Robert lost all track of time, self and other things he was too drained to think about. Occasionally, he woke up and thought he was inside some big building, but he closed his eyes again before long. Even though there were some very….violent images flashing every so often.
The last ones he was aware of involved a knife, water, a girl being thrown away – and an older woman with a big smile. A familiar looking older woman.
At that point, his eyes finally opened and stayed open. And it was a different older woman he saw when he turned his head.
"Whoh, you're up! Stopped expecting that after a while! Um….hey!" the woman greeted awkwardly. Robert still needed to clear his head, or even rub his eyes, before he knew what to say back.
When they were clear, he noticed he was in a big building again. In fact, he was in a big bedroom. A bedroom worthy of….hold on.
Now the woman's more definable features became clearer. Like her strawberry blond hair, lopsided smile, and barely straight posture. Almost like….
Then it all came back to him, and his head was decidedly less clear. The pain in his shoulder was easier to feel, though.
"Okay, it's all right! Should I get the doctor? I've been getting scrapes for decades, but he still knows more about this stuff than me! Never needed stuff for knife wounds, though…." she shuddered.
"It's fine, it's fine…." Robert muttered, lying flat on the bed. This bed in the castle of Arendelle. Where the princess had been watching over her. But she wasn't just the princess….
"Princess Anna…." Robert addressed her. Anna nodded, to which Robert went on with, "Why are you here? Where's your….oh no, is she?"
"She's fine," Anna told him. "I hugged her all night and most of this morning to be sure."
"This morning?" Robert exclaimed shock. "That long….so it's over?"
"Mostly. That guy you beat the stuffing out of is still an ice cube. We're taking our time thawing him," Anna said with grim satisfaction. However, she merely turned grim as she continued, "Joan's probably still in bed. And Elsa hasn't talked yet today."
Robert was about to ask about the Queen, yet the Princess kept talking. Unlike those other times where she'd just keep talking, there were no jokes or scatterbrained ramblings. "So that means I'm gonna have to talk to you. I need to talk to the man who saved my daughter. At least that's how it looks like."
"Looks like?" Robert questioned, since she saw the same fighting he did yesterday. If not from the same perspective.
"Guys have saved people just so it'd be easier to kill them later. I would know," Anna risked bringing up the last attempted murderer of a royal family member. "Is that what you did? What exactly were you doing on that boat before we got there? Start with the stuff before yesterday."
"Your people haven't found out yet?" Robert wondered.
"We've kind of been busy lately. I should be busy hugging my daughter some more," Anna told him. "If I'm not doing that, I'd better be doing something worthwhile. So tell me stuff like that, please."
Robert was getting uncomfortable enough thinking about the last two days. Telling it to someone who'd already been through enough as well – much less the Princess – seemed daunting too. But it wasn't like he couldn't tell her anything and get away with it. Maybe the simpler stuff would do for starters.
"My name is Robert Hansen," Robert started. "I'm captain of the boat you were on. Your daughter's kidnappers took it, and myself, hostage before they took her. Their base of operations, they called it."
"Okay, there's some worth there. Thank you, Captain Hansen," Anna used a rare bout of formality.
"Just Robert, please, Your Highness. I'm no captain," Robert said. "I've barely been on the sea for a month. I…." He stopped short of recalling his true former career. Especially since the Princess's own sister was the root of the guilt that ended it.
The Princess's own sister, the Queen – and the woman who rescued him. How screwed up was that?
Too screwed up to go into today. If they were as distracted as the Princess said, maybe they wouldn't need to research him and go into it at all.
"All right, there was a I there. And then what?" Anna pressed on. Robert sighed, getting on with the other unpleasant details.
"They kept me in my quarters while they got your daughter. They brought her there and put her in my closet all night," Robert cringed, realizing Anna probably didn't need to hear that.
"No wonder she wanted the door open and the lights on," Anna responded. "I didn't think the open door was too weird. I mean, she's my daughter…." She reflected sadly.
