Ever since those sickening nights when Heins had been forced to wield the cat o' nine tails against Elsa, he had wished that they could have exchanged places. Leaving the unimaginable pain aside, the scars he had left on her were a constant, painful reminder of the unspeakable acts he had committed. He hoped that this made up for that in some small way.
He had managed to leap on top of Elsa just in time, a fraction of a second before the flames whipped over him. The pain that surged in his back was indescribable. It tore all thoughts from his mind, all feeling from the rest of his body. His vision went blank and his nostrils were overwhelmed with the smell of burnt flesh and hair. His ears were full of the sounds of screams, and it took a long time for him to realize they were his screams. He thought he could hear other people shouting, and, after what seemed like an eternity, something pulled him off of Elsa and set him on the ground next to her. His vision cleared just enough to see her looking at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. He felt his shirt being cut off of him, then he felt pressure on his back, as someone smeared something thick on it. He screamed louder, his eyes shut tight, but then the pain started to lessen, bit by bit. His mind cleared a little, and while it was still agony, he was no longer screaming. He realized someone was speaking to him.
"Heins? Heins, can you hear me?"
He tried to answer, but his mouth would not form the words. Instead, he nodded the smallest amount he could, but even that tiny motion sent a shockwave of agony rippling from the back of his neck.
"Your whole back is burned," the voice said. "Don't try to move. I've got something on it that should help with the pain."
Heins grunted his acknowledgement, and then another voice, this one further away, shouted, "Baldur's hurt too, Elsie! Over here!"
"Stay still, Heins," the voice, who Heins now recognized as Elsie, said. He had no interest in disobeying. He felt a hand touch his, and he opened his eyes to see Elsa reaching for him. He took her hand, and they stayed like that for a long time, while the pain in Heins's back lessened to a bearable level. He had no idea what Elsie had put on him, but it was working wonders.
"Thank you, Heins," Elsa whispered, her voice cracking from the screams. He opened his eyes again. With tremendous effort, and a great deal of pain, he lifted his head to look her in the eye.
"I'd do it again," he said in a hoarse voice. "What happened to Anna?"
"She… she ran."
This exchange took the rest of the strength he had just now, and he laid his head back down and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, Elsa's were closed and she was breathing in a slow, steady rhythm- she was asleep. Their hands were still clasped. His back still hurt, and no doubt would for quite some time, but it was bearable pain. He lifted his head and looked around. It was nearing dusk. He saw a reassembled camp looking a little worse for wear, with many of the tents being either singed in places or having holes burnt straight through the sides. Around a small campfire, he saw Alan, Cari, Silas, Leila…. Everyone except Kristoff and Anna. Baldur had a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, but everyone else seemed unhurt.
Heins let go of Elsa's hand, placing both of his flat on the ground next to him. He took two deep breaths, then wrenched himself up so that he knelt on the ground, grunting in pain as he did so.
"Heins?!" It was Elsie, and she sounded alarmed. "You shouldn't be moving!"
Heins ignored her. He pulled one leg forward, then used his own knee as a brace to lever himself to his feet, his back still to the group. A wave of dizziness crashed over him, and he almost fell, but just before he did, he felt someone duck under his arm and a hand wrap around his waist, supporting him. He looked down to see Ciri, her eyes full of concern and something that might have been amusement.
"You know," she said with a wry grin, breathing quickened from the dash to his side, "you royals sure are a stubborn bunch, I'll give you that."
"Comes with the territory," Heins croaked. His throat was very dry, and it hurt to speak. "Water."
"I got it," Alan said from behind them. He crossed in front of Heins and held up a waterskin, helping Heins to guide it into his mouth. The water stung Heins's throat, but once he had a few gulps, the stinging went away and he drank deeply. By the time he stopped, the waterskin was almost empty. "Huh," Alan said, shaking it to feel how little was left. "Turns out being set on fire makes you pretty thirsty. Who would have thought?"
"Anything for science," Heins said, giving a tired smile. He glanced down at Ciri and gave her a small, affectionate squeeze of gratitude. "I'm okay now, Ciri. Thank you."
"You sure?" Heins nodded. "Alright." She moved away, but stayed poised to jump back under his arm if it looked like he was going to fall. He swayed, but only slightly, and then he stood there, quite still, and Ciri backed up, satisfied that he wouldn't tip over trying to walk. He looked back down at Elsa, thought about waking her, but decided to let her sleep on. He walked on unsteady legs towards the fire, and Silas slid off of the stump he had been sitting on, gesturing for Heins to sit. Heins thanked him gratefully and took his place, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, trying hard not to move too much. Ciri and Alan took their seats as well, then continued their conversation, Heins content to listen to Baldur's only slightly extremely embellished and ever escalating tales of the Queensguard's exploits to Ciri, which somehow always seemed to involve Baldur heroically riding in at the last moment to save everyone. Ciri, to her credit, was growing more skeptical with each story.
"So you beat them all by yourself?" Ciri asked, apparently awestruck by the latest edition of "Baldur Saves Everyone", this one featuring Baldur defeating a dozen guards singlehandedly after the rest of the Queensguard had all been beaten.
Baldur shrugged modestly. "The others had softened them up first."
"Wow…" She turned to Leila. "Yeah, not buying it. What really happened?"
"He knocked himself out on a doorframe and was captured immediately. He was out that entire fight." Laughter rang out across the camp, Heins trying to laugh without moving, which was not easy.
