Anna saw the little ashgirl first and toppled back, her own mouth opened in a scream as the bag of ice flying out of her hand and scattering across the floor. "Anna," Kristoff grunted as he tried to prop himself up. "This is Ashley. Please, don't be scared. She can't and wouldn't hurt you." He looked at the princess as Ashley ran over to her and smiled goofily.

"Hi!" She held out one of her twigs to the princess, who shook it with two fingers lightly, obviously still a little unnerved.

"Kristoff, why can't she talk?" She asked like a five year who had just walked in on her parents in deep heat. "Because of the queen." He narrowed his brown eyes angrily at the open doors. Ashley looked at Anna, then back at Kristoff.

"Wait, what happened here that I missed?" She waddled over to the ailing man, whose eyes were scrunched shut in pain.

Anna stood up and walked over to the two of them, a small frown breaking out on her normally happy face. "Katharine," Kristoff sat up. "Was not who we thought she was." He said as Anna nodded, taking the bag of ice cubes and giving it to the iceman.

"But; what about your kiss? I mean you two are-"

"It was never love Ashley. Just two fools part of an elaborate plan." He cut the ashgirl off and pressed the bag of ice to his head.

And at this point, that elaborate plan was succeeding.

"But we just came all the way here, I mean the trolls said-"

"An act of true love, I know… but I don't even know what love is." Kristoff frowned and looked down at the floor, princess Anna taking the spot next to him and following his gaze, obviously having lost hope as well.

"That's okay, I do!" The little ash sculpture perked up and scrambled onto the sofa with them. "Love is;" She paused for a moment. "Caring enough to keep someone safe, putting your needs before theirs. Not giving up;" Another pause as Ashley adjusted the torn shirt on Kristoff's large shoulders.

"Kind of like how Hans pushed you away to keep you safe, or sacrificing his happiness to do the same. And what about you not giving up when you journeyed off to find him, even after he shut you out?" She looked deeply into her friends brown eyes.

Kristoff looked up at the playful effigy, her logic getting into him. He had never given up before, and Hans doing all this to keep him safe felt like news to him. Now that the iceman thought about it, Hans had said something like that.

"I'm trying to keep you safe!"

He hadn't even noticed it; he had been too blinded by his devotion to helping the thirteenth prince.

"Hans;" He winced. "Loves me?"

Ashley's eyes opened wide as one of the windows blew open, a tropical breeze flooding into the room and making Kristoff clutch his chest in pain. "Hang on, I'll get it!" The little ashgirl hopped over the chessboard, scattering the pieces all over the hardwood floor. Kristoff turned his head as Anna got up to help the helpless spirit. "Ashley!" He looked over to the ash sculpture, who was right at the window. "Get away from that!"

But the creature didn't listen, instead bending farther out to face the summery world. "This is amazing! I love it!" She squealed as the breeze cooled for a moment.

The iceman got up, struggling to reach Ashley before she blew away in the wind. Anna was right about to get there until she saw Kristoff standing, and as the mute woman helped him up, Kristoff tried once more to get Ashley's attention.

"You can't do that, you'll blow away like a kite!" He reached out for her back the ashgirl was still too far away. She only looked at him a smiled sweetly. "Some people are worth going for." Ashley nodded as the ashes began to disconnect from her body, flying out the window in the warm breeze.

"Well, maybe not right now." She grabbed her waist and held it together as Anna helped the limp Kristoff over to the window and slammed it shut, Ashley latching it quickly using one of the dogwood branches that made up her hair.

Anna looked up quietly in shock at the ceiling, black smudges spreading in the wood like it was ready to burst into flames. Kristoff followed her gaze up to the roof, and realized what was happening.

The queen was alone. With Hans.

Hans felt the heat encroaching the iron manacles that bound his hands, a thick layer of smoke welling up on the ceiling of the dungeons cell. He felt something was amiss, and his powers knew it too. The young prince knelt to the ground, holding the metal close to his chest to conceal the power. He deserved to be in the dungeon for what he did, but knew there was no real reason to keep him there. WIth any luck, Kristoff would be fine, that girl that saved him probably could heal him, and the both of them could live happily ever after. Kristoff could sail the world; go back to Arendelle with the princess, and he could go back to his palace in the mountains.

But he knew that something would be missing; should that reality come to pass.

A woman's voice sounded outside the chamber through the thick wooden door, her regal tone sharp and strong. "Make sure he's secured."

That didn't sound good.

The door swung open, Katharine and two guards filing in, the trio's black boots clicking on the floor. In an instant, the door to the cell closed again, leaving the four people in an eerie silence. Hans looked up at the queen to find her face pinched tight, the emerald green eyes empty and unfeeling. The guards positioned themselves at either end of the door, and the royal walked forward with a determined look on her face.

"The chains; draw them." Katharine motioned to the heavy iron chains that links the prince to the stone floor. "Draw the-" Hans was silenced as the generous length of chains were being tugged so that his arms were held far to his sides, the cuffs cutting into his wrists with excruciating pain. The shock lifted the man off his feet before going slack and letting him fall to the floor, his coal black breeches scraping into the stone.