"They said if she made any noise, they would hurt me," Robert started before he really knew why. When he figured it out, he said, "So she stayed quiet. I was a total stranger, and she still worried about them hurting me. You….you have a very brave and compassionate daughter, Your Highness."
Anna wiped some tears from her eyes before correcting, "It's Anna. I don't think you need to…." However, she got herself under control and official again. "Okay, hold on, you still need to answer one thing. If they trapped you two the whole time, how'd you get on the decks?"
The uncomfortable feelings returned for Robert, as did the weariness of telling her the most….graphic details. "I don't know if you want to hear it. At least the start of it…." he warned.
"Yes I do. This is Your Highness's orders," Anna laid down, trying to be intimidating again. Even though she still wasn't, in spite of the circumstances, Robert didn't know that.
Sighing, he gave in and recalled, "They saw the search party on the docks. Apparently one of the Queen's suitors was working with them. Since he wasn't there, they knew they'd been exposed. So they were going to….hurt the Princess and….leave souvenirs behind for you while they went to sea. That's when….I couldn't stay quiet anymore. The results brought us to the decks."
Anna put her hand over her mouth, tears forming again. "So you really saved her…." she said quietly.
"I tried my best. I know I should have tried sooner," Robert admitted. "Maybe then….no one would have had to be killed," he realized, seeing that he played an accidental part in Queen Elsa's misery yet again. And yet she still wasted time saving him.
"No, I think it worked out just fine," Anna let some rage out. "I know Elsa's not gonna see it that way, but I'm not her." The rage subsided enough for her to add, "But if you're telling the truth….you are a hero. My daughter's hero. Before and after we got there…."
Despite Robert's injuries, Anna all but leapt onto the bed to hug him. To her credit, she let go after he groaned once. "Sorry, sorry!" she got to her feet. "I don't want to hurt you, I don't want anyone to hurt you ever again! Last time, I promise! I mean, if you're telling the truth!"
"I am…." Robert groaned out. "The Princess will tell you the same thing. If she's able to."
"No luck so far," Anna lamented. "So….if she does talk….will she say the same thing about the suitors too?"
"That one of them helped them? You didn't know?" Robert feared.
"No, we got that! Trust me, we got that good! Maybe not good enough," Anna frowned. "But they figured out what happened when the other suitors were there? And that's why they were gonna hurt Joan?"
"That's how it started," Robert confirmed again.
The traces of the woman who just jumped on the bed like a little girl weren't gone. But they were harder to see as Anna took in this new detail. "Well…that's worthwhile indeed."
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"You almost got my daughter killed!" Anna was clearly much less composed by the time she found the remaining suitors in the castle.
"Which one of them are you talking to?" Sven asked.
"All of you!" Anna said clearer. "Why did you go to the docks?!"
"To help you save the Princess's life!" Aaron replied. "We were as shocked as anyone else when we saw….what happened. That doesn't excuse why we didn't do anything. Even though the guards didn't either. But we came there with every intention to try!"
"You shouldn't have! They knew Devin wasn't there with you! They figured out why! You pretty much told them we knew everything!" Anna yelled. "That's why we didn't want you to come in the first place!"
"You didn't tell us that!" Goran reminded her. "You and the Queen just told us to stay behind! We came to surprise you, give you reinforcements and get Joan back anyway!"
"Okay, so we're not the best communicators. You knew that going in! And you still ignored it, and they got tipped off!" Anna replied. "Then….oh geez….if Robert didn't do anything, then Joan would have….could have…."
Elsa might have refrained from almost crying until she left the room – since she would have been too busy containing her powers. But Anna wasn't Elsa.
Elsa was being quiet by herself, and they understood she needed her space – for now. So Anna was here to be enraged on her, and everyone's, behalf. Especially her own.
"In our defense, no one else outside of the royal family figured that could happen," Lanford tried to defend.
"One of you should have! Just because they didn't, that lets you off the hook? When it comes to my Joan?!" Anna challenged. "If one of you guys is gonna be King someday, you gotta think of that stuff! Even if your wife and in-laws don't! You didn't and Joan almost….and then Elsa had to…."
