The ruckus that met her as soon as she entered into the dungeon elicited a flinch from the Queen of Arendelle. She paused in the middle of her stride, took a long breath, held it, then resumed with measured steps to meet the prisoners when she felt her nerves settle a bit and her confidence to maintain control boosted when she recalled the not-too-long-ago dissipation of the snowstorm she created.
Nagging doubt, however, returned when she remembered her desperation when she herself was held a prisoner in one of these cells tugged at the chains of fear still encapsulated around her heart. They yanked themselves harder when she heard one of the guards tell the prisoners they they needed to share a cell since there was only one still functional.
The guard didn't need to say why. It was obvious.
The dungeon was no longer structurally sound in many areas. Because of her.
She was able to hold up some places that would've collapsed with blocks of ice, a temporary fix for when reconstructive efforts to the rest of the kingdom were finished. But mere ice, especially with criminals crafty enough, wouldn't be able to contain prisoners unlike sturdy stone and mortar. It also went without saying that she wasn't expecting the dungeons to be used so soon, either. Anyone who was high-profile enough to be put in the castle dungeons themselves were already on their way back home, the last set of ships set to sail in just a few hours.
Elsa came back from her rumination when the voices grew quieter and she could finally hear Anna's voice as a mixture of concern and indignant inquisition, the words too faint to be heard despite Elsa's closing distance. A low voice came in reply, notes of warning interwoven in a friendly, formal tone.
The queen finally rounded a corner and saw the length of hallway that housed the prisoners that Princess Anna had urged Queen Elsa to visit. Considering that this news was delivered to her through a servant instead of through the princess herself, she assumed that it was a high priority.
With Anna and the guards finally in view, Elsa could see that Anna's brows were scrunched together in a manner that suggested frustration or anger, or perhaps bewilderment. Elsa had never really been around Anna enough to be able to pick up the nuances of her sister's emotions, she noted sadly. It didn't escape Elsa's notice that the door to the cell was still open. She couldn't decide if it was a good sign.
Princess Anna took notice of her arrival and strode over to her from her position in front of the cell.
"Elsa!" Anna greeted, her earlier mood vanishing.
"I assume this is urgent?" Elsa asked.
"There is actually no need for urgency, Queen Elsa," came a voice from within the cell. "I'd rather bide my time than rush into decisions."
Elsa felt a rush of anger as she recognized Prince Hans' voice, traces of her magic willing to dance around her fingers in response to her emotions. Her shoulders tensed as soon as she recognized the start of a slip in her control of her powers. Yes, she now knew the ways of proper management of her magic should she mess up; no, it didn't mean that she wouldn't regret her actions if she did.
Don't be the monster they fear you are.
She could hear those words echo from when they were said up the North Mountain, seen in the prince's eyes as he stared at her, studying her with an unreadable expression. It was terrifying, remembering her desire to hurt the men attacking her, pushing her to do so much more. It wasn't her. At that time, it wasn't.
But it was so easy to let it consume her should she follow through.
A harrowing experience was what she decided to call it. An anomaly she did not want to repeat.
The quiet between them was broken when she heard the Duke of Weselton cut in, irritation tugging at the corner of Elsa's lips into a frown.
"Queen Elsa!" the short, elderly nobleman barked. "This is an outrage! I will not accept the terms of severance between Weselton and Arendelle. I will treat it as grounds to break our alliance! Keeping me as a prisoner will count as an act of war!"
"Be glad that your act of treason in sending your men to kill the queen hasn't seen you hanged," one of the guards said.
"She cursed the kingdom! I only did what I thought would save it!"
"By that same logic, Prince Hans would be just as innocent as you."
Elsa held up a hand, keeping both the guard and the duke from furthering their exchange.
"I had both of you sent to your respective kingdoms to be tried for your crimes there," Elsa said, donning an air of regality that she was admittedly unpracticed with. "Considering that Princess Anna has decided that both of you be sent to the dungeon instead, I'm assuming that there are new circumstances surrounding your cases that is hindering my original decision. And because of this, I'm here to discuss those new developments, and I will not hear anything else from either of you, especially of previous events that I've already made my orders in."
She could see the duke begin to retort.
"And yes, that includes the severed trade relations," Elsa said.
