A Brother's Betrayal

"Why is Moren rotating the brothers that come with me?" Hans demanded of Iscawin.

"It isn't like he had much choice, Hans. Franz is still healing from your whole disaster with the Shadow," Iscawin defended. "And right now, in the wake of this shaky neutrality with Scotland and everything that hinges on it, he can't afford to send Justic anywhere, so you're stuck with me and whoever else Moren decides to send with you after me. Or whoever else chooses to come."

"That, and the two youngest princes being lost at sea isn't as big a travesty as one of the older ones and the youngest being lost," Hans scoffed.

"This isn't about position, brother," Iscawin answered.

"Isn't it?" Hans demanded. Iscawin cringed and fell silent. Honestly, he wasn't even sure anymore. "Exactly," Hans said.

"He could just want us away from the volatile situation on land," Iscawin said.

"The situation at sea is volatile, Iscawin! On land Moren and the Scottish king are holding back from one another," Hans said.

"As far as Moren knows. It could just be a play to get into the palace and wipe us all out, you know. In which case sending away the six youngest princes, and Jürgen, is only beneficial. One of us has got to survive, right?" Iscawin asked.

"Wow. That's a dim outlook," Hans remarked, looking at his brother in vague surprise. He hadn't honestly expected that from Iscawin.

"But true," Iscawin stated. Hans cringed and sighed. He supposed his brother was right. It explained why Kelin-Sel was sailing with Eric and why the triplets were sailing with Jürgen. Make sure all the younger royals are somewhere else. Unfortunately, that somewhere else happened to be in a blood-bath battle with Norway on the seas. It was a stupid idea, at the base of it. At least he thought so.

Frozen

"My Lords!" a sailor called, racing into the cabin where the two brothers were. Both looked quickly over.

"What is it, Captain?" Iscawin questioned.

"Norway is approaching on all sides! It's an ambush!" the Captain exclaimed.

"What?!" Iscawin and Hans exclaimed at once, standing up straight. Immediately both brothers raced out onto the deck and looked around. Sure enough, from all sides approached Norwegian ships.

"Who got us into this position?!" Hans demanded.

"There was no choice! The ocean was on fire, Admiral!" the Captain said. "We could only go through this pass!"

"The ocean was…? Dammit," Hans said, looking around worriedly. They must have dumped oil onto the sea and lit it up. There could have been a way around it, though! He cursed them for not going to him to ask his opinion on what they should do.

"We're… we're going to die, aren't we?" one of the sailors asked.

Hans was quiet, summing up the situation. "Yes," he finally stated. "But we aren't going to die without a fight."

Iscawin was pale, watching the approaching ships numbly. "What if we fly a flag of surrender?" he demanded of Hans.

"They'll shoot us anyway," Hans answered.

"How can you be sure?!" Iscawin demanded.

"Because another group of ships earlier on this month tried to surrender! They made like they were going to accept it, boarded the ship, then slit the throats of every person on board those boats!" Hans shot.

Iscawin looked fearfully towards the Norwegian ships and shivered. "You're taking this boldly," he remarked to Hans.

"Boldly? I'm borderline panicking! This is my borderline panic mode! Albeit it it's hidden behind a bold mask," Hans replied sharply, freaking out. He began to pace restlessly. "Dammit, this can't be happening. Like this?" He paused, thinking. "Load the cannons! All hands on deck! Be armed to the teeth and ready to fight like wild bests if we have to!" Immediately the crew was scrambling to obey the orders. "This is your last fight! Make it count!" To Iscawin, he wryly joked, "While I go into a corner and sob."

Iscawin smirked and laughed weakly. "Since when?" he asked. Hans had never hidden from a fight to date and never would.

Hans smiled tightly and focused on the threat. His smile fell slowly. "Stand with me, brother," he said.

"I will," Iscawin promised. "We don't leave each other's sides."

"Agreed," Hans said. The ships were close. Closer…

"You will survive, my lords. I will be sure of it," the Captain of the ship murmured to the brothers, watching the nearing enemy. Hans and Iscawin looked over at him quietly, then back.

