10

He sat alone in a dark room contemplating what went wrong, how fate had worked against him, how such a simple plan got so out of control and failed. He had no time for sunlight, it just reminded him of his failure, of how he almost succeeded. But it was nearly four years since he had returned from Arendelle in disgrace and had to face his father and brothers.

His father just yelled at him for ruining the ties with a close trading partner in Arendelle. How he ruined a close relationship he built up with King Agnar only to have him ruin it in a matter of days because of petty jealousy and a stupid sense of having to prove himself to his brothers. As punishment, he was sent to horses' stall to muck them every day until he told him otherwise.

His father told him that he wasn't much better than the horse manure he was shovelling at the time. His brothers just made it worse, their taunting and disrespect hurt him even deeper than before and his resentment rose. He hated them with a passion, but didn't want to lash out to give them the satisfaction that they were getting to him.

The only solace he had was when he could occasionally go sailing, something that he knew he was much better at than any of his brothers, but no one would let him enter into any competitions because of his reputation.

It became even worse about a year later after he was brought back in disgrace when out of the clear blue sky a giant snowball hit him, he knew where it came from, but, of course, none of his family would believe him and just laughed at him some more.

But some good came from it, as his father decided that he had enough and tried to get closer to him, tried to see if he could salvage something from him. He played along, thinking that maybe if he could be married off, he could leave the Southern Isles forever and leave his family behind once and for all.

However, due to his attempt to usurp the throne of Arendelle, no one trusted him and therefore no other king, or family of reputation would even consider him to court their daughter, it seemed his hope of leaving the past behind was being thwarted at every turn. This just fuelled his frustration, which fed his anger and resentment towards his brothers.

Fortunately, years of training to be a Prince allowed him to bury this deep down so that it wouldn't reach the surface of his being. Outside, he laughed with his brothers, was cordial towards them and kept up his manners. It was this training that managed him to fool Princess Anna that he was in love with her and was ready to marry her immediately.

When he looks back at that time, he almost regretted trying to go too far and thought what if everything was normal and he had just married her, even if he didn't kill off her sister Elsa, he could have still had a good life. Anna was a nice girl, he could have learned to love her, but that wasn't good enough, he wanted it all so he could show his brothers that he wasn't a loser, that he was in fact better than they were and he would have loved to rub their noses in it.

Then of course, Elsa revealed herself to be magical with the power of snow and ice, which solved the mystery of why her parents had locked her up and she wasn't just magical, she was powerfully magical. How could he had calculated that, magical powers were very rare in the kingdoms, and Elsa's powers were now both feared and respected throughout the kingdoms.

He remembered Wesselton as well That little weaselly of a character approached his father to try and take on Arendelle about a year after his attempt to usurp the throne, but his father wouldn't have any part of it. Wesselton was really annoyed about the loss of trade and his father was more interested in, trying to re-establish relations with Arendelle, but was having very little success.

Then, two years ago, his father died suddenly, just as he was starting to make some progress with him, further driving him into a state of paranoia that everything and everyone was against him. His oldest brother became King and to a point, their relationship improved slightly. Some of his other brothers did marry, though only two actually moved out of the kingdom, which left him the only brother unmarried and alone. They still teased him over it and still ridiculed him over his attempt to steal the Arendellian throne.

Then about six months ago came the news that really cut deep into his psyche as news arrived from Arendelle that Queen Elsa had abdicated the throne in favour of her sister Anna. Rumour spread that somehow Elsa had become even more powerful and even though she had complete control of her powers, she left the kingdom to her sister to live with the Northuldra people in the far north.

Did his brothers give it to him then, telling him if he had just married Princess Anna, he would now be the King of Arendelle, well in name at least as Anna would have had the power still. Though he knew this wouldn't have happened because Anna went after Elsa after she ran away to the North Mountain where she accidently froze Anna's heart and therefore, he would not have been able to save her with true love's kiss.

He still vividly remembered the ice castle that Elsa had built on the North Mountain and if he was totally honest with himself, he would really like to see it again, it was magnificent and he wished he had time to go back and really appreciate it. He also remembers the snow monster Elsa created and that he actually defeated it. It was those two things he remembered most and it gave him an inkling of Elsa's power.

Now they say she is even more powerful. But he didn't have to worry about it, he knew there was no way he would be returning to Arendelle, or anywhere else he had been to. He was stuck on this island for the rest of his life with very little to look forward to.