Her near crying spell didn't last as long this time. When it passed, she just looked angry. Not emotionally angry – a more contained, chilly, Elsa kind of angry. "You know what? We're done."
"So we should come back later, then?" Caspar wondered.
"You can. But not as Elsa's suitors," Anna decided. "The search is over. Elsa's not getting married to any of you. This whole thing is off."
"Hold on a minute!" Sven objected. "Shouldn't that be up to Queen Elsa?"
"Queen Elsa has much bigger things to deal with right now!" Anna responded. "So does the chairwoman of the love expert committee! So as the right hand of both, I'm stepping in! None of you are marrying my sister! After one of you got her niece kidnapped, and now after this, I don't think she's ever getting married now!"
"But your council forced her to start looking," Jorgen reminded her. "Won't they object and get her in more trouble?" Despite how he asked with more concern than the others, Anna wasn't that moved.
"Even they wouldn't bother her with that now. When they do, we'll deal with it. As a family. But we have no more room for new members," Anna ruled. "You can all stay in Arendelle as long as you need to. But you're not going back with Elsa's hand. Or any other body part. Enough people have been auctioned off in this family!"
"Well, what's the point, then?" Lanford voiced.
"Please, you're not helping," Caspar dared to say. "Your Highness, please believe me. None of us wanted to endanger Princess Joan. It's because we cared about her that we wanted to help save her."
"Because you cared about sucking up to Elsa, you mean. No matter what," Anna accused. "And if you couldn't do that, you'd just hurt her. And everyone she does love."
"You can't lump us in with Devin. We didn't set out to hurt anyone, he did," Aaron claimed. "We're screw-ups, not kidnappers."
"Well, thanks for throwing us overboard too," Sven shot off.
"You're making a pun out of….fine! You're already out, what does it matter?" Anna gave up. "Just….I'm sorry to those of you who actually care. We'll make it up to you at some point. But I've got to go back and be a mother and sister. We don't need help from people trying to be husbands anymore. They've done quite enough."
Anna turned and headed off, having had enough of official duties for one day. She just wanted to do the duty of hugging her daughter – especially considering what she knew now.
Once she was gone, half the suitors marched out in frustration. The other half – consisting of Caspar, Jorgen and Aaron – were more measured before they left with more concern.
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After Robert's wound was treated further and they put his arm in a sling, he eventually decided to get out of bed. He even got out of his temporary room after a while, walking through the halls and only looking at the others going by – and the looks they gave him – for brief moments.
He figured he couldn't just walk around forever, so he opened the next door he found on the wall. Of course, he didn't know the layout and rooms of the castle – so he didn't know he'd opened the door to Elsa's study until it was too late.
Robert gasped when it hit him, seeing Elsa sit quietly and alone in her chair, behind a desk, looking lost to the world. Yet a second later, before Robert could retreat, he wasn't lost to her anymore.
"Oh! Your, Your…." Robert couldn't finish. He could finish that phrase after he'd almost drowned, and got frozen and stabbed. Yet despite being safe and sound, he couldn't finish in front of the Queen now.
Elsa didn't speak either, or yell at him to get out. Or shoot any….no, bad near choice of words.
"Mr. Hansen," she spoke plainly. At least he knew Anna had spoken to her. "I….I apologize for not coming to see you."
She was apologizing to him? That was unexpected. "It's no trouble at all, Your Majesty," Robert found his voice. "Princess Anna checked in on me herself. That's not why I have the sling, though."
Robert could have thrown himself in the sea again for actually joking right now. Especially at the expense of the Queen's sister and Princess's mother, in front of the Queen. And yet….he swore he saw a tiny smile curl up on her lips.
Stories about the Queen – the non-snow related stories – told that she had a small, regal, mannered smile during official business. This small little smile looked more….genuine than that, however. Less practiced.
But after what she'd been through, she had better things to be concerned about than smiles. And him.
