I don't own anything! I wish I could say something clever but my brain has run dry. I'm sorry about the last chapter, I don't really like how that one turned out and I'm hoping this one is just a bit better. To .zombie, I tried to end the last chapter before I got stuck on a chapter that went on for ten pages so I tried to cut myself off before it got too long winded and I hope that this chapter can explain a bit more. I have read a few stories where they say Anna isn't so eager to forgive Hans but I just don't agree with that. She forgave her sister after years of neglect and just seems to have an open heart that doesn't really allow for much hatred. If she had just met Hans in a cell she probably wouldn't feel the least bit of guilt but I tried to make Hans' treatment brutal enough that most anyone would feel heartbroken. I hope that clarifies some things.

All too soon Hans heard the door open and his nerves jangled horribly. He could only hear three sets of footsteps. Elsa, Theodo, and was Horace there as well? His face started throbbing at the thought.

"Elsa, I don't like this." The voice was soft and feminine. Feminine? Hans paused to consider that. It wasn't Elsa's but the voice was familiar.

"It's going to get worse." Elsa said.

"Guys this is really bad." A male voice. It wasn't Theodo though. Who did Elsa go get? Soon Hans had his answers when the three entered the room. There was Elsa and then came Anna, no wonder the voice had been familiar. And finally a man as large as Theodo entered. So Elsa had gone to get everyone he had hurt so they could all take turns. It would be unpleasant but it was a small price to pay if she didn't tell Theodo she had heard him.

Anna let out a gasp and quickly grabbed Kristoff's hands, clenching tightly but Kristoff could barely feel her nails digging in as he took in the sight before him. Elsa had warned them. She'd come in breathless and horrified and crying. They had tried to believe her but her words were nothing compared to the visual scene. Anna had gazed at her sister with a slight disbelief as Elsa told them about Hans' condition, but her hands had clenched tightly as she fought back the horror that came with Elsa's words. Kristoff had thought of the anger he'd once had when confronted with Hans on that boat in the middle of the fjords, how he'd hated the man who had almost taken the love of his life away from him before he'd even had the chance to tell her. They had both wanted to know that Hans was safely locked up but with Elsa's words that seemed more fit for a horror story, they had both come to the conclusion that they had to see for themselves if this macabre tale were true.

It wasn't that they didn't believe Elsa so much as they didn't want to believe that that kind of cruelty could actually exist in their world. If what Elsa said were true, it would change everything and their long held hatred and anger would be forced to clash with the natural kindness in their hearts. Believing Elsa's tale would mean feeling something other than a deep burning resentment for Hans. But if Elsa was telling the truth, then they couldn't' just leave him down there. Even if it was the red-headed-jerk-who-almost-killed-Elsa-and-Anna-named-Hans. They couldn't leave anyone like that. Despite their cool resolve to at least see him, the real picture made both their stomachs lurch. It was so much worse than Elsa had described. Words cannot accurately express the horrors that some humans can stoop to. Depravities of this nature are normally too awful for anyone to accurately represent. Despite long held grudges, Anna and Kristoff felt their hearts lurch at the sight of the broken and bleeding man. Nobody could really see him and not feel some stab of pity. Even if they didn't really like the man, they didn't hate him enough to wish this upon him. From the cell floor Hans was staring at them with a wary look of acceptance.

Kristoff took one step forward and quickly jumped back as Hans flinched and tried to curl in on himself.

"He can't stand up." Elsa said finally.

Hans flinched and tried to use his bony knees to defend himself as much as he could.

"Why is he doing that?" Anna asked, her voice shaking. Elsa's shoulders slumped slightly.

"I'm s-sorry. I didn't k-know." Hans whimpered. The sound wrung all the other occupant's hearts. Anna whimpered slightly and held tighter to Kristoff. With a painstakingly slow movement, Hans forced himself to lower his legs so they could have access to hit whichever part of him they wanted. Nobody moved.

"He thinks we're going to hit him." Elsa finally said. Anna gasped and Kristoff fought the urge to vomit. Hans titled his head to the side in confusion.

"Y-you're n-not?" he slowly asked. Anna whimpered.