"Kristoff!" Cari cried suddenly, leaping to her feet. The others followed her gaze to see Kristoff leading his horse into the camp. "Where's Anna!"
"Nearby," Kristoff said with a guarded tone, beginning to tether his horse to the tree where the others were. "First things first, how's Elsa?"
"She's okay," Elsie said. "I've checked on her leg, the infection is going down. She'll be fine in a couple weeks."
"I don't know if any of us can do enough to thank you, Elsie," Cari said. Elsie waved away the praise.
"I'm happy to help."
"Good to see you up and about, Heins," Kristoff continued. "How's your back?"
"It's seen better days, but I think I'll be okay."
"He should be," Elsie added, as Kristoff joined them around the fire. "It's a painful burn, but mostly because of how large it is. It didn't reach too deep. I don't even think it'll scar, and even if it does, he shouldn't have any long-term problems."
"That's good." He noticed Baldur's shoulder. "You get burned too?"
"A bit. I've had worse sunburns," Baldur said, waving away his concern. "This is just to keep it from stinging, once Heins was sorted." He indicated the bandage, and Elsie nodded her affirmation.
"What about you, Elsie?"
"Jaw's a little sore," Elsie said, dodging the question. "She's got a hell of a swing, that one."
"That she does. How are you, though?" Kristoff didn't fall for her misdirection.
"I'm fine," Elsie said, and Heins could see in everyone's faces that not one of them believed her. They just continued watching her, waiting for a real answer. "Okay, I'm upset," she sighed after a few moments. "Don't get me wrong," she continued, looking a little defensive. "I know she didn't mean to do the fire thing. But she didn't hit me with fire. She hit me. That was her."
"I know," Kristoff sighed, leaning forward and hanging his head. "She's…" He exhaled, sat back up, opened his mouth again, then closed it.
"Use small words, Kristoff," Alan said, nudging him with a cheeky smile. Kristoff gave a weary grin.
"Anna's convinced that the Anna that hit you-" he nodded at Elsie- "and burned you guys-" he nodded at Heins and Baldur- "is the real Anna now. That's just who she is- angry, violent, and dangerous."
"Well that's stupid," Elsie said at once, to common agreement. "Wait, you guys didn't think I meant I wouldn't forgive Anna, right?" she asked, to common dissent.
"I mean, I don't think any of us are thrilled exactly, but we understand," Baldur said, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back. "Does she think we haven't all lashed out at one another over the past two years? I mean, yes, her lashing out does tend to be a little more hot tempered-" every single person around the fire groaned- "but the principle is the same."
"This whole thing is stupid, though," Ciri said, then blushed as everyone turned their attention to her. She still wasn't very comfortable in this setting, with royalty and elite soldiers all turned towards her, but her mouth kept outrunning her brain. "I mean- if the 'real' Anna were some heartless jerk, why would she run away after what happened? It's like- did anyone think Elsa was heartless for running away from her coronation? I was only a kid and even I knew she was trying to do the right thing."
"Exactly!" Kristoff said, far too loudly, and everyone looked at him, surprised. "Thank you, Ciri."
She blinked twice, then Heins saw dawning realization on her face. He was only a second or two behind.
"Anna, you can come out now," Heins called.
A familiar pale face with a shock of strawberry blonde hair peeked out from behind a tree, like a child playing hide and seek. There was a general cry of enthusiastic welcome, and Anna stepped out fully, her hands clutched in front of her heart. Something blue was wrapped around several of her fingers. Her expression was downcast and trepidatious, and her gaze was locked to the ground. Her shoulders trembled with shaky breaths.
"Hey Anna!"
"I'm so glad you came back!"
"You had us worried there, Anna!"
"Come sit down, Anna!"
Anna just stood there, looking very overwhelmed, very haggard, and very, very exhausted. "You guys really aren't mad at me?" she asked, her voice unsteady.
"Nah," Cari said, and everyone else shook their heads. "There might be a couple of us you owe an apology-" she gave pointed looks at Heins, Elsie, and Baldur- "but no, we're not mad. To say that the past two years, and today in particular, have been 'stressful' is the biggest understatement since 'Maybe Hans isn't such a good guy after all'." Everyone laughed at that, and even Anna giggled a little. "All of us have torn into each other. We just don't happen to have magical fire powers. Now come join us." Anna took shaky steps towards them, then sat down next to Kristoff, a little separate from the rest.
"Still," Anna said, in a voice so quiet they all had to lean closer to hear. "I'm so… so sorry… All of you are better than I deserve." Heins could see a few of them open their mouths to protest, but each closed it again, waiting for Anna to finish what she wanted to say. "I… I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel…" She took a deep breath.
"Anna, you don't have to…" Kristoff murmured, but she shook her head.
"Yes I do. I don't know why I feel so empty, and so lost, and so…. It's so nice to be around all of you again, but it doesn't make me as happy as it should, and I don't know why."
For a long while, the only sounds were the crackling fire and an owl hooting in the trees behind them. Anna stared into the flames, unwilling to make eye contact with anyone. Even Kristoff seemed to be at a loss for what to say, and no one wanted to speak first for fear of accidentally making Anna's mental state worse. When a voice did finally break the silence, it was an unexpected one.
"Anna…" Elsa's voice was weak, but lucid.
"Elsa!" Anna cried, jumping to her feet. She ran to Elsa's side and knelt down next to her. Heins thought about following, but decided he would let the sisters talk in private. If they wanted to talk to anyone else, they would say so.