"Fire!" Hans ordered. Immediately the canons rang through the day, and were echoed by the fleets of Norway. Soon enough smoke filled the air, and all that could be heard were the screams of dying men and the sounds of wood cracking and collapsing and burning as the cannonballs assaulted the ships of the Southern Isles from every angle, raining down on them; and as the targets caught fire in the chaos and began to burn…

Frozen

Queen Elsa of Arendelle:

You do not know how deeply it grieves me to have to send you this message. I wish I could send you any other but it. I wish I could turn back time and keep them here with me. I wish… There is so much I wish I had done that I never did, and it has cost us dearly. Cost me.

You will not receive another letter from Prince Hans for some time. Perhaps not ever. My brother's group of ships were patrolling the seas, on guard for Norway, when they were ambushed in a pass, blocked in from all sides and assailed from every angle. The sky was blackened from the smoke of our doomed vessels. It was not long before they disappeared forever beneath the waves, and took their crews with them. Every single one. Not a man has been found alive yet.

Many of the mariners are still missing. Among them are both Hans and Iscawin. The council have presumed them dead, though I hold onto hope that that is not so. They are clever and skilled... But if it is so, I am sorry.

Sincerely,

King Moren Westergaard of the Southern Isles

Frozen

Elsa read the letter numbly, lips parted in shock and a burning sensation threatening her eyes. Her hands shook as she grasped the paper. She gasped back a sob, looking up at the window with pain and grief reflected in her eyes. This couldn't be. She wasn't reading this. It… it was wrong. They were wrong! He was alive. They both were. They had to be! They had… The paper fell from between her fingers and she covered her mouth with a hand. She wanted to weep. She wanted to fall to her knees stunned. She didn't. She willed away the tears. It wasn't true. It wasn't true and she wouldn't give up hope! Quickly she went to her writing desk and picked up a quill.

King Moren:

If they are indeed gone, it is not you who should be sorry for me. It is I who should be sorry for you. I am so, so, so sorry. Words cannot express how grieved I am to hear of your loss. I cannot even imagine the pain you and your brothers must be going through. However, do not give up hope yet. Your siblings have survived so much. So many things they shouldn't have. You know better than I how skilled a sailor Hans is. If anyone could have survived that ambush, it would be him, and I have little doubt he would take Iscawin with him.

Please, Caleb, keep me updated on the situation as best you can in your grief. I need to know what happened to them with certainty.

My deepest condolences, if they are in fact gone.

Sincerely,

Queen Elsa

Shakily she folded up the letter and rose, going to the door. She opened it and started. Kai had been waiting outside. "Elsa, I am sorry," he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"You know for what," Kai answered. "You've been crying," he noted. She reached up, touching her face. She felt a tear and cursed it. She said nothing, only handed over the letter and shut the door on him. She went to the message she'd dropped, picking it up and looking at it again. She bit her lower lip then shouted in a cross between anger and sadness, throwing it into the fireplace. Falling onto her window seat, she rested her head on the sill and looked out over the ocean, willing this nightmare to be just that. A nightmare.

Frozen

Somewhere in the sea drifted a plank of wood. Clinging to it were two figures, both borderline unconscious. Hans and Iscawin. Hans softly moaned and lifted his head towards the sky. He turned it to his brother. "Iscawin," he said. His voice sounded faint in his own ears. He hated it. "Iscawin," he repeated again, nudging the other.

Iscawin's eyes flickered weakly and opened, falling on his companion. He smiled reassuringly. "I told you I would stand by you, Hans," he murmured, barely audible.

Hans blinked rapidly. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was a cannonball striking next to them, debris flying up, and something striking his head. He… he fell overboard, he believed. He hit the cold water and something fell above him, forcing him down towards the bottom of the sea. He'd thought he would die, in that moment. Then there was darkness. "You… you came after me. You rescued me and pulled me to this raft," he realized, slowly processing it.

"You thought I was going to let you drown?" Iscawin asked with a weak chuckle. He closed his eyes. "I dove after you in a second. I pulled you out from under the sinking debris, and brought you to the surface again… I left you to die once before… I regretted it forever after."

Flashback

"You summoned me, father?" Iscawin questioned, entering the throne room where the man was seated. Mother was nowhere around, he noted. He wondered where she was. His heart sank. She was sick again, probably, and in bed.

"I did, child," his father answered. Iscawin bitterly wondered if the man even remembered his name.

"Why?" the second youngest prince, fifteen at the time, asked. His father had never paid attention to him before.

