Author's Note: Another hard chapter for me to write, mainly because it really, truly breaks my heart to write fights between Elsa and Anna... though it is a necessary portion of the story and I would have it no other way. Anna has every right in the world to feel as angry as she does, and I want to make that very prominent in the story. Also the fact that she asks the important questions no one else is willing to haha.
A month passed and Arendelle somehow remained in-tact despite the threat of King Kasper declaring war on her doorstep or the fact that she still harbored a traitor inside of the castle walls. As the weeks passed and no ships appeared on the horizon, she found herself slowly unraveling from the tight spring she had wound herself in. When the fourth week passed without consequence - not even so much as a messenger - she began to wonder if they intended to pursue her at all. It then occurred to her that perhaps the King and Queen of the Isles were relieved to be rid of their cursed prince, and all the burdens that came with it. And there were many that Elsa had become accustomed to in those four wretched weeks.
Between juggling with the constant issue of Hans and her daily obligations as the queen, she was exhausted. Her shoulders soon bore an impossible weight, none of which she dared let anyone else know of - least of all her sister. Knowing that didn't make it any easier, nor considering the idea that maybe she would have less to deal with were the gates still shut. She soon had to cut down her interactions with Hans, seeing as her somber mood so often leaked onto his features. It was hard enough bearing it without having to see it. This only worried her more as she considered if Anna were to bump into him in the castle; she hadn't seen much of her sister lately, or Kristoff or Olaf for that matter. She assumed they were all making a point to avoid her and the conspirator that more often clung to her side like an obedient dog in these past weeks.
Though her anxiety had lessened, the responsibility weighed all the more with each passing day she failed to find a way to lift the curse from Hans. With her sister practically absent from the castle, she had dedicated most if not all of her free time to the task of "curing" Arendelle's resident traitor.
Her attempts at reversing whatever afflicted him were proving to be as impossible as Ansa laid out for her. She had led herself to believe that maybe the king and queen hadn't tried hard enough, hadn't looked hard enough - but it was becoming painfully obvious just how true their warnings had been. She had tried the more apparent attempts at first - placing him in front of a mirror, verbally guiding him, and even attempting to use her magic in the mindset that maybe she could pull cursed ice shards from his body.
Her last attempts had left two painful patches of black shards on either side of his temples for over a day. She'd stopped trying after that, nearly resolved as he was to his fate. She wanted to believe Ansa was wrong about Hans, as her own father had been wrong about her. She wanted to believe they just hadn't tried hard enough, hadn't done more to help him. Instead, she found herself feeling just as helpless.
Today was a somber day, and decidedly shirking her duties for the afternoon, Elsa had retreated to the woods behind the castle. She'd carved a secret path from the kitchens into the forest to find some solitude a few weeks prior. Somewhere she could think. Eventually her walks led further and further into the trees until she stumbled upon a clearing, and designated it as her own private hideaway. She retreated to it when her burdens felt the heaviest. Today, that weight fell on the name of Hans. While she had come to accept that maybe she was not the one capable of lifting the curse, it did not make her choice any easier to face. She didn't want to give up, but it felt like there were no other options. She had done all this - hurting her sister again, losing the faith of Arendelle, declaring enemies with the Isles - for nothing.
Out of unconscious distraction and a desire to feel more at home with herself, Elsa had begun to create an ice garden of sorts out of the clearing. At first, it started with simple walkways and overhangs. Then, she'd added ice benches to sit on, and eventually began to craft ice flowers to try and brighten her mood. It proved to be a very therapeutic exercise, considering she no longer had her ice fortress to retreat to in the mountains. She was grateful, at least, to have somewhere quiet she could practice her powers. While the residents of Arendelle were entranced by her powers, they quickly grew sick of the cold and she was almost always forced to destroy her winter creations in the end. She missed the comfort of cold wind and snow - at least this might suffice.
Elsa was strolling down a snow path, admiring a crystallized rose bush when she heard footsteps trekking up the path. The wind was already drawn under her feet in fear when the intruder appeared through the underbrush and she recognized his ducked head of red hair.
"Hans," she relaxed, dropping her hands. The air fell still again. "You know you shouldn't walk alone," she chided him. She didn't like the idea of it, but found it a necessary evil to have either herself or a guard present at all times whenever Hans felt the need to explore outside of the castle. Rather for others' safety than to prove a point. While she refused to go to the extremes his brother had resorted to, she recognized the danger of letting him roam alone. Especially considering she could not keep track of where her sister was any longer.
"I'm sorry," he immediately said once he'd looked up. Elsa sighed and touched two fingers to her forehead, then turned back to her frozen garden.
"How did you find your way up here, anyway?" she decidedly changed her train of thought, not wanting to dwell on her concern any longer. He easily moved in stride beside her - a habit he had recently picked up - and clasped his hands behind his back. It was both a bold and insightful act that she had tried her best not to linger on. While he did not mimic her or others exactly, it appeared more that he reflected the chosen person's true character rather than simply reflecting what could be seen from the surface. This proved to be both an unsettling but revealing truth - one she hated to see at times for the weakness it projected back to her by small gestures that he made in her presence. It exposed far too much of herself.
