"This way, your majesty," Hans stepped protectively in front of her. She rolled her eyes.

As if she didn't know the way around her own castle. Sadly, she knew the dungeon very, very well.

"I can't help but notice, Protector," Hans walked firmly, ignoring the fact that she was referring to him by his title, and with more than a bit of venom, "That you gave Anna your old cell."

He shrugged, "I figured she'd like the view."

The funny thing was that there was a gaping hole in Anna's cell. In theory, she could probably escape whenever she wanted to; it's just that she would likely be caught and thrown back into prison.

Also, she was lazy.

"Elsa!" Called a familiar voice. Hans felt a pang as a smile appeared on his lover's- or ex-lover's perhaps, face. She didn't smile for him like that. He moved out of the way as the energetic red-head hit the bars, arms squeezing through, "Hugs!"

He put a cautionary arm on his queen's shoulder, "Your majesty, as Protector of the Southern Isles Port of Arrendelle, I am obligated to caution you, the Majesty of Arrendelle, that associating with criminals is dangerous enough. Physically enjoining with them, however brief, should be met with disdain, preceded by a search!"

She paused long enough to roll her eyes again, and wave off the guards. Putting a falsely polite smile on her face, she leaned in and whispered, "If you'll recall, Protector, I have allowed one petty criminal to physically enjoin with me. Should I have preceded that with a search?"

Hans stood stock-still, "…such a person does deserve your disdain, Your Majesty."

She looked into his emotionless eyes. No. He was lying to her. Trying to be the detached figure she'd seen working out on his boat all those months ago. He was hurting. He didn't want her disdain. Still, he did deserve it.

"Yes, yes he does. Open the cell."

"Is that an order?" he questioned

"Hans, you suck!" Which was followed by an orange, followed by Anna's stale wedding cake, "Elsa! Tell Hans he sucks!"

"Hans," She said patiently, "I am going to go hug my sister now. Try not to imprison anyone on my behalf."

"Would you also like to tell me I… suck?"

She batted her eyes, "Yes, but I would settle for you opening the cell door."

"The door is broken," He admitted, abashed.

Anna snorted, "Yeah, you have to come in over here. There's enough room. I slip out occasionally when I'm bored."

Hans pretended not to hear that.

Elsa slipped between a pair of busted bars. Hans sighed. It was undignified of her to do so. Still, he held her hand and assisted her when necessary, swearing to fix the prison when he had a moment. The two sisters sat and whispered to one another. A few choice swears were followed by suspicious glances in his direction.

Ouch.

Okay, sister bonding time. Yes, it had bothered him previously that the girls seemed to have their special relationship. But he had a relationship with Elsa too, once. And he doubted Anna could claim to have gone where he had.

"I wish he'd just die."

Ouch.

It was hard for him here. He'd leveraged all his political standing to get Elsa reinstated: took the blame for the invasion, and Baragor's rule.

He had even begged, blackmailed and basically hounded the members of the International Consortium until they'd made it absolutely clear that Elsa was in good standing with everyone. He made sure she not just in charge by title. She deserved their respect. The position had been handed to her, but that gave no one the right to presume she could not handle the responsibility. Disappearances aside, she was smart, strong, sensual… which didn't have too much to do with ruling, but it was definitely a positive trait.

"He doesn't deserve to be here."

She was right, of course. He did not. Arrendelle was a safe haven, of sorts. Far away from the blood and ash, and filth, and hate, and violence, and fire, and vomit, and iron, and pain, and nightmares.

He had earned none of this. But he wanted it so badly. It was hard to qualify. Yes, he'd wanted Arrendelle desperately. But he couldn't earn it. He had tried to take it by force, and watched that crumble. Then it had been entrusted to him. But no, he did not deserve to be in this place of peace.

"…Protector? Oh please…!"

He wasn't the Protector. He was an unwelcome visitor. The only reason they had invited him back was to try and find Anna, which, as it turns out was unnecessary anyways. And then he had saved Arrendelle from pirates who were only there because he was there. Elsa had been brutalized and Anna was thrown into prison, because of him.

Of course he wasn't really their protector. Looking over, he could see it in their bond, as clear as the night of the disastrous coronation; there was no room for anyone else.

Kristoff had slipped in due to his brother's help. But it did not matter who else was suffering or alone, they were for each other and each other alone.

Hans felt a stab of jealousy. When Anna had left him that night, he had felt… loneliness. Not only was she lying about how dangerous Elsa was, it was as though no one else mattered. That was nice for Elsa, but for everyone else, it was torture.

He looked around. There was obviously no real need for him here. The sisters were completely entranced with each other and there were three other guards.

….huh.

There was something odd there. Typically guards came in even numbers. Two pairs of eyes on the situation and all that. Maybe they considered Hans a guard himself?

…huh.

Two of them were clearly not of Arrendelle origin; darker skin and brown eyes. And they had unruly beards.

Huh. Odd.

The more Hans stared at them, the more alarming he found the two.

"Hans."

Even the voice of his queen did little to quell his fears. He reached for his sword.

"Hans?"

She was unaccustomed to him ignoring her. The sound of him unsheathing it did little to calm her.

"HANS?!" She and her sister were frightened now. Good.

"Excuse me," He said, "May I ask what you gentlemen are doing here?"

There was a moment of silence as the two turned and regarded him, their cold, unfeeling eyes sweeping across the length of the room. He kept his breathing low and calm. No. No. No. He would not overact. It did not matter that they were once again threatening his Elsa. He had come to terms with the fact that he cared for her far too much. But nobody knew, right? No one knew that he would be willing to die for her…

"Happa Hans!"

The two jumped into action. The first guard went down quickly. Hans immediately went on the offensive, slicing down the back of the one nearest him.

"Guards!" He called.

The fight continued. Hans put himself between his assailants and the girls. No. NO. NO! He wouldn't give into the fear anymore, he was free!

A swipe on his left drew blood. His right heel hit metal bars. No. He couldn't lose. He couldn't lose Elsa to the pirates.

He lowered his guard, daring his opponent to take advantage with his eyes. The thug could barely help himself fast enough, sending his blade straight through Hans' shoulder.

"Ungh!" He groaned in agony, smelling the sour breath of his enemy, "A flesh wound!"

His sword drove through the pirate's stomach and came out his neck. The angle was terrible lethal.

The other advanced. No more Mr. Nice Protector. Hans tackled him, punching, kicking and biting, all pretense of civility gone. He had nothing. Elsa would never love him. And Anna just refused to stop being such a pain in his-

"HANS!"

He turned, face full of blood. The other guards were dragging away the corpses of the pirates. He had blacked out, again. The violence, the urge to kill, had swept over the Westerguard, urging him to live up to his ancestor's oath to strike down his enemies.

Hans rose, covered in blood.

Elsa's eyes; full of fear and disgust.

He turned to the guards that had come. Oh. So they had shown up, "Secure the area," he gestured towards the steps, looking at the queen, "This way, your majesty."