"I have a task for you. Regarding your younger brother," his father said.

"Hans? What do you want with him?" Iscawin scoffed. Hell, what did the man want with any of them after Franz? Well, Calcas technically, but still.

"Your brother has bitterly disappointed me," father answered. Iscawin subtly shivered. When father used the term 'bitterly disappointed', it usually meant a job for the brute squad. One that would more likely than not end in torture and or death. So why was the king coming to him?

"In what way has Hans bitterly disappointed you?" Iscawin questioned after a moment.

"That is not your business to ask, Iscawin," father answered. Hmm, so the king did remember their names, then. At least it was something. "I want you to deal with him."

"Deal with him?" Iscawin asked uneasily, deciding to play stupid.

"I want you to take him out hunting," father said. "Into the murkiest part of the woods."

"It's all swamp there. Swamp or darkness," Iscawin replied, slightly confused… Feigning confusion… It was the most dangerous part of all the forests on all the Isles. Many lives had been lost there. Young men who decided they could tackle the dangers and ended up sinking in the mires, animals that strayed too far, the final resting place of many a young maiden fleeing a loveless marriage or an abusive home situation, etc... They had played there once, when they were young. Kelin-Sel had nearly lost his life in those marshes. The only thing that saved him was the fact Runo happened along and took pity, a very rare occurrence let it be said, on his brother. After, of course, scoffing at him and leaving him to die. Iscawin frowned, recalling the event.

They were playing. Kelin-Sel took a wrong step and fell into the marsh. He and Hans had run to get the triplets to help... The triplets had said it wasn't worth going back for their brother or finding help for him. If they tried to bring help back, their parents would learn where they'd been. They had to get out of there before someone figured out they were playing where they weren't supposed to be... Father's wrath hadn't been worth the life of one of the throwaway brothers... They'd all abandoned their sibling to die.

Rudi and Runo, however, had happened to be riding out in that general area, hunting for a victim father wanted dealt with. They were too young to be started on killing so early, of course, but they'd just been so happy the king was finally paying attention to them that they would have done most anything. They split up, around the area of the marsh. Runo heard cries for help and assumed it was the victim they were supposed to go after. On seeing it was Kelin-Sel, he was surprised. Kelin-Sel begged for his help, but Runo had scoffed and basically told him that he wasn't worth the breath it would take to pull him out... Iscawin suspected, though, that Runo believed leaving Kelin-Sel to die would be a mercy to the younger... Runo rode away, leaving Kelin-Sel weeping and terrified.

When Runo came back an hour later, he expected to find no trace of Kelin-Sel. When he saw that Kelin-Sel was still very much there and clinging onto life frantically, he'd stopped. Kelin-Sel had given him a look of desperation, then despair, and turned away, shouting for help one last time because he knew Runo wouldn't be bothered. But then there was pity. Runo had been impressed with Kelin-Sel's endurance and strength and will to survive despite the life he suffered at home; and he suffered among the worst of them to be sure. Plus the look of hurt and despair he'd been given… Iscawin believed Runo had remembered something from his own childhood that struck him and drove him to act. He went and pulled their brother out, wrapped him up warmly, and rode home with him.

Frozen

"The game is good there, usually," Father's voice said, snapping Iscawin back to the present. He blinked rapidly and focused on the king again. "Unfortunately, predators have decided to make it their haunt. Wolves, bears, mountain cats, etc. It is dangerous. You well know how many lives have been lost to the predators or the swamps."

Iscawin was quiet. "I do," he finally answered.

"Good. Do you know what I want you to do?" the king questioned.

Iscawin shifted. "Why me?" he finally asked. "Why not one of the older ones?"

"Because I've decided to give one of the throwaway princes a chance to rise. Rise up to a position, in my eyes, that may perhaps put him next to Caleb," the king answered.

"For what purpose?" Iscawin questioned.

"Because Hans seems to trust you and Kelin-Sel most of all," the king answered.

"I-I can't…" Iscawin began.

"Jürgen is dangerously close to bitterly disappointing me as well, you know," the king answered. "And I am not overly fond of Lars. He is proving too soft of a touch, for my liking. I may have apprentice him to the torturer and get him out of the archives. Choosing you instead of one of the twins or Lars, to take Jürgen's place as second in line for the throne, is something of an experiment of mine. One I sincerely hope I do not regret; otherwise, there may be a third name on my list of bitter disappointments."