She looked to both the prince and the duke, hoping either of them would divulge any information as to why Anna put them here. Neither seemed willing to offer anything. She looked to Anna.
"Hans has magic," Anna said. "And the duke's hoping to get him executed because of this. I was wondering if you wanted to have a say."
Elsa turned to Hans. His face was still unreadable, but there was a rigidity in his stature that wasn't there before. Had she been anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed. But she knew about keeping secrets, and with such a big one on the line put out there so off-handedly by someone else, she knew that his reaction confirmed that this was the case.
She'd do the same in his place.
She decided to give him a chance to confirm it himself. "Is this true?"
"About the duke wanting my execution?" Hans said. "Yes."
He was beating around the bush, and she couldn't understand why. No one else reacted when Anna said anything about Hans having powers, so they've certainly witnessed it firsthand. Was he hoping she wouldn't notice?
"I was asking about the magic," Elsa said. "Was that true?"
The prince's eyes swam with a multitude of emotions, his face twitching slightly as he cycled through each one, his gaze avoiding hers as he stared off to the corner of the cell that wasn't in her line of sight. His jaw clenched as returned his attention to her, his emotions settling on hate as he returned to having an air of indifference.
She saw that the hate wasn't directed at her.
He sighed as if he was bored and took a step backward, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. He exchanged glances with both her and Anna. Then he closed his eyes.
A quick flash of intense light, and before her in the middle of the cell was… her, as if she was looking into a reflection of herself in a mirror. She reached out to touch it, the copy of herself doing the same, and her hand passed through the apparition. She looked to the side and saw Hans, eyes opened again. He stared at the manifestation in the middle of the room with the same hate she saw briefly earlier. His body was tensed and he had a hand digging his fingers into his upper arm deep enough where it looked like he was ready to tear into his shirtsleeve.
Anna appeared to take notice and reprimanded him. "Stop doing that with your shirt."
Elsa looked to her sister in askance. Anna gave her a terse look that said she wasn't going to elaborate yet. Elsa grew more confused when she saw Hans shooting her sister a dirty look, yet still complied.
"Interesting," Elsa said, referring to the illusory image before her.
The prince set his eyes to the floor and gave a hmph in response, his lip curling into a frown. The illusion faded away.
She had so many questions.
She wasn't the only one with powers after all? How long had he been able to do that? Were his affected by his emotions like hers were? Was this why he was able to strike her when she was weakest with his words, because he himself knew just what would hurt him?
"Why do you keep your powers hidden?" Elsa asked.
Hans set his jaw as his frown etched itself deeper onto his face. His eyes opened slightly and flashed a warning as if the question offended him. He gave a half-hearted, menacing chuckle.
"You really are ignorant, are you?" he said, the laugh spilling into his words. "You don't have the slightest idea just how dangerous is it to be a magician?"
It was Elsa's turn to feel offended. "You don't believe I haven't lived with that fact since I hurt Anna as a child?"
He shook his head, mocking her with yet another laugh. "No, Queen Elsa, I'm talking about why someone like myself would be considered dangerous enough for execution. As you already witnessed, my magic leaves nothing tangible behind. I can't possibly destroy nations the way you and many other magicians can."
"So there are more of… us?"
Hans tsked. "How wonderful it must be to have been so isolated from the world where even that wasn't apparent to you. Yes, there are many magicians out there. But most of them are locked away to be forgotten in an asylum and wither away into nothing once they lose control."
"But… I know how to control my powers, and so do you, apparently."
"The magic itself isn't what I'm referring to."
"What are you referring to, then?"
"Remember, up in your ice palace in the mountain? That sudden need to inflict pain and suffering and to kill?"
Anna shot a worried look to Elsa, her eyes showing bewilderment and distrust at what Hans said. She looked ready to rebuke him and claim that the otherwise was true about Elsa.
The queen pressed her lips into a thin line.
"That, is what I am referring to," Hans continued. "And that is why I'll be executed if this rat"—Hans nudged his head in the general direction of the duke—"were to instill that fear in my family. What he doesn't understand is how much that will destroy them and the Southern Isles. It's been the status quo in my kingdom for the longest time: lock away the magicians, try to find a cure, fail to find one, have them put to death in secrecy once it appears that the afflicted no longer have an ounce of sanity left in them. Public execution is only reserved for those who've done the most heinous crimes, and publicly executing a magician who's had a hand in political affairs for years? No, I'd never want that backlash on my family, which is why I've tried so hard to maintain control as long as possible, because then people will want to investigate things deeper. And that will bring about more ruin they don't deserve.
