" she muttered, half-reluctantly, aware that she was slowly but surely icing the room. If only she could leave…!

'Breathe. Control it'

"No, you got it wrong" he retorted "Uncovering my vulnerabilities, if any, and then use them against me? You are going against the master in that art, darling"

'…did he just call me-?'

"Why do you have to be so unpleasant?" she cried almost pleadingly. The floor under her feet started frosting over with pointy, menacing designs, snow started to fall from the ceiling "I'm only trying to help you—"

"Help me? That's rich!" he laughed, his voice heavy with badly dissimulated anger, his breath producing a white puff in the cool atmosphere "Just how stupid do you think I am? I tried to kill you! I would have killed you, hadn't your sister been there to freeze herself over right in the way of my sword!" a fierce wind was starting to pick up inside the room "You expect me to believe you would whole-heartedly help me?"

Elsa's eyes were stinging with angry tears, the memory of Anna's frozen form flashed in her mind with cruel vividness, as well as the knowledge that she did that to her. Instinctively, she reached her hand back for the door-handle, ready to spring out of the room.

'Leave now and all is lost'

The thought stopped her in her tracks, chest heaving, her own heartbeat loud in her ears.

'I can't do this. I can't. Why did I ever think I could?'

She shut her eyes furiously to stop the tears from falling.

'I can't run away every time things get scary. Not anymore'

"Masks off, shall we?" Hans suddenly offered, having to raise his voice over the wind; yet, he seemed to have rethought his attitude (Perhaps he had remembered the position he was in) and kept his tone within levels of urbanity "Call me what you may, but I do believe in paying my debts. Just tell me what you want in exchange for saving my life and I'll see to it. Knock it off with this 'Help' nonsense!"

"You have nothing to offer" she reminded him, internally cringing when he saw his expression stiffen at the truth, but she straightened up and continued in a regal tone "All you've ever had to offer is gone. You have no familiar affiliations nor personal posesions anymore. The only thing you still possess is your own person"

'And even that is debatable'

"...what would I demand from you if I know this full well?" she finished, raising both hands and them letting them fall to her sides, as if explaining something extremely simple to a child who doesn't understand it.

Hans stayed silent for once, averting his eyes, his slightly blue lips and weak shiver reminding Elsa that he was covered in nothing but bandages and a couple of quilts and she forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths to calm herself before she froze him to death. But as the wind faded into a peaceful snowfall it dawned at her why he couldn't find a reply.

The thought that someone could act without ulterior motives was too foreign for him to even consider it.

As well as the thought that someone actually cared.

'And that much, the Snow Queen can relate to'

"And that is exactly what I will ask of you" Elsa said softly "Your own person, as you are right now, in exchange for my help"

"My, my, is the Queen making me indecorous offers?" he weakly retorted, still not looking at her. Elsa felt her face redden, but continued all the same.

"Stop being intentionally dense, you know full well I don't mean that. I mean your own person, with the history you carry, with whatever loyalties you still hold and the darkness within you, in exchange for my help"

He absently twisted his mouth.

"…that's quite the high price, in my opinion. But more importantly, whatever will you do with that?"

"Fix it up"

He raised his eyes, geniune confusion washing over his features.

"Fix it?"

"Bring out the best"

"So what you are saying is in exchange for doing something for me, you want to keep doing things for me?"

"It doesn't work that way...this isn't exactly something I can just magically summon. You'll have to do most of the hard work yourself"

He shot her a glance that could very well be translated as 'One of us is crazy and this time it's not me'

"And how do you think that can be achieved" he asked flatly.

She pursed her lips, blushing again at the thought of explaining him how the trolls would put it. After all, Anna had been incredibly eloquent at how ridiculous the notion sounded even for her; surely, the less gentle Hans would greet it in even worse terms.

"...I will go into such details later, if you are interested" she finally conceded. By the time she'd finished speaking, the snowfall had stopped and the temperature was much less frigid. Hans was still shivering slightly, but a healthy reddish hue had replaced the blues and purples in the tip of his nose and lips.

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" he pressed.

'Is it really that hard to believe? Well, for a master liar it must be'

"I understand this why you would doubt my words" she continued, ever patient "But believe me, I really do want to help you"

"Why?" he snapped at her, eyeing her suspiciously "And don't give me that 'Human decency' speech again, I'm too old for fairy-tales"

She pursed her lips, resenting his tone. He had the chance to see something flash under her calm exterior, something familiar.