Iscawin was silent. Second in line for the throne? Father's affections and attention? A position second only to Caleb in the eyes of their parent, and all the authority and chances for revenge on older siblings that would come with it… It was a huge promise, and profitable for him in every way. He could have it all and all he'd have to sacrifice for it was the thirteenth brother? It was a deal no sane man could pass! The life of a forgotten sibling in exchange for a father's love. Forget the privileges that came with being second in line. Father would love him... He would love him...

Is that man's love worth having?

"Your choice is simple, Iscawin. Life or death. For you. Not Hans," father darkly threatened, seeing the hesitation and knowing his son was about to refuse. "Will Hans show you the same mercy, I wonder?

Iscawin looked fearfully at the king and shifted. "Very well," he finally relented, ignoring the part of him that wanted to curse the man out despite risk of death. "I will take Hans, err, 'hunting'… You realize, of course, that one of us may not come back? Or both?"

"And that is another reason I put this task on you," the king answered. Hurt filled Iscawin's eyes and he looked away. He knew what his father implied. Should he and Hans die, nothing was lost from their deaths. It was just two less mouths to feed and divide wealth and land between. That was, perhaps, another reason father had chosen to send him instead of any of the older ones.

"Yes, father," Iscawin whispered, turning and leaving. He felt the man's eyes on him. He liked to believe that maybe part of the king felt something akin to guilt or regret. He knew in his heart, though, that that wasn't so. Perhaps regretful curiosity, at best, a fleeting thought of 'how would things have been different if I were a real father', if anything. It wasn't enough, though, and his father's inner question disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Frozen

"The swamps?" Hans, fourteen years old, incredulously asked. "There's nothing to be gained in the swamps."

Not for you, maybe… "This isn't game hunting, Hans. We're here to thin out the predators killing the game," Iscawin said.

"By all rights, then, it should be people we're after," Hans said. "Besides all of the hunters that overhunt, the biggest threat to game in these woods are wolves. Said hunters are killing them now too. Someone tried to sell me a wolf pelt the other day in the market, for god's sake. Why does father need to send us?"

"It's not our place to question father," Iscawin replied.

"It's time someone did," Hans said. Iscawin was quiet. That would explain father's 'bitter disappointment' in Hans. The boy had probably stepped out of line. Likely when father was holding court. You did not challenge the king and expect to get off light. That it was death the king wanted for the youngest, and not simply a prison sentence in the dungeon with a side of mild torture, meant that Hans had called him on something big. Not big enough for father to order the boy tortured to death, but big enough that Hans couldn't be allowed to live for fear he'd begin to speak out to the people, raise awareness, incite rebellion, and possibly cost the king his throne.

Iscawin sighed. "Just listen for once," he said. Hans sighed and nodded.

Frozen

The ride was silent for some time. Soon the two brothers found themselves on the outskirts of the swamp. They dismounted their horses, took their weapons, and started into the murk. "Of all the places father wanted us to hunt," Hans murmured.

"Few know the swamps better than us. We'll be okay," Iscawin said.

"Yeah. Right," Hans replied. "Because no one else has ever said that." Iscawin chuckled. Silence again.

Guilt began pricking at the second youngest. "You shouldn't have spoken against father's decisions, you know," Iscawin remarked.

"How did you…?" Hans began.

"Word travels," Iscawin excused.

Hans was quiet. "It had to be done. What he judged was not okay!" Hans said.

"Life isn't fair, Hans," Iscawin said. Hans harrumphed. Iscawin was quiet. Speaking up would cost Hans his life… Iscawin paused, looking around. "I believe a den is over this way," he said, walking towards the swamps.

"It would be too risky an area for wolves to build a den," Hans argued. "If they're breeding, they wouldn't put their pups in that much danger."

"Unless they had no other choice," Iscawin pointed out. "And they don't, with hunters scouring these woods. Not many people are stupid enough to get that close to the marshes."

"Which begs the question of why we're risking it," Hans dryly said. They stopped, hearing the sounds of a wolf pack not far off. Silently they crouched down and carefully pushed onwards. They came to a fallen tree and peered over it. "There they are. They're really something," Hans murmured in admiration.

