Warnings: intimate partner violence, implied rape, abusive language, murder, Hanna, major character death.
The Rescue of Queen Anna"King Hans and Queen Anna of Arendelle!" Kai's voice pronounced to the assembled crowd. The newly married couple walked through the assembled crowd, citizens of the city throwing flowers and cheering them.
Anna looks happy, Elsa thought. She got her fairytale happy ending: Prince Charming, a big wedding, an even bigger party. The gates were open again. She sighed in sadness and frustration; not that she had any desire to be Queen, but being forced by Hans to abdicate in exchange for keeping her powers secret wasn't how she thought her reign would go.
At Elsa's coronation reception, Anna confessed her desire to marry Hans and she'd lost control of her powers briefly. Only a couple other guests noticed, but once he recovered from the shock, Hans made Elsa a deal: his silence for her crown, knowing that the people of Arendelle would likely be terrified of such magic. He was true to his word; the few guests that noticed were plied with drink until they couldn't remember anything that had happened that night.
As the celebration went on, Hans got more and more drunk - and ostentatious. During the reception, he boasted that Arendelle would soon have a royal family to rival the Southern Isles. "With my Queen at my side, we will give Arendelle a royal line like it has never seen before! Thirteen sons - no, fourteen! A toast to Queen Anna!" he drunkenly shouted from the dais in the palace's Great Hall. Anna giggled alongside him, raising her own flute of champagne with her husband.
Elsa couldn't take much more and slipped away, headed for her chambers, her face burning in shame. Anna wasn't hers any longer, not that she ever was. She'd never found the courage to tell her sister how she felt about her, and now she never could. She waved her fingers, her ice powers altering her dress back to the form she found most comfortable. Halfway down the hall, she heard footsteps behind her and turned.
"Sis! Are… are you all right?" Anna called, reaching to grab Elsa's hand.
"I am, I'm just… tired. Congratulations on the beautiful day, Anna. You looked radiant today, and certainly far better than I ever did wearing that," she gestured to the golden tiara in her sister's auburn hair, smiling wanly.
Anna stroked the back of her sister's hand. "I… I know Hans forced you to abdicate so that the people wouldn't be terrified of a queen who had magical abilities. I'm so sorry, Elsa. I want you to be happy, too. I love you, Elsa. I wish…" she paused, drifting off.
"You wish?"
"It doesn't matter. I'll always love you." Anna blushed, grinning.
Elsa pulled her sister tight to her. Despite all that had happened, her powers manifesting at her coronation, Hans saving her from her own worst impulses, she still felt alone, an outsider in her own family's kingdom. The only moments she ever felt happy were in Anna's arms. Elsa burrowed her head into Anna's neck as they hugged; she could feel Anna's pulse, strong and firm. "I love you too, Anna. More than you'll ever know," she whispered.
Months Later
Knock, knock, knock.
"Anna? Are you all right?"
Elsa put her ear to her sister's heavy wooden door, listening carefully. After a few moments, she heard muffled sniffling.
"Anna? What's wrong?"
"Go away, Elsa," came the sad, sorrowful voice that barely resembled her sister.
"Anna, please. I know you're in there. People have been asking where you've been. We hardly see you in court any more… and I miss you. It's been weeks since we've even had a meal together."
Elsa's stomach churned. The honeymoon lasted only days - not the royal couple's official holiday, but the happiness in their relationship after their return from vacationing in the Southern Isles. Hans, it turned out, was a drinker - and not in moderation. He'd brought back case after case of fine crystal bottles from Neuchatel with a pale green spirit in them - absinthe, he'd called it. Something exotic from Switzerland that his father, King Georg, apparently favored. Like father, like son, she thought sourly.
His gold-trimmed goblet, emblazoned with the crests of Arendelle and the Southern Isles, was never far from his hand and never far from full, even in court. When her sister had gently admonished him about it, he'd dismissed her summarily and harshly.