"No!" Kristoff said sharply. Hans flinched.

"Nobody is going to hit you." Elsa said slowly and calmly. She held her hands out as she slowly approached Hans.

"Now, I'm going to have to freeze those cuffs so don't flinch okay?"

Hans gazed at her with a blank look. Finally he nodded. Anna slowly came from behind Elsa and Kristoff followed. They were soon within arm's reach of Hans and he began shaking once more.

"It's okay. We won't hurt you." Anna said as she tried to smile.

"We're here to help." Kristoff added. At those words Hans started to whimper faintly. He knew what those words meant. Kristoff paled at Hans' reaction.

"No, not that help!" he threw his hands up in a placating gesture "I mean help that gets you out of here help."

"What he means is that we won't hurt you." Anna chimed in.

Hans kept switching his gaze back and forth from Anna to Kristoff. One of them had to punch him but both were smiling and it wasn't like his brother's smiles. These were warm and not meant to hurt. He jumped when he felt the cool sting of ice on his wrists and it took all of the energy he had left to not squirm away. He scrunched his eyes shut and started his internal mantra of pleadings.

Crunch.

His arms swung down sharply as they were finally released from the manacles that had held him bound for all those long months. He gazed up at Elsa and the frozen handcuffs that were now shattered. He then looked down at his wrists. They had been rubbed raw and were bleeding. But they were free.

He looked at all three smiling faces. He was free. Something long buried during his days spent down here started to emerge from its hiding place. Hope was slowly starting to work its way into the light again. He forced back salty tears and his gaze soon strayed to the puddle that was still there on the ground. In the wake of Elsa's cold touch the water had started to freeze on the edges. It looked so cold and he hadn't had anything to drink in so long. He'd spent days aching and trying to get that water. He was so thirsty. His arms were free. He had only one thought on his mind.

Anna and Kristoff leapt to their feet when Hans lunged forward. For a moment they all thought he was aiming to attack them but soon watched in horror as he lunged forward for the puddle of muddy water on the ground. His hands dug into the floor as he tried to steady himself. Kristoff groaned faintly when Hans leaned forward and began lapping up the water like a dog. Hans himself didn't care that he looked like an animal, he only cared that the water was so refreshingly cold and that it was soothing the fire that had been in his throat for so long. He wanted more and more.

He flinched when he felt a small pair of hands on his shoulder. He slowly turned and gazed up at Elsa. She had frozen something to resemble a cup and had filled it with water. She held it out to him and he made a low whining noise as he tried to reach for it but his arms refused to move how he wanted them to (months of having them hoisted uselessly above his head had rendered them unusable) and just like the puddle, he found himself unable to reach it. He felt horrible and humiliated and all of this was making him want to cry and the small hope that had begun to leak out started to shrivel up, but before he could vent his frustrations he felt the cold cup placed against his lips and soon he was drinking the water greedily. It tasted so much better than the puddle, so much colder and cleaner.

He started to whimper when he reached the end of it but Elsa pulled back the cup. "Kristoff, I think it's time that we leave." She said. She finally turned away from Hans and gazed at her terrified sister and the noticeably green Kristoff.

"Okay." He said numbly. He slowly approached Hans who didn't know whether he should flinch or run. This had never happened before. He had never been let out of his cuffs since they were first shackled onto his wrists. Hans had never truly felt safe since he'd been dragged down here, but he had always held onto the rare safety net of knowing what was going to happen. It was a cruel thing to know just how bad it would hurt, how humiliating it would be. But there was also a sort of comfort in knowing when it would end and what he had to do to make it end faster and with the least amount of pain. Not knowing what would happen was absolutely terrifying and his veins ran cold with the thought that he had no idea what was going to happen now, this was all foreign territory. As Kristoff got closer, Hans tried to stand up but his legs were too weak and slipped out from under him. He crashed onto the ground and groaned as his body reminded him of the bruises and welts on his skin. The shackles dug in to the ankles that were still bound.

Elsa, Anna and Kristoff winced along with Hans who was trying to keep his soft whimpers from being heard. He curled up slightly. He really hated not knowing.