"Nevertheless, it's no excuse," the Queen looked 100 percent royal again. "Especially after what my sister told me. It is clear that myself, and my entire family, owe you a great debt. I promise I will repay it as soon as possible."
She promised to repay a debt to him?
After spending 16 years thinking it should be the other way around, this was hard for Robert to comprehend. He certainly couldn't accept it guilt free. If she really didn't know….
Once she eventually got back to work and found out more about him, she would. Doing it after he accepted….whatever she wanted to give him would make it worse. Then it'd be one more thing for her to endure.
Of course, this may not be much of a better time for her to endure it. Probably worse, really. Yet if one of her suitors really had plotted against her niece….the last thing she'd want to endure was another liar. If only one by omission.
He'd been lying by omission for years. He hadn't spoken anything about the shackles to anyone – no matter how keeping it inside helped him throw his life away. Now he supposed none of it mattered – which made sense for an ending.
"Your Majesty…." Robert tried to start delicately. "There's something you should know before you pay anything. This….isn't the first time I've had ties to a crime against you."
"It isn't?" Elsa asked suspiciously. "Explain yourself."
Now that the time had come, Robert instinctively tried to find one more way out of it. "I don't know if I should burden you with it right now."
"Then you wouldn't have said anything to begin with. Or wanted to," Elsa saw right through him. "If there are more burdens ahead, they might as well come now."
There it was. Almost 20 years of secrecy were about to end in a few seconds.
"Your Majesty….I am not a professional sea captain. I mean, it's not my primary skill. I had one once," Robert stumbled at first. So far, so good. "I used to be an accomplished blacksmith. At a very young age. Young enough that I took a very top secret job, without bothering to ask questions."
If anything, Robert could spare the Queen from learning who hired him, if she didn't know. Going on with the slightly less worse part, he added, "I made a….very state of the art item. The strongest Arendelle would ever see. If it had ever been allowed to see it. It was only used on one person."
Pausing before the biggest part, he made himself finally say out loud, after 16 years, "I didn't find out the truth about why they wanted this item, until…..16 years ago. Until a few days after you destroyed my creation."
Of all the ways to tell her, this may not have been the most direct. But it was one of the better ways he could have phrased it. Maybe it was too cryptic at first – yet it looked like the Queen was starting to understand now. "The shackles…." she got right.
With no need for coyness now, Robert went the direct route. "Yes. I was hired to make the shackles that imprisoned you. But I had no idea why….my employer wanted me to make them! I should have asked questions, but I never did!"
"My father hired you?" Elsa blindsided him with four little words and one little question.
"You….so you know?" was all Robert could put together.
"It wasn't hard to figure out that it wasn't Hans," Elsa explained. "I pieced together the rest after that. Everything except you, apparently."
"I should have come forward when I figured it out," Robert finally told someone other than himself. "If I had known why your father wanted those shackles….and known everything else he hid….I never would have done it. When I thought of what would have happened if those shackles worked….if you'd escaped just a few minutes later, after…."
"I've imagined it. Trust me," Elsa shared.
"Of course you have," Robert sighed. "And it's not fair. If I may be bold….ironic enough….what you went through back then was profoundly unfair. And I hate that I was a part of it in any way. I especially hate that I was part of this….latest unfair thing against you. And your family. If I had acted sooner to save the Princess, which I should have….you wouldn't have had to take such drastic action."
Elsa flinched, which Robert knew was inevitable. So was what he had to do now. "I'll leave the castle grounds as soon as possible. You have enough ghosts to deal with other than me. I'm sorry I bothered you, Your Majesty."
Confession might have been good for the soul – to say nothing of overdue ones like this – yet Robert knew he wouldn't feel those effects until he left the castle. To say nothing of this room.
"I don't believe I dismissed you," Elsa spoke as he was halfway turned around. "I also don't believe you want to disobey me today, of all days."
Robert froze in between his way out, and his way back in. Either she wanted to tell him off before he left, or….no, it was probably that. He supposed he owed her that much.
Once he stood in front of her again, Elsa stayed quiet – whether it was to string him along before the storm or not. "You made my shackles for my father….then 20 years later, you happen to be there with my niece. That's….remarkable."
