Anna stood on the deck, letting the fresh wind sweep over her face. She needed to get out of that cabin. Elsa was getting... cranky. Which was saying something about someone who lived her life keeping her emotions in-check. Hans had been away all day, doing the political back-stabbing machinations he was best at. Good. Or bad. Or, really, just a mess of wicked people doing whatever they thought would benefit them.
Anna traced the name of the ship, smirking. Elsa wasn't telling her what was really going on. She had proof that Hans had killed the king, that Archer was a co-conspirator, and that would make Sophia safe, right?
Right?!
Anna grumbled. Whenever she approached her sister about it, she would get chess analogies. The princess hated chess. It made no sense! The horsey-thing goes over there, and there's castling, and the king and queen do nothing together! And then they get divorced or something, then the pawn can become a queen or any other piece except king...!
...sigh. It was too complicated. Checkers? Anna could do checkers. Bing, bang, boom, done. Hans and Elsa were the ones who like looking at the big picture. They liked sitting around thinking about things, not doing things. Super-frustrating.
...actually... the more Anna thought about it, the more it seemed like Elsa and Hans were alike. Both of them were pragmatic. And both of them had a tendency to surprise her.
"Anna?"
The princess stiffened turning around. There was her... wow, a lot of things, really. Her daughter's(?) uncle, her ex, her sister's fiancée... wow. Life was complicated.
"Oh!" She gasped, startled, "Am I not allowed up here, or...?"
"No, no!" He said, holding his hands open, "It's not that."
"...what is it then?"
Hans swallowed hard. He opened his mouth, "I'm sorry."
"For?"
"Um, well, a lot of things. Mostly, how I've handled things from day one. I-" He frowned, thinking, "I like to keep people at a distance, under control. But some people shouldn't be under my control."
"I forgive you."
Hans was startled, noticing his look, Anna giggled.
"Well... I'm angry at you, really, really angry. But, what's the point of being mad? When you fell off that cliff, I felt horrible. I can't imagine killing anyone. It's too hard to bear those souls on your shoulders."
Hans shrugged, "You get used to it."
Anna looked at him, "Why?"
"Why what?"
Anna thought for a second, "Why do... what you did?"
There was silence for a moment before he answered, "I... put the wrong things first. Courage, honor, compassion. Those things matter more than a crown. Circumstances were never out of my control. I should have been a better man, then Elsa would've..." He trailed off. Anna recognized the look on his face. Kristoff had it when dropping her at the castle when her heart was frozen.
"Hans?"
"Hmmm...?"
"Don't hurt my sister."
Hans laughed, "She can take me."
"Not what I meant," Anna took one last breath of fresh air. Elsa hated Hans, but she also claimed to have forgiven him when he went over the cliff.
So why was she so angry?