So, there he sat in his darkened room despite the beautiful clear day outside contemplating whether he should go out or not. He was dishevelled, his hair had grown out and he had an unkept beard. His depression mingled with his resentment towards his brothers, and to himself, pulling him further down the black hole he had made for himself with little hope of escaping.

Then the last thing he ever thought would happen, happened. His brother knocked at the door.

"Hey baby brother"

"What, Anthony," he responded.

"You have a letter and you will never believe who and where it is from?"

"Enlighten me?" he requested.

"From Queen Anna of Arendelle."

He shot up out of his bed hitting his head on the canopy of the bed. "What!"

"Yes, it has her seal on the envelope."

"No, you're kidding me."

"I'm not, now come and read it, I'm curious, maybe they want you to face charges."

"Slip it under the door then."

Anthony slipped the letter under the door to Hans and he picked it up off the floor. Much to his surprise it had the Arendelle Royal Seal imprinted on the wax that sealed the letter.

"My God, it's real," he said to himself as he hastily opened it, then read it quietly out loud to himself

"Her Majesty Queen Anna of Arendelle requests your presence at your earliest convenience in Arendelle in order to answer questions regarding the events of July 1839.

This is not a trial and once the investigation is over, you will be free to return to the Southern Isles."

He looked at the bottom of the letter and there was Anna's signature and the Royal Seal again.

"This is real," he said to himself and for the first time in a long time he smiled as he suddenly saw a chance for him to succeed where he failed four years ago.

"What does it say Hans?" asked Anthony.

The door opened with Hans looking confidently at his brother as he emerged.

"Queen Anna has requested me to go to Arendelle to clear up somethings that happened four years ago."

"Well, you can't go," said Anthony, "they'll arrest you for sure and throw you into jail."

"I have assurances from Queen Anna herself that will not be the case, read it for yourself."

"Well Klaus won't let you go."

"Klaus can't stop me, even if he is King now."

"Well, you can't try and marry Anna this time, she's already married."

"I know that," he said to his brother with derision, "trust me I am just curious; besides, it will be interesting to see how powerful her sister has become, she's always been a bit of a mystery."

"Well make sure she doesn't freeze you."

"Oh, I doubt she will, it's not in her nature, now if you will excuse me, I need to respond to this, send it, then arrange passage on the first boat to Arendelle."

Hans raced of to organise his acceptance of the Queens request and then arrange passage on the available ship to Arendelle. His mind started racing and scheming as to how he could turn this opportunity to his advantage and once and for all, get his revenge on his brothers by achieving so much more than they could, even his oldest brother Klaus who was now king.

As Anthony said, Anna was out of the question now, but there was still Elsa, who he thought he better understood now and why she was so secretive and unresponsive to people. He had attempted in the past to reach her but to no avail.

The idea amused him even though he knew it was in the realms of fantasy that it would happen. I mean, he thought to himself smiling, she was more than a Queen now, she was some sort of supernatural being with immense powers. He daydreamed that she would fall for him and that she, at his request, would send the Southern Isles into an eternal winter this time.

But, reality sank, it was just a nice dream, if he was honest with himself, getting his revenge could be as simple as finally getting to leave the Southern Isles forever, his life had been miserable here and it drove him to try and kill Anna and Elsa in order to win the throne of Arendelle. He didn't regret he did it, well, no he did regret now where his lust for revenge took him, but he regretted not achieving his goal so he could have rubbed the crown in his brothers' faces.

"Ahh Fritz," he called out to the head of Palace staff.

"Prince Hans, nice to see you up, what can I do for you your Grace?"

"Fritz, I need to respond to this request from Queen Anna of Arendelle immediately."

"Really, Queen Anna sent you a request?"

"Yes, she did, she has requested me to return to Arendelle to answer questions regarding, well you know."

"Prince Hans, I hope you're not thinking of going."

"I am, because she has assured me, as you can see in her letter here, that I will be free to leave once their enquiry is over."

"Oh dear," said Fritz as he read the letter, "so she has."

"You see, I wish you to send as soon as possible an acceptance letter and that I will be there as soon as I can arrange passage."

"Well, you're Highness, I can get the response to her today as there's a ship leaving this afternoon, and there's another ship leaving in two days' time that I can get you passage on."