"Yeah… Yeah, they are. But dangerous," Iscawin replied. "They could turn on you in a second and rip you to pieces."

"If we leave them alone they won't. Father doesn't have to know. We buy some wolf pelts and we'll have all the proof he'll need that the things are dead," Hans said, reluctant to kill the animals.

"Hans…" Iscawin began.

"Let's just go," Hans said, rising and starting away.

Iscawin watched them a moment longer then closed his eyes, swallowing tightly. "Forgive me…" he murmured. He stood up, aimed at the animals, raised his gun a little bit above them, and pulled the trigger. A bullet struck the rock of the den and immediately the wolves were up, snarling and baying and howling.

"Iscawin, what the hell did you…?" Hans began.

"Run!" Iscawin ordered, turning and fleeing immediately.

"Dammit, you idiot!" Hans yelled, running away with Iscawin. They heard the animals closing the distance between them at an alarmingly fast pace.

"This way!" Iscawin said, turning sharply and darting towards the swamps. "They might not follow us there!"

"Wait up!" Hans called, turning quickly after his sibling. Iscawin inwardly cringed. He'd already mapped out his escape route through these swamps. It wouldn't be hard to lose Hans in the marsh.

"Will you keep up?!" he called back to his brother. He cursed the break in his voice. He turned down another way.

"Iscawin!" Hans shouted, starting to get lost. Iscawin leapt over a log and turned to try and figure out where Hans was. The howls and barking and snarling of the wolves were so loud now. Hans raced down the trail Iscawin had, looking back.

"You're almost there, little brother!" Iscawin called weakly. Hans looked towards him and for a moment there was hope and relief in his eyes… Before both were snatched away…

Frozen

Hans cried out in alarm as suddenly something tightened around his ankle painfully, tripping him and sending him to the ground, his knife sliding out of reach. He gasped, looking back, and his eyes widened. A hunter's snare! Iscawin was silent. A snare that he'd set… He'd set it because he knew Hans would get away otherwise. Oh god, what sort of thing was he becoming? It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it! He banished the misgivings. Hans tried to pull free. He reached frantically for his hunting knife. "Iscawin, pass me my knife!" he shouted at his sibling. Iscawin remained still. "Iscawin, hurry up!" Hans pled. Iscawin looked down at the blade then knelt, picking it up and examining it. "What the hell are you doing?!" Hans shouted as the sounds of the wolves grew nearer.

Iscawin closed his eyes tightly but didn't move to obey. Hans froze in place, looking at him in disbelief. Iscawin looked back at him. Tears threatened the second youngest brother's eyes as he saw Hans start to process what was happening and what had been done. "I'm sorry," Iscawin whispered.

Hans's shock turned to horror as it struck him that this was an execution. "Iscawin, no, please! Help me! I'm begging you, help me! I'll never go back to the castle again. Father never needs to know I'm alive, just help! Please… Please help me!" he begged, tears in his eyes, and hurt, and betrayal. Iscawin looked at his sibling's hunting knife once more.

Help him... Help him!

Setting his jaw, Iscawin looked back up, eyes determined. He would. He would help him. Rather, he would give him a fighting chance, if he gave him nothing else. He threw the blade back towards Hans with a breath. Even if Hans could get it now, though... It was too late, wasn't it…? It was too late…

Don't let it be too late...

Perhaps he had tossed the blade back to try and ease his own guilt and tell himself he'd given Hans a fair shot at life, but it was a lie. Among the greatest lies he had ever told himself... What if it wasn't, though...? He backed away then turned, racing from his brother as fast as he could. The next sounds he heard were snarling and raging wolves, followed by his sibling's shrieks of pain and desperate pleas for help, and the ripping of flesh and crunching sounds he wasn't sure he wanted to know the nature of.

Frozen

"Iscawin, where is your brother?" the Queen worriedly asked her second youngest at dinner. Iscawin had been very silent, and Hans was nowhere to be found, which led her to believe that perhaps the two had fought and Hans had stormed off to cool down.

Iscawin tensed. "I don't know," he lied. "We went hunting in the marshes. I know we weren't supposed to, but the predators have been thriving there and needed to be thinned out. We got separated. I looked for him a couple of hours then assumed he'd come back. Didn't he?"