His head bowed down to the force, ragged breaths escaping his lips. The queen looked down at her brother in law, her pale hands drawn behind her back. In the dim light that filtered in through the window, Hans could barely make out a hint of relief in her eyes, as if having finally cornered a mouse that had found its way to a cheese cellar, and was imagining all the ways to end its life in the most gruesome way possible. Drowning, a trap, poisons, maybe just stepping on it. The options were only as limited as her mind could be.

"Prince Hans," The queen cleared her throat lightly. "For the murder of Royal Ice Master and Deliverer, Kristoff Bjorgman,"

"Murder?" Hans said under his breath.

"You are, by the royal court, charged of treason and murder, and sentenced to die." She finished regardless as Hans struggled to take in all the words, the third one standing out in particular.

Murder.

"Murder," Hans repeated the ugly word like a curse, before swinging his fallen head to the higher royal. "What are you-" But Katharine started before the prince could finish.

"Do you deny under the eyes of God, that you struck Sir Bjorgman with your powers?" Katharine bent down slightly to face her prisoner.

Hans felt sick to his stomach, reminded of the days he would spend being dunked into the dog, Hector's, water dish, Alexandar's large hand around the young prince's copper red hair. The taunts and insults becoming muddled through the water. The only difference now was that it wasn't going to end eventually. There would be no forced apologies, no hugs, and no forgetting.

"I… Kristoff, he's…" Hans trailed off, unable to say the word 'dead'.

Katharine nodded.

Hans felt something breaking inside of him. It started as a small splinter, such as a piece of timber being chipped at by a hatchet. But it grew, cracking at both ends until the once beautiful thing was rendered shattered beyond repair, like the obsidian chandelier. The prince struggled to come to grips with what it was, but it was soon clear as glass what it was.

His heart.

The princes brown eyes squinted shut as a thin stream of tears began to descend down his red cheeks, the thought of Kristoff being gone too much to bare. He slumped his head, his back arching from the awkward position.

Katharine cast a solemn look at the guards. "Leave us." She said just barely audible over Hans' shaking sobs.

The moment the cell door closed, Katharine's smile became eerily wicked. "You know, I gave you a fair chance." She knelt down to the crying prince, pulling a dagger from her pocket. "All you had to do was stop the heatwave, but now it seems I must use more… unorthodox measures." She placed a warm hand on Hans' cheek, drawing his chin up to face her devious grin.

Hans didn't look at her, his eyes still brimming with tears.

"You know, I really should thank you." The queen flashed her eyes to match the evil smile, the dagger pressed to the prince's chest. This got his attention.

"Thank me?" He gulped.

"As perfect as your gift is, it seems to be very adept at killing. The prime example being the iceman. All that Kristoff must do now," She narrowed her eyes confidently at Hans. "Is die." She chuckled darkly.

Hans lifted his head up, the shaking and tears ceasing. "Kristoff's alive?"

The queen saw the glint of hope in the princes eyes, and knew she had to crush it. "He won't be for long. In the end, it was his devotion to you that killed him." The queen grinned. "The man doomed himself to death by going after you; a force of evil and darkness. How stupid of him, wouldn't you say?" She feigned sympathy in a way that made Hans release a low growl.

"It was never stupid." Hans spat at the queen, now well aware of her true intentions.

"Of course it was my boy. Love is weakness." She pressed the dagger to his heart, trailing the sharp end up his glowing maroon shirt, slicing through the fabric and drawing a line of blood that coated the tip of the knife and left a light cut up the frail man's chest.

Before Hans could start, Katharine beat him to it. "His love for the Anna girl was so sincere, he sought her out, only to find out the truth. It was never love that blossomed between them; but lust." The queen held the dagger an inch from Hans' neck.

At this, Hans' hopeful look devolved into a cold stare, his mouth pressed into a hardened frown.

"But really, how long could this man have left once he reached the pathetic," The prince stared ahead, the scowl aimed at the wall ahead, the jabs at his friend hurting far more than any dagger could.

"Lowly," The queen's voice sounded distant in her ears as he felt the heat rising in the manacles, a soft but hellish glow emanating from where his hands were held. His breaths felt like that of a charging bull, steam and smoke rose from his jacket. The queen never noticed, her eyes closed in confidence.

"Bargaining stage of your boyfr-" Katharine never finished her sentence before the power in Hans bottlenecked, spraying out like a volcano in nearly all directions. The manacles dissolved in his hands, the hot magma rolling off his hands like water, flecks of iron remaining on his hands like dots of pepper. The prince felt pure rage boiling inside of him, ready to kill his sister in law ten times over for insulting him and Kristoff so. The queen had been thrown back, her wiry body ten feet from where the prince was standing, obviously knocked out cold.

Hans took two steps forward, ready to scorch her body to cinders as a form of revenge, but right as he reached the queen she stirred softly, and the rage boiled own. He couldn't kill someone purposefully. That would make him only as bad as Katharine.

The force of the molten blast had completely destroyed the back wall of the dungeon, a gaping hole was plainly obvious based on the scorch marks and magma puddles around his coal black boots. Black burn marks surrounded the stony walls of the cell, the white hot chains drooped to the walls like dead snakes, and a spiky wall of obsidian blocking the wooden door to his cells, the volcanic glass holding it in place.

He got his wish, he was free.

And he wasn't going to waste it…