Over the weeks, she saw less and less of her sister. When he deigned to answer, Hans would usually snap at Elsa that Anna was on the crown's business and was not to be disturbed, then dismiss her just as harshly. Elsa showed up in court less and less after a couple of months; she saw no point in watching Hans make an inebriated mockery of the throne; a month ago, Hans had drunkenly ordered that she was no longer to show her face in court again or he'd jail her. Anna had also taken to a very old habit of her own, not answering or opening her door.
"Anna, if you don't open this door, I will."
"Go away!"
Elsa took a deep breath and touched her finger to the door. Tendrils of ice and snow gently slipped into the tumblers and slid them into alignment, opening the lock. She eased the door open and stepped into her sister's room.
And gasped at the state of her sister's room - and the state of her sister. Pale moonlight cast long shadows in the room, showing only Anna's silhouette on the bed. Trays of rotted food lay piled up in a corner, the smell overpowering now that she was in the room. A few flies flitted around the top-most tray.
"Anna! What… what happened? What's wrong?" Elsa waved glowing ice into existence, the blue glow chasing away the shadows.
Anna turned to face her sister, tracks of tears still fresh on her sunken, bony cheeks. Her beautiful red hair had become brittle and coarse; her whole body was thin. Bruises adorned her body; on her wrists, a man's handprints easily made out. Her left eye was blackened; the same hand had left a bruised imprint on her cheek.
"No…" Elsa breathed in shock, "Anna… no…" She reached out to touch her sister's cheek, but Anna flinched from the gesture. Elsa extended a single finger, a thin line of frosty air dusting her sister's injuries.
Anna closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping. "It- it's my fault."
"There is nothing - NOTHING - that justifies this, Anna. Why would he do this to you?"
"I…" she sobbed softly, facing the window, "… haven't given him a son. So he… he keeps me in here, and every few days or so brings me whatever scraps are left over from whoever he's entertaining. One time I snuck down to the kitchens, I was so hungry, and he caught me." Anna lifted the hem of her skirt, the moon's silver light revealing a jagged, ugly scar along the outside of her thigh, shaped like a broken bottle jammed into the flesh. "I never snuck out again."
Elsa's hands and eyes glowed blue as she turned towards the door. "I'll kill him. I'm going to kill him. He doesn't deserve to ever touch you again, to ever see you again. He doesn't deserve to live."
Anna desperately grabbed her sister by the forearms with thin, bony fingers. "No! Elsa, no. If you attack him, he won't just leave you chained in the dungeons. He'll kill you this time and then no one will be left to save our people, our kingdom."
She wrested from Anna's weak grasp, scowling. "Kill me? He won't catch me by surprise this time. He won't have a chance. I will shatter him into a thousand pieces and save you, save our kingdom."
"But what…" Anna gasped, fear setting in her voice, "… what if you're wrong? I can't lose you, Elsa. You're all I have left in this world, the only good thing left in my life. Knowing you're safe is what has kept me from giving up, after…"
"… after what?" Dread settled in Elsa's stomach like a rock.
"I haven't… given him a son."
"You said that, Anna."
Anna took a deep breath, shame darkening her face as her words grew quieter. "After… after the first couple of months, he- he-"
"He stopped asking and started taking," her sister spat, giving voice to his crimes. Jagged, sharp ice began to spread across the floor under Elsa's feet, blurring the bone-like shadows of the leafless trees lit from outside.
Her sister nodded almost imperceptibly.
Elsa fumed, her eyes growing an even brighter blue as snow flurried around Anna's room. Unseen winds whipped the snow into small drifts as her face twisted with rage. Then suddenly, as quickly as the storm started, it vanished. Elsa's face shifted from anger back to a neutral expression as she sat back down with her arm around her sister's bony shoulders. "All right, Anna. I won't confront him and kill him right now," she said gently.
"It's my fault."
"Anna, no. Absolutely not. You are not to blame for this in any way. This is only him, and he will pay for what he's done to you."
The redhead bowed her head. "That's… not completely true."
"Anna, there is never any reason for a husband to raise a hand against his wife, much less severely injure her or starve her. This isn't the dark ages."
"He's jealous."
Elsa's eyes widened. "Jealous? Of who?"
Anna looked her sister straight in the eye. "You."