Mother was pale. The other brothers were suddenly listening a bit more. Iscawin was quick to look away from it all. "What?" the Queen breathed. The King was silent. "We must send out a search party! If something happened to him in the swamps…"

"I will send one as soon as possible, my love," Father assured. Iscawin knew the man expected the only thing to find would be a body. "Hans will be found." A dark chuckle escaped a few of their siblings. Jürgen, Rudi, Runo, Justic, the triplets. They began to mutter and dryly joke amongst themselves. Something about 'good riddance' and 'one less mouth to feed' and how 'no one is going to miss him'. Iscawin wanted to scream at them.

He was our brother, damn you! He was our brother! And I... I betrayed him... I killed him... Oh god, forgive me...

Caleb was silent. Lars was suddenly as pale as mother was. Kelin-Sel was looking at Iscawin in hurt and disbelief as if he couldn't believe he was hearing this pack of lies. Franz refilled his wine and downed it. Then had it refilled again and downed that as well, not even looking at anything but his food and drink anymore.

Suddenly the doors to the dining room were thrust open and all eyes turned. Father shot to his feet in shock, as did Iscawin, eyes wide and horrified. Rudi and Runo screamed a curse, leaping up and drawing their swords. Everyone around the table looked as if they were seeing a ghost. It almost seemed like they were. Hans stood in the doorway, panting for breath. Slowly he looked up, eyes blazing like an inferno. His skin was pale. He was bleeding horribly from more wounds than could be counted, and if he wasn't standing right there, if they didn't hear his labored breathing, they would have believed it was a corpse in the dining room.

"Father, mother," Hans bitterly spat. He approached the table. "So sorry I'm late. Though probably not half as sorry as father and Iscawin are." He shot a murderous look at Iscawin as he approached. "Or will be," he darkly added, pulling out his seat and sitting. Iscawin visibly shaken, numbly sat down. Father stood still, mouth agape as he looked at his youngest in shocked disbelief. "Ran afoul of a wolf pack in the marshes, defending their pups. Only had a hunting knife on me. Frankly, I'm surprised I made it out of there. Probably looks to you all like I'm a walking corpse, but luck of the draw, I suppose. So much for unlucky thirteen, huh? Guess those hunters plaguing that part of the forest lately really are good for something; despite their poaching and killing off the game. They saved me. They wanted to bring me to a doctor. It was almost touching. Almost. I told them, though, that if I didn't get home soon, a search party would be sent out. If that happened I might really not have come back. Told them the best doctors were in the castle anyway, reserved for the royal family, so here I am."

"Hans, you…" the king began.

"I'm fine, dad. Don't worry," Hans veritably sneered. He turned to Iscawin. "We should hunt tomorrow, big brother," he stated. "Just you and me. Same place same time? It's 'murder' out there in the foggy mornings, pretty well a death trap if you're not careful, but hey, what can you do? Besides, we'll have each other. To help one another. Protect one another. Save one another. You know, like brothers do? Besides, we know those marshes well enough." Iscawin shot to his feet and turned, all but running out of the room and fighting not to burst into tears of relief and fear and hatred and guilt and all the other things he was feeling. Hans's eyes bore into him all the way before turning to father. "Dad, what about you? Do you want to go hunting?" he innocently asked. It was the first and last time the king had ever shuddered so violently. In fact, he'd shook throughout the whole rest of the meal as Hans had watched on, eyes boring into him as calmly as they'd ever been.

End Flashback

"You all avoided me like the plague for weeks after that," Hans remarked, chuckling at the memory.

"I betrayed you and left you to die. How do you look back on something like that and laugh?" Iscawin demanded.

"Because it made me feel in total control for the first time in my life. It gave me a feeling of power unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and I loved every second of it. To see father cowering, to see the brothers who normally tormented me turning and heading the other way the moment they caught sight of me… I should curse you for it, I suppose. It was probably the first step in a downward spiral that led to Arendelle, but I can't bring myself to. For once I was the focus of everyone's attention. Dad mollycoddled me for like three months. Closest I ever came to feeling like I was anything of a son to him… He wanted me to kill you, you know…"

Iscawin was quiet. "I'm not surprised," he finally replied.

"I told him I would love to. As long as he accompanied us out. He got the veiled threat," Hans said.

"Father was never stupid," Iscawin murmured, barely audibly.