Hans considered her question for a drawling moment. She watched him smile and reach up to admire a snowflake with one, twirling finger. He looked at her.
"You've walked back here enough to leave a pretty visible trail," he remarked. "I wasn't certain at first until I saw the ice on the trees." He jutted a thumb over his shoulder.
"Oh no," Elsa glanced back down the trail and realized there were starbursts of ice patched all over the trees where her hands had touched. Though some were beginning to fade, others remained stuck to the bark. She would have to make a conscious effort to control her thoughts before reaching the clearing, else other people were bound to follow her out here. When she looked back, Hans' attention was drawn again to the snow falling from the heavens from an imperceptible location.
"Does it bother you?" she asked in a nervous voice. Elsa had come to realize that her idea of cold was far different than others, and more so that she couldn't understand if her ice magic was too strong for others to endure. For this reason she'd grown very accustomed to keeping it to herself unless someone specifically wanted to see it. Here, she hadn't controlled it - not the weather, the temperature, or the magic. She had no idea if it was too cold for Hans. She could be freezing him for all she knew. Hans instead just smiled and shook his head, still looking to the sky.
"Not in the least," he breathed out a puff of white. His cheeks and nose had turned pink since entering the clearing, though he showed no signs of uneasiness.
"Are you sure it's not because I'm comfortable here?" she persisted. Elsa, along with prior concerns of other people's sensitivity, had to be especially careful with Hans considering he couldn't always point out when his own body was stressed or uncomfortable. He turned and grabbed her bare hands, smiling at her.
"It's fine, really," he emphasized. Elsa's chest jumped when she felt his bare hands hold her own. She quickly pulled them away to cradle back in the safe cocoon of her chest, unsure of how to react. He didn't try to touch her again, and easily opted to clasp his hands behind his back once more. Despite this, she felt her skin burning long after he'd let go.
"Hans, I've been meaning to ask you something," Elsa still cradled her hands together, though she couldn't face looking at him in that moment. She didn't want to see herself any longer.
"What is it?" his tone reflected her unspoken fear almost perfectly. She winced, and rubbed the back of her hands before slowly dropping them to her front.
"If you never meant to hurt either of us, then why didn't you show my sister your curse the way you showed me? Why couldn't you at least warn her?" each word struck her throat like shards of ice, burrowing there. She looked up then, and saw her own fear reflected back in his gaze. Maybe it was his own.
"I… couldn't," he said slowly. He started to struggle for words. "I have no control over it happening," he said slowly; carefully.
"You mean that… thing that happened to your face?" she asked in earnest. He just looked at her. His eyes were wide, and his mouth pressed together so tight his flesh turned white. She blinked in surprise.
"Can you not answer my question directly?" she inquired, now taking on a tone of irritation. He continued to stare at her, and she creased her brow in concern. "…you can't, can you?"
"I can speak only very little of it, and only if they already know," he carefully chose his words, avoiding direct phrases that might prevent him from explaining himself.
"I suppose that's a part of a curse, then…" Elsa partly mused to herself with a sigh, turning away. They continued walking through the gardens, Elsa distractedly creating flowers as they went. Hans turned to inspect them each time, admiring their petals. "In that case I don't know if mine truly is a curse, then…" she murmured to herself, a few steps ahead of Hans. "Which only makes it harder to find a cure for yours."
"Can you tell me who did this to you, Hans?" she turned to him anew, her eyes hopeful. He raised from inspecting a cluster of frozen forget-me-nots and furrowed his brow.
"I'm sorry, I can't," he hesitated to say it, almost loathing in the manner that he spoke. It didn't help at all.
Before she could think of a more clever way to find her answers, a voice called from their left.
"I'm pretty sure I saw some snow over here!" an animated, high-pitched voice shouted. Out of the brush shuffled Olaf, his head turned over his stick-arms. "Oh, that's why!" he raised his hands to Elsa, smiling wide. "Hi, Elsa!"
"Olaf you really shouldn't wander back here so often-" a female voice said.
Shortly after followed her sister, head turned, halfway through her sentence when she caught sight of Elsa and Hans standing in the clearing. She froze mid-step and stared at them both, entirely struck in surprise.
"Hullo, Hans!" Olaf greeted him. Hans smiled right back at the little snowman, waving with just as much vigor. Elsa had barely stuck the word in her throat before her sister barreled her shoulders, glared, then thrust herself right back around and began storming down the path.
"Anna, wait-" Elsa begged, nearly tripping over her gown to catch up. She paused in her stumble and turned to Hans, who was already in motion to follow her. "Stay here," she raised a demanding hand to him, her wide eyes fearful, then turned and continued after Anna.