"Me? Why me?"
"A month ago," Anna took a deep breath, "in one of his drunken rages, he shouted that I never loved him, that he had more than earned my love and admiration for all he had done for me. I shouted right back that love was an open door, not an open bottle, and that the only person I have ever been in love with is… is…"
Elsa pointed at herself wordlessly, her cheeks coloring rapidly.
Anna nodded, staring into her sister's eyes.
"You… love me? You're in love with me?"
"I always have been, Elsa. You never let me in your door because of your powers, but you let me in your soul. Anyway, it figured that would be the one thing he'd manage to remember in that drunken head of his, and that's when he really showed his true colors - the beatings, the rotten food, the… everything."
"Oh, Anna."
Anna stood up from the bed and walked over to the window. She looked out at the night sky, shivering as autumn's cold breath whistled against the glass. "Now you know. You must hate me."
Her sister shook her head vigorously. "No- I… I thought I was the only one who felt this way," Elsa breathed. "I don't hate you at all, Anna. Quite the opposite. I… I'm in love with you too."
Anna took a deep breath, here eyes fixed on the Frost Moon just above the trees, as if waiting for it to speak its approval for her thoughts. "Elsa, would you…"
"Would I what?"
"Would you stay with me tonight? Just… please. I need to feel something, someone that isn't him. Hold me?"
Elsa nodded. She turned to the pile of refuse and cast a beam of frost at it, encasing it entirely in ice to eliminate the stench, then dissolved her ice dress. They both climbed under the covers and Elsa suppressed more gasps as her hands glided over Anna's nightgown, feeling just how thin her sister was. She kissed her brittle, thin hair, looking almost grey in the moonlight streaming from outside. "We're going to make this better, Anna. I promise you."
"I… I believe you, Elsa. More than anything." Anna laid her head down on her sister's chest, savoring the warmth of her body and felt safe for the first time in months.
The next morning, Elsa found Gerda outside the royal dining room, helping the staff to clear the morning breakfast.
"Gerda?"
"Yes, Your Highness?" the elderly matron asked, curtseying.
"When was the last time you brought the Queen a meal?"
Gerda tilted her head. "Oh, a few weeks at least, I think."
"Why not more often?"
"Well, His Majesty said he was taking care of it. Oh, I'm sorry, Princess Elsa. Have I done something wrong?"
Elsa smiled kindly and motioned for them to step into an alcove. "No, of course not. However, I would like to request that you prepare an extra dinner for me each day. And Gerda?"
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Please keep this between us. It does not need to concern the King. He is very busy, as you know, so please do not mention it to him." She stared into the matron's eyes and saw recognition reflected in them. Elsa's shoulders relaxed, tension flowing out of them.
"Of course, Your Highness. Is the Queen all right?"
"She will be," Elsa nodded, a grim smile on her face.
Something didn't make sense with the way Hans was abusing Anna. Certainly, alcohol and arrogance were a deadly combination, but this was more than just a drunk's randomness or a jealous suitor. Why starve the woman you expect to bear your child, she puzzled.
Elsa wandered the empty halls of the castle for a while; Hans demanded complete devotion from the castle staff, like a toddler throwing a fit when he wasn't the center of attention. Other than the lonesome guard here or there, everyone was compelled to be near the king if they wanted to be in his favor.
Before long, she found herself at the messenger pigeon rookery, high up in the central spire of the palace. A few errant leaves danced along the stone steps in the cold breeze. A lone guard slept soundly at his post, his snores clearly indicating his current condition. Elsa tiptoed past him and looked at the many message tubes laid out on the table near the birds. A few of the tubes bore the symbol of House Westergaard in the Southern Isles.
For someone who proclaims he won't speak with his family until Arendelle exceeds the glory of the Southern Isles, there are more message tubes here from the Southern Isles than there should be, thought Elsa. She bent down to look inside the tubes without disturbing them and saw one of them still had its payload in it, not yet dispatched. Quickly and silently, she cast a gentle layer of frost over the tiny scroll and levitated it out of the tube silently, snatching it in the palm of her hand.
