Hans watched the ship sail safely away. His heart started beating again as he saw Elsa recognize his message. It was a point of pride with him that she remembered how he had saved her life back when she thought he was dead. Saving her, Anna, and Sophia from assassins had been one of the only achievements he was truly proud of. Hopefully, he could add saving his homeland to that particular list.
Sadly, he could not go see his wife. She had to believe he was dead, or...
"James!" He called. It was times like these that people believed him dead. Honestly, he had lost count how many times his death had been announced; when he escaped from prison, when Anna threw him off a cliff, when he was in talks with the Twins. How could a man live when he was so busy being dead?!
There were advantages to being dead, of course, but it hurt that it mattered to people so much that he was no longer living.
He wanted... so much out of life. He wanted Sophia to forgive him, if she could. (And if there was any heart on the planet strong enough to do so, it was hers.) He wanted Anna to be safe, and he wanted Elsa.
Just wanted her, that was all.
Hans was hidden by the rubble around him, but soon grew tired and paranoid about hiding. Especially when there was so much to do, and find.
The ruins of the castle were motivation enough for him to leave. He had crouched in a hole near one of his childhood hidey-holes. The King's Hand was no longer small enough to fit into his old hiding place, but it still granted him an excellent view of the surrounding landscape.
"Frozen heart," Hans chanted to himself, "Frozen heart..."
"Hans, Hans!" James called, running up the hill. His uncle burst out of his hiding place, grabbing his nephew and hoofing it in a hole of the castle. After dodging through several corridors, the two felt safe enough to talk.
"I saw it! I saw it!" James exclaimed, eyes wide with power. Hans' eyebrow screwed upward.
"Hmm?"
"I saw a golden fox! It's everything we dreamed of!" Said James, "I can track it, and kill it! And then be king!"
Hans was silent. There wasn't supposed to be a golden fox. It was just an elaborate ruse to trick the twins into negotiating a cease-fire.
Hans processed this for a moment. It couldn't be a trap; it was too stupid. Specifically, he knew that the twins knew there was no golden fox. They were looking for something else altogether. Still, the boy's eyes were too full of hope to deny.
"Very well. We'll trap it and kill it," Hans announced. It didn't take long for news to spread about the sighting of the fox. Soon the entire country would want its beautiful pelt.
Hans went to a window and looked out at his wife's ship. His timing had to be perfect if this was going to work, and it had to.
"I need you to give Elsa a message from me."
His nephew cocked his head, "...you realize she believes you're dead, right?"
Hans smiled, "Good."