"Anna, please!" she called again once they were out of the forest. Anna was stalking her way on the outside of the castle towards the river. Elsa made the mistake of reaching for her sister, only to have Anna snatch it away as if scalded. She turned on her, writhing in fury.
"What do you want?" she barked. Elsa's throat tightened as her sister's words hit her in the chest with the force of a stone wall. Tears blurred her vision, and she quickly fought against them in lieu of trying to explain herself.
"I just want you to underst-"
"Understand, yes I know, Elsa," Anna waved her arms in mocking anger and rolled her eyes. "The only thing I understand is that you care more about that heartless murderer more than your own sister! You've turned your back on Arendelle, on its people - on me!" she shouted.
"No-" Elsa tried, but Anna cut her off. She was too pent-up from countless hours she'd spent dwelling on her anger.
"No, I get it now, Elsa," she continued. "You like him, I'm not an idiot. That's why you did it in the first place, why you wouldn't let me marry him, and why you wouldn't believe me when I told you what happened before he went after you on the fjord! You NEVER believed me, and now that MONSTER has taken my only sister away from me!"
"T-That's not true…" Elsa's voice was so shaken she could hardly speak. She was too rattled by her sister's speech to hold her ground, barely wavering on the edge of dismay and horror.
"He's manipulating you, Elsa," Anna pleaded, now banking on tears of her own as her grief consumed her. "You don't know what he's really like, he's trying to turn you away from me!" she wailed, her voice now cracking from her sorrow. "Please, why won't you believe me?" she ended with a whimper, her lower lip trembling as the tears began to fall. Elsa felt herself crumbling.
"I'm sorry, I just… can't," Elsa hated the words even as they left her mouth. She shook her head at her sister, heart thundering against her ribs. "I want to believe you, but-" she paused, unsure of how to finish her sentence.
"But what, Elsa? Because Hans said so? Because he tells you how sorry he is?" she sounded incredulous now, her voice doubtful. "He's lying to you," she screwed up her face with those words, tears spilling over her gaze. "Why can't you see that?"
Before Elsa could speak up, Hans and Olaf materialized beside them both from the trail in the woods. Olaf was finishing up an elaborate story, and paused when he caught sight of the two sisters standing by the river. Anna immediately retracted into herself, eyes widening in fear when she caught sight of Hans. Elsa ticked her jaw.
"Anna, stay calm," her tone spoke with sudden force and anxiety as she gritted her teeth and raised a warning hand to Anna. If Hans started to feed off of her energy-
"Stay calm?!" she exploded. Hans turned lucid eyes on her sister, suddenly aware of the other person standing by the river. "You keep that THING by your side, in OUR home, and you want me to stay CALM?" she pointed an accusing finger at Hans, her snarl already bared on her lips. Hans almost immediately tensed upon visual contact. Elsa locked a frigid hand on his arm, desperate to keep him placated.
"He would KILL you if he had the chance!" she shrieked. "He could do it right now and no one would know the difference!" Elsa's grip tightened around his arm when she felt his muscles beginning to tense. His expression was rigid.
"Stop it," Elsa ground out, demanding her sister calm herself. She refused to, not realizing the danger she put them further in the longer she released her spiel of accusations and fuel to fire his motions. Elsa now physically held him to his spot.
"Calm down," she gritted her teeth, looking from Hans to Anna. "Both of you." Olaf had taken to clinging to Anna's leg in lieu of Hans' blooming anger that now physically shook his body. A terrible smile began to curl on his face.
"Go ahead and do it! Quit hiding and show my sister your real face, you coward!" she snarled at Hans. Those were the final words that let loose as he ripped himself from Elsa's grasp and lunged at Anna with the unconstrained fervor of a wild animal.
Anna screamed and fell to her knees. Elsa had only a moment, a brief second of sheer panic that locked her chest and body up in a single motion. When she opened her eyes, her hands were held up, and between then both a great, growing shard of ice encased Hans to his shoulders. It had frozen him mid-air. When Anna opened her eyes again, she held a ghosted scream against her cupped mouth and jumped away from Hans in sheer horror.
Elsa could only the side of his face, but it was enough to witness the black ice spreading across his temples again in fractured scales of glassy black and silver. The sight was enough to frighten Anna into a full motion of terror as she kicked and stumbled to her feet and began rapidly backing away.
"Y-You MONSTER!" she shrieked before bolting across the river towards the other side of the castle. Though Elsa called after her, she was long gone before the final plea fell from her lips. She was standing adjacent to Hans' placid form, now limp in his encasing prison. Quickly realizing herself, she dissipated the ice and caught his body before it fell to the ground. The black scales had not left his face, nor faded, despite the fact he was unconscious. Elsa looked up in panic to the direction her sister and Olaf had disappeared, then back down to the limp body in her arms. Her heart thundered against her ribs in fear as she realized she had absolutely no one to turn to. She was completely alone.
Somebody help me.