Hans frowned and looked over at him. Iscawin's eyes were closing. "Don't you dare," he warned.

"You'll make shore if you let me go," Iscawin said, visibly shivering. "It would be no less than I deserved."

"No. I won't make shore if I let you go," Hans replied. "As long as you're around, we can keep each other alive. Keep each other's morale up… Don't let this end you… Don't you dare."

"Hypothermia is setting in," Iscawin noted.

"For both of us," Hans replied.

Frozen

Iscawin opened his eyes and noticed how much Hans was starting to shiver as well. He blinked tiredly. "We're both going to die out here," he remarked, closing his eyes again. "Kind of tragically poetic, if you think about it. Two brothers lost in battle at sea, whose bodies were found huddled close to each other on the raft they clung to for days, in some final show of undeserved forgiveness," he remarked.

Hans moved closer to Iscawin so they were sharing body warmth, then focused longingly on the sea. Somebody please come… "What did my coming back alive cost you?" he wondered.

"Position of second in line to the throne, father's love, nearly cost me my life… But it saved Jürgen's in the end," Iscawin answered.

"Wow. He threatened you and offered you something that big?" Hans asked. "I must have really ticked him off."

"It wasn't worth it," Iscawin remarked. "You know, he wanted me to kill Sitron too. Make it seem like either a bandit attack or predators."

"See, that I wouldn't have forgiven you for," Hans said. Well, he probably would have in time, but still.

Iscawin chuckled. He looked up towards the horizon. No one was there. No one was coming. "My body is shutting down. I feel it… But you can still make it, Hans. Let me go."

"Some things you don't let go of," Hans answered. "I'm not leaving you to die out here."

"I may already be dying," Iscawin said.

"We both might be," Hans answered. It was just that Iscawin was more inclined to give up, and so it was more apparent in him. "You can pull through. Think of Elsa. Our brothers. Anything and everything that will keep you going. Please… I won't let you go. Even if you die out here, I won't let you go. You'll only slow me down even more."

"You're so stubborn," Iscawin said with a sigh.

"In this case I'm so determined," Hans corrected. Iscawin was quiet. Probably smart of him. They needed to conserve energy, after all. Hans looked again towards the horizon hopelessly. If they were found by Norwegian ships, they were as good as dead. So please let anyone but Norway find them. Britain too, actually. Definitely don't let Britain find them, if things were going to escalate between the lands.

Frozen

"There they are!" faint voices echoed. Hans groaned weakly. "Get the princes out of the water!" What on…? Hans's eyes flickered and he looked ahead. His eyes widened in hope. There, in the distance, was Eric's fleet! Visible in the bow of the lead ship were both Eric and a panicked looking Kelin-Sel.

"Iscawin?" Hans said. He hardly heard himself anymore. "Iscawin?" he asked again, getting no response. Fearfully he looked over. The other wasn't moving. "Iscawin!" he said again more frantically, shaking him. "Iscawin, open your eyes. Help is here. Help's coming! Don't do this, you bastard. Please don't do this," he pled. Was his brother even alive?! He tried to hear breathing but couldn't. In a moment of panic, he seized his brother tightly and began searching for a pulse. "Iscawin!" he shouted. He felt something. A movement. The other's eyes flickered open.

Iscawin gave him a vaguely annoyed look. "I'm not that far gone, Hans," he whispered, barely audible. That said, he closed his eyes again.

Hans's eyes filled with relief. His sibling was still alive! For how long, though, was anyone's guess. "Help! Help us! Hurry!" Hans called towards the boats. "My brother's going to die! Hurry!"

Immediately Kelin-Sel was overboard, on hearing this, diving into the water and swimming quickly towards them as Eric's men started lowering a lifeboat. Kelin-Sel covered the distance as quickly as he could, reaching the raft. "You're alive!" he exclaimed to them. "You're actually alive!"

"Kelin-Sel," Hans fearfully said, looking at Iscawin. "He won't… I can't wake him up!"

"Stop talking, Hans. Save your strength. He'll be okay, I promise. Don't panic. And for the love of god don't get delirious," Kelin-Sel pled. Hans nodded, shivering badly. "God, your lips are so blue…" Hans, still shivering, nodded numbly again. He couldn't feel anything anymore. They were safe. Things would be okay again. They were safe…