'Because letting you sink would be like letting a part of myself sink'

"Because" she slowly stated "Although you may doubt it…I do believe we are the same"

Surprisingly enough, he didn't have a snarky reply for that and instead he stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time.

"Do you really believe that?" he asked, a little incredulous, trying his best to still appear smug. Once again, a distinctly familiar expression flashed through Elsa's face.

'What, do you think because I never became as sour, as resenting as you, I didn't suffer also?'

'Guess again, I did'

'The brief glances I got of Anna each day felt like they would kill me because despite what she believed, she was so free and so lucky and so loved, and I couldn't help but envy her a little'

'I loved my parents so much but I also hated how fearsome and anxious and ugly they made me feel, and I know they didn't mean it but I couldn't help but hating how with every passing day I was told to hide more and more, even from them. And then I hated myself for thinking this way about my family and I kept repeating just how disgusting and selfish I was being inside my head and this thoughts kept me awake at night.'

'And then mom and dad died and the feeling that I was letting them down more than ever never quite left me for three years'

'Anna needed me and I couldn't even reach out for her out of fear of hurting her'

'I truly believed I was a monster'

"Don't you?" she retorted firmly to avoid touching the still-tender scar.

'Isn't that what you think of yourself too?'

Hans lowered his gaze again, lips pursed in a line that made him seem as though he were holding back an answer.

"...OK. You win" he finally conceded, shaking the few remaining snowflakes off his shoulders and wrapping himself in the cocoon of quilts again "I'm listening"

Turned out Anna was right about him being rational above everything else, because once she explained to him that legally and morally, she was under the obligation of holding him there until he ceased to be a danger for society, Hans seemed a lot less defensive than before. He did laugh when Elsa explained to him that she believed human contact, real human contact (In the end she decided to replace the other set of words in hopes of him accepting it with greater ease) would play a huge part in his change, but as she finished her explanations, he still made her more adequate questions.

"Do you really think it can be done? To me?" he asked skeptically.

She started softly. There it was again, the highest wager in the matter.

'I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't'

"Do you?" she bounced back at him, seeing as it had worked the last time he'd made a question she wasn't ready to answer. His expression morphed to something she dared to identify as conflict. She took it as a good sign.

"…there really is nothing in for you by doing this, right?" he asked doubtfully, refusing to voice his thoughts on the other question.

"You tell me" she shrugged casually. It was by far the most humane gesture he'd seen in her and it spoke volumes about her sincerity. He felt the tension of his stomach muscles unknotting the tiniest bit at it.

"Not from where I stand" he admitted with a sour half-smile.

"So the conclusion would be?"

"That I haven't the slightest idea of what is going through your head…but that's OK, I haven't since I first woke up here"

'Is it just me or does he sound a little…scared?'

"It's a lot simpler than it seems, Hans" she insisted, her tone terminating "Either you believe me or you don't. Simple as that"

He eyed her gingerly. She'd long since taken the seat next to the bed again and the moonlight lit her from behind, obscuring her expression.

But her eyes glistened. With the same open, sincere light he'd seen in Anna's the day they'd met.

However, the conviction in Elsa's eyes was something he'd never seen. It shone like her ice castle had, it danced like the snow and ice she summoned for her people's enjoyment the day he was shipped back to the Southern Isles. It showed, better than any crown she could ever wear, why she was Queen.

"I believe in you"

He registered the fact that he'd said it out loud a little too late and shut his mouth so quickly he wouldn't have been surprised to have bitten his tongue off, lips pursing into a tense line. He didn't dare to look up at Elsa's face.

If he had, he would have seen gleeful surprise in her features.

"…couldn't this have waited until morning, though?" he added in a surly, embarrassed mumble.

CC (A) the author here.

Not much to be said about this chapter, except I had planned for it to be a lot shorter and HEY GUESS WHAT CC DID IT AGAIN SHE WROTE SOMETHING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SUPER SIMPLE AND MADE IT SUPER LONG.

Also, as you can see, the shippyness HATH APPEARED. Subtly for now, I don't really like forcing it down people's throats.

Comments and reviews are welcome