"Excellent, you're the best Fritz, you are really the only one who looked out for me."

"I know, you're Grace, the boys did treat you badly, but.."

Hans cut him off, "Yes I know, I shouldn't have done what I did, but maybe there might be some redemption for me here."

"I hope so Prince Hans, I'll get that acceptance printed up and on that ship for you."

"Thanks again," smiled Hans who then left the room and went to walk outside to a place in the Palace gardens that he always enjoyed.

He found his favourite tree and sat down on the bench underneath it. He had been coming to this tree for as long as he could remember. In the tree every Spring, numerous birds would nest and he enjoyed listening to their songs and hearing their young cry out for food whenever the parents returned. Other than sailing, this was his only place of peace and happiness, his brothers never bothered him here, in fact they just left him alone when he was out here, but would return to their torment of him as soon as he re-entered the Palace.

For the first time in four years, he could actually feel himself smiling as he thought how he could turn this situation to his advantage. The Elsa idea was fun, but as he told himself, as close to as impossible as it could be. For one, he imagined both sisters hated him and didn't trust him, which he could understand, he did try and kill both of them, not exactly the way to win friends.

But then he started thinking, why would they ask him to return there after all these years, what has changed? It didn't make any sense to him, has some new information come to light to them, or do they just want to humiliate him in front of Arendelle. Anna was Queen now and it wouldn't surprise him if that was the reason. Though the more he thought about it, and what he knew of Anna, that wasn't in her character. He did play on her naivety to get her to agree to marry him, but she was actually a very nice girl and it would have probably been nice to be married to her.

Then there was Elsa, he did remember there was a bit of a mean streak in her, after all, she almost killed Wesselton's two guards. They were lucky he got to them when he did after fighting the giant snowman and now, she was even more powerful, which was hard to fathom, because that Ice Castle she built was just awesome, not to mention the giant snowman he fought.

However, when he yelled out to her not to be the monster everyone thought she was, she immediately stopped. He did try and bring that ice chandelier down her when he stopped Wesselton's man from shooting her with his crossbow by aiming it at the ceiling but it only knocked her out.

Still, he couldn't think as to why they were requesting him to come back after all he did, all he knew is that he had to make it count.

"Hans!" yelled his oldest brother Klaus.

Hans stood up and respectively bowed to his brother as he was the king.

"Yes Klaus, how can I help you?"

"What's this I hear about you returning to Arendelle?"

"Queen Anna has requested me to go there, and she has given me assurance that it is just to answer some questions, nothing else. They won't detain or arrest me I will be free to return once they have finished."

"Well, I won't allow it, I'm not going to see my brother end up in a jail in another Kingdom."

"Klaus, I know Queen Anna better than you and trust me, if she has given me assurances, she will honour those assurances."

"You know her better, oh come on, you tried to kill her and her sister, who has become who knows what now, they'll squash you like a bug. Like last time, you're not thinking straight."

"Hey, I know what I am doing."

"Nonsense, last time you screwed everything up because of your petty jealousy and I won't have you screwing things up again as I am so close to finally re negotiating a new trade deal with them."

"You can't stop me Klaus, I'm not that little boy anymore."

"You're behaving like him"

"What would you know!" screamed Hans, "my whole childhood was made miserable by you and the rest of them, making me feel invisible, telling me that I killed my mother when she died of pneumonia! Constantly telling me I wouldn't amount to anything. You were my big brother, you were supposed look out for me, instead you treated me like horse manure! Hell, if they throw me in prison, it would be an improvement on this place!

"Hans, don't talk like that to me, I'm not just your big brother, I am also your King!" screamed back Klaus

"Klaus, you're not my king, just one of twelve brothers who made my life hell, now get out of my way, I have a ship to catch in two days' time and don't worry about saying goodbye, I don't care. You and all the others can go to hell. No matter what happens in Arendelle, I doubt I'll be back, King Klaus!"

With that Hans stormed off, leaving his brother speechless. However, he found himself very satisfied as he had wanted to say something like that for so many years. As he walked, he looked around all the familiar things he had come to know for his whole life as he was sure now, he would never see them again and that actually made him happy.

After gathering his thoughts, his brother Klaus mumbled to himself, "goodbye Hans" as he too knew that Hans wasn't coming back and he decided it was probably best for the Kingdom that he left.