The guard snorted, foggy breath sputtering in the cold November air, and resumed snoring.
Elsa smiled and fled down the stairs to her chambers, unseen. She locked her door inside, then cast ice over the lock to ensure no one barged in on her. Let's see what the king has to say.
"Elsa?" Anna asked, chewing happily on a plate of salmon and potatoes that her sister had secreted into her chambers. "Are you all right? You've been quieter than normal tonight. Did… did Hans do something to you? Did he catch you?"
"No. No, quite the opposite, Anna. I- I'll tell you after you finish your meal." She sighed, the contents of the scroll weighing heavily on her.
Anna pushed away the empty tray, relieved. "You… you have no idea how much that meant to me, Elsa. I haven't had a proper meal in I don't know how long - certainly not one where the food wasn't already rotten or half eaten."
"And you'll have proper meals from now on, Anna. I've worked something out." Elsa smiled, caressing her sister's cheek and neck. She could feel Anna's pulse already stronger after the meal.
A shadow crossed Anna's features. "Elsa… why is he doing this to me? I know that… I haven't been able to… you know."
Her sister withdrew a small block of ice from her dress that she'd secreted in the small of her back; her long blonde hair easily covered it, and her powers had held it in place. With a wave of her fingers, the ice vanished, leaving only a small piece of rolled parchment on the table.
"I discovered this today while I was in the rookery."
Anna reached for the scroll, embossed with Arendelle's royal seal, fingers trembling. "Is it… what is it?"
"Read it. I want you to see that pig's words directly."
Dearest Sofia, I miss you so. I will be rid of A within the fortnight; she's so used to rotten food and so hungry that she'll eat the arsenic without question. Plan to leave for Arendelle in three weeks. We'll have the coronation and you'll rule by my side as it should be. - H
"Who… who is Sofia?"
Elsa shook her head angrily, insulted on her sister's behalf. "Likely some wagtail from back home."
Anna dropped her head into her hands. For a few moments, quiet filled the room until Elsa heard the soft sounds of tears hitting the wooden table surface, dripping through Anna's fingers.
"Why?" she whispered, choking. "Why did I ever think he was Prince Charming? Why did I ever get married at all? Being alone was better than this. No one hated me enough to kill me when I was alone." She looked up into her sister's azure eyes. "You never hated me, even if you wouldn't come out of your room."
"Never. I- I've always loved you, Anna. I thought about you every day, wished that I had the courage to… to tell you just how much I loved you. To show you." Elsa turned her eyes away from her sister. "I failed you, and now look at what that monster tried to do to you. I was almost too late." She sat down on a chair next to her sister, her shoulders slumped in shame.
"He didn't succeed. You found me. You saved me. You love me… and you're in love with me, the same way I'm in love with you. That's all I wanted, Elsa. That's all I've ever wanted since Mother and Father died." Anna leaned against her sister, an arm around her shoulder.
"I do, Anna. I love you more than anything, or anyone. And I always will." She returned Anna's embrace. "Now, let's get you to bed so you can rest and regain some of your strength."
Anna smiled, her eyes still wet with tears. "Elsa?"
"Yes?"
"Stay with me again? Stay with me tonight?"
"I'll stay with you forever, Anna."
Elsa stood in a knee-high snowdrift and cast another bolt of frost as she reflected on the last couple of weeks. To ensure Hans would leave Anna alone, she'd arranged for a substantial shipment of absinthe to find its way to the castle, attributed to an early Yule gift from the Duchy of Weselton as thanks for their profitable trade. Hans, delighted, crawled into the bottles as quickly as he could. That gave her the cover she needed to bring Anna food and drink every evening, helping her regain her health.
Love was a powerful motivator, but hate even more so. She hated Hans with every ounce of her being for what he did to Anna, and that drove her to the North Mountain every morning. She muttered to herself as she practiced using the powers she once feared. Don't let him in. Don't let him see. Be the good girl he expects you to be. Conceal, don't feel, don't let him know that he's a dead man.