"But control while you're in your right mind means nothing once the magic turns itself against you. It's like a parasite that nips away at your mind, only growing stronger as you grow older. By the time you notice its existence, it's already too late and you find yourself yet another victim of the curse."
After he finished speaking, she noticed that everyone around her was shivering, Anna trying her best to keep from overtly rubbing her arms. Elsa looked to her hands and stifled the dread and fear that she didn't notice she was feeling. One of the guards let out an almost-imperceptible sigh of relief as the discomfort around her ceased.
Even more questions. Even more things she wanted to know, especially about his family since it probably would explain why he tried to kill her and Anna, but the hurt in his voice made it plain that he wasn't willing to share.
She was worried she might end up facing the same dilemma he was at some point.
"There's no way to stop it?" Elsa asked.
"Elsa, you can't seriously be believing whatever he's saying," Anna said.
Elsa bit her lip and looked to the side, her eyes tracing the cobblestone floor. "You weren't there when I…"
When she wanted to kill those Weselton men.
She was only intending to defend herself, and somehow… Somehow she almost pushed herself past the line between defense and cold-blooded retribution. It wasn't her, though. It wasn't!
It wasn't.
"When you what?" Anna asked.
Elsa shook her head. "He isn't lying," she said, not wanting to bring up the situation only herself and the prince had witnessed, the only ones that knew the true gravity of her actions, especially now that she knew exactly how slippery that slope easily could have been.
To Hans, she asked again, "There's no way to stop it?"
The prince closed himself off and considered her intensely. He knew something, but she wasn't sure if he simply didn't want to share it with her, or was afraid to share it in general. It appeared that she passed some kind of mental test since he dissolved into himself and slid to the floor, his previous confidence and large personality gone, leaving a frail and weary one instead.
She wondered if this was him showing his true self.
"Considering how little you know of the phenomenon of magical powers in humans, you aren't familiar with Szaera's work," Hans started. "She was a researcher who wrote a book compiling everything there was to know about magicians and their effects on society. Unlike many others like her at the time, she was the only one whose goal was to find a remedy, not simply make sense of the phenomenon. She didn't find one, but noticed that those who… gave in, but in small quantities, were able to thwart the madness much longer than those who didn't. I put her theories to the test, and there is merit to her research. I only need more time to find out if there's something more permanent."
All of a sudden, Anna grew incensed.
"No, you are not going to suggest that to my sister, you creep!" the princess screamed. "Don't you realize how much she's been tortured by isolating herself? Now you want to go ahead and make that worse?"
"You think I wanted this?" Hans growled, his tone restrained and words forcefully slow. "I told you before, I'm only doing this to keep myself from killing everyone around me. Don't you think she wants to have that decision herself?"
"It shouldn't even be a decision!"
"What else can she do? I saw how easily she could have slipped, and you should thank me that I was able to intervene."
"After trying to kill both of us? No, you deserve whatever punishment your family's going to give you! You're nothing but a bloodthirsty monster!"
The blood drained from the prince's face as he fell silent, his mouth parted slightly as he looked to Anna in disbelief. He composed himself and stood up, that unreadable mask once again taking control of him.
"Then I spoke out of turn," he said. "How foolish of me to suggest such dreadful, dishonorable acts to the righteous Queen of Arendelle. Such depravity should never grace Her Majesty's considerations."
Elsa looked between her sister and Hans, confused.
"Would you like to elaborate?" Elsa said, finally finding the courage to reengage in her interrogation.
"No," Hans said. "I've said enough. I'll take whatever punishment awaits me. My family is honorable and just, they will not give an exception to me since no one is above the law, and I am one to agree with them."
He couldn't just leave it at that, could he? She needed to know how to keep those evil whims at bay! She didn't want it to happen again.
But she knew that look. She wore that same one many times whenever she caught glimpses of Anna when they were growing up. No matter how much she would try to get an answer from him, the figurative door would not open. Even on the threat of death.
He didn't just close himself off, he was running away.