Effigy after effigy of Hans crumbled under her might as she pushed herself to learn every aspect of the powers she'd hid for years. Shards of ice dashed against leafless tree trunks. Sweat beaded on her brow despite the freezing temperatures and winds as she brought different snow creatures to life, froze targets around her solid, practiced making the air so cold that any water in it simply fell to the ground.
She stared into the distance, hearing Pabbie's voice from when she was a child. "Listen to me, Elsa, your power will only grow. There is beauty in it. But also great danger. You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy."
"You were right, Pabbie," she said to the icy blue sky, "I was so afraid of my powers, I let a monster nearly kill my sister. The fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all. It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me."
"King Hans, may I have a moment of His Majesty's time?" Elsa bowed with a smile, the last petitioner at the end of another open court. Hans' bottle of absinthe for the day was down to the last dregs, his puffy, swollen cheeks almost as red as his hair.
"Huh? Who-" he wiped his bleary red eyes. "Oh. It's you, Ice Queen! You know, I still haven't fucked you yet," he laughed, slapping his knee. "I wonder if you're as cold inside as you are on the outside. Now, what do you want, witch?" he spat, pouring the last of the bottle into his glass.
"A moment alone, Your Majesty."
Hans swept his arm across the mostly empty room, a few guards standing at attention. "What for, that you cannot say it in the presence of my-" he belched, "Royal Court?"
"It's about my sister, the Queen. Something… has happened," she murmured.
As she expected, Hans sat up straight, a glint in his eye. "Guards! You are dismissed."
The clattering of armor quieted after a few moments, leaving the two alone. Hans stood up unsteadily, taking a step towards Elsa who still knelt on the floor in front of the throne. "Did she finally- I mean, tell me what happened, Elsa."
"It would seem, Your Majesty, that my sister has fallen seriously ill, according to the palace doctor. She's had such a high fever the last week, she's burning up."
"That's… a shame, Elsa. You have been following my orders, to avoid contact with her, yes, so that your powers don't accidentally harm her?" Elsa nodded meekly. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll be sure to bring her a meal to her room tonight. You are dismissed."
Elsa curtsied and departed. Hans rushed into the palace kitchen, knocking aside several servants along the way. "Ingeborg! Fetch me a plate of leftover food immediately!" he snarled at the head cook. Moments later, the flustered cook handed the king a tray of hastily assembled food, still managing to plate it nicely. Hans grabbed it from her and left the kitchen.
He stopped in his chambers briefly, fetching a small glass bottle from his bureau with pale yellow arsenic powder in it. Hans gleefully chortled as he stirred the food with the powder until it was invisible to the eye, then carefully carried the tray down the hall to Anna's chambers.
He opened the door, seeing his bride burrowed under the covers, a lump gently breathing. Soon, it would be all over. Soon, she would be gone, leaving him sole monarch of Arendelle and freeing him to rule as he saw fit. Soon, he would reunite with his childhood love, the woman whose father told him he was beneath her, that he'd never amount to anything with 12 brothers ahead of him for the throne of the Southern Isles.
"There, there, my Queen," he said smoothly, his tone softer and gentler than he'd spoken to Anna in months. "Your sister stopped by court today and said you were feeling unwell, so I thought I'd bring you a little something," he said with a smile almost approaching a sneer, placing the tray on the bed, nudging her sleeping form.
… and the food froze into a solid block of ice.
Hans' eyes bulged at the sight as Anna threw off the covers… and it wasn't Anna at all.
"You! What- what's the meaning of this?"
Elsa smirked and flung the tray to the floor as she jumped out of the bed, hands glowing blue with frost. "My dear Hans… arsenic, isn't it?"
He sputtered, caught in the act. "How did you- what? What are you talking about?"
"Oh Hans, Sofia isn't coming." She waved her fingers and ice encased Hans' legs and waist, pinning him to the floor. "In fact, no one is coming to help you at all." Thick sheets of ice cascaded down the walls of the room, a foot thick and utterly soundproof in every direction. Another wave of her fingers, and icy manacles chained Hans' hands to his torso.
She held up the scroll Hans had planned to dispatch to the Southern Isles, and her calm demeanor shattered like an icicle falling from a rooftop. Sapphire blue light flared from her eyes as the temperature of the room plummeted. "How dare you, you worthless pile of filth? How dare you sacrifice my sister and replace her with some whore? How dare you steal our kingdom from us?" she shouted, snow falling from the ceiling.
"Witch! You'll never get away with-" Hans began to scream before ice covered his mouth, sealing it shut.
"It's you who will never get away with hurting Anna ever again. Did you ever love her?"
Hans stared at Elsa, loathing and fear equally mixed in his eyes.
Elsa leaned forward and roared in his face, ice-cold breath stinging his exposed skin. "DID. YOU. EVER. LOVE. HER?"
A timid shake of his head was his only response.
"I thought not," she said, her voice returning to normal, "When Anna was little, I hurt her by accident. My powers hit her in the head, and only one of the trolls was able to save her. He said, the head is easily persuaded, but not the heart. Do you know, Hans, what happens if my powers touch someone… here?" She extended a glowing blue finger towards his chest.
"They will freeze to solid ice unless saved by an act of true love. In this case, you had all the time in the world to give Anna true love." A thin needle of ice extended from her finger, dissolving into the fabric of Hans' tunic. "Instead of love, you gave her pain. You took her innocence. You took her happiness. And you tried to take her life. Time to balance the scales."
With a last glance over her shoulder in grim satisfaction, she closed the door, ice cascading down it after her.
Hans stared at the icy walls in his Queen's chambers. The moment Elsa left, his icy chains had dissolved, but he was still stuck in a room covered in a foot of ice in every direction. He punched it, kicked it, rammed every part of the ice he could, looking for any escape and found none.
His hands were cut and bloodied from punching and clawing at the ice, fingertips scraped almost down to bone, but he couldn't feel it. He was so cold, cold all the time and nothing could warm him. A day after she imprisoned him, he stopped being able to feel his hands and feet. Three days later, he couldn't feel his arms or legs at all, and couldn't stop shivering.
Now, a week later, he could feel his body failing, like a clock slowly unwinding. He felt like he was being carved up by knives from within at even the slightest movement. Hans knew he didn't have long. He laid down on the ice-covered bed, curled into a ball, snarling at the royal portrait he'd commissioned hanging on the wall in hatred. I sh-sh-should have st-st-stayed in the I-i-isles with her was the last thought that crossed his mind before everything went blue, then black.
Elsa lay cuddled against Anna under her heavy wool blankets, weaving her fingers through her sister's hair. With rest, good food, and love, she was looking much more herself. Still thin, still a little more frail than normal, but Anna felt right against her again. She could feel Anna's warmth, her heartbeat strong once again under her fingertips as she caressed her sister's neck.
And then she felt her ice change.
"Anna…" she nudged.
"mmmmph".
"Anna… let me up for a second. There's something I need to take care of."
"But I'm so warm against you."
Elsa smiled. "I'll be back shortly. Stay under the covers, and I'll have Gerda bring up another hot chocolate." She carefully tucked her sister back in, then cast her traditional ice dress over her naked body. She glanced over her shoulder and blew Anna a kiss, then closed the door, making her way down the hall to Anna's old room.
She smiled to herself. When she'd told Anna that she'd had an accident with her powers in her room and it would need repairs, her sister snorted and said, "Everything in that room was put there by Hans anyway, like the portrait of him, as if I'd forget who I was married to. Good riddance."
Opening the door, Elsa saw the change she felt moments ago. A solid block of blue ice in the shape of Hans was curled up on the bed, his face locked in a hideous rictus. Whatever his last thoughts were, it clearly wasn't repentance, she mused. Satisfaction bloomed in her soul, warm as the morning sun, that her sister's abuser was finished.
No escape from the storm inside of me, Hans, she thought. Elsa reached out her hand, flicked her wrist, and Hans' icy corpse crumbled into tiny ice crystals and drifted away.
Author's NotesThis fic was part of the October 2020 Elsanna Shenanigans contest. It was inspired originally by Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontilado, in which the victim is immured, or entombed while alive, inside a wall.
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