That could still be meant any number of bad ways. She laughed a little, which could still be a harbinger of doom. And yet…that small, regular smile was on her again. Had she smiled any kind of smiles in the last 24 hours? Besides those two since he got here?
"That….defies explanation," Elsa still seemed to be amazed. "Anna would probably call it fate. I couldn't go that far, but….I am impressed."
"Is that really the right word?" Robert asked. "That's not how I've felt about it."
"My father didn't tell you who those shackles were for. He couldn't have," Elsa said simply. "You couldn't possibly have known. You must have thought it was for some powerful criminal. In any case, it was for the best back then."
"But it wasn't for some criminal. It was for his daughter. That he already locked up," Robert reminded. "And you weren't some criminal. You are….the most tragic, uplifting, innocent, worthy queen Arendelle could ask for. You didn't deserve any of that misery, then and now. Realizing that tore me apart," Realizing his bluntness too late, he added too late, "If I may be so bold."
"You certainly have been," Elsa still looked amazed. "It took….some time to come to terms with a lot of things. But I did."
"I couldn't. I know it sounds pathetic compared to you. But I didn't have a Princess sister, or an ice harvester, or a snowman or loyal subjects to help me know better," Robert recounted. "I just had myself. And the guilt of knowing my greatest gift was….twisted into something unfair and terrible, against someone who'd suffered enough. It was enough that I….didn't want to use it again."
"Of course you didn't," Elsa seemed to say with instant understanding.
Of course she would. All things considered. Many times over.
"You didn't mean to use it that way. You only wanted to use your gifts to help others. Or at least not hurt them," Elsa said - about much more than Robert, he knew. "That makes it okay. Eventually," she appeared to ask more than say.
"In any case, if you hadn't stabbed that man, he would have been killed too," Elsa added. "And then….we wouldn't have an actual witness against Prince Devin. When he thaws enough to testify." Allowing herself a relieved sigh, she finished, "So on top of everything else, I owe a debt for that as well."
"Even if you had killed him, it wouldn't have changed anything," Robert couldn't stop himself. Now that he was finally talking about this – had someone to talk about it with, Queen or not – he was forgetting his place more and more. "You're still the Queen everyone adores. And the adored sister. And aunt."
Another sigh was wrung from Elsa at the last word. This should have made Robert back off at last, but he was too far gone now. "May I….ask what may be an improper question?"
"You might as well after that setup," Elsa admitted.
"Why are you here and….not with her?" Robert perhaps unwisely asked. He didn't have to clarify who the her was, though – they both knew.
"She needs time with her mother and father right now. Not just because of…." Elsa didn't finish that line of thinking. "She may be the closest thing I have to a daughter. Now I know she's the closest I'll ever have," she briefly realized. Putting a stop to that other unpleasant issue, she finished, "But her and her real parents need each other too."
Robert couldn't think of a way too personal, over the line response to that. So he found one in another way – but maybe the nicest one yet.
"I should have told this to Princess Anna earlier. But while we were running in the boat, she could have gotten away earlier. Instead, she stopped to try and save me. That's how the….first kidnapper had scratches on his face," Robert recalled. "Even then, she put someone before herself. Rest assured, she's a very strong young lady."
Robert then saw the most remarkable sight yet. One no one outside of the royal family, and various surrogate family members, had seen in 16 years.
The sight of Elsa starting to cry.
However, crying in front of a non-family member, or snowman, was not something Elsa was raised to do. She tried to put on a straight, emotionless face, even as the tears welled in her eyes. "No….conceal, don't….no!" Elsa just got more emotional, and mad at the end.
"I really should go," Robert finally made an exit strategy. "I won't tell anyone. I can keep that secret for 16 years too."
"No," Elsa said with more calm this time. Her eyes now clear, she recovered to say, "You don't have to apologize. For anything. I'm glad you told me. All of it." Looking somewhat more relaxed, and more grateful, she finished, "I'm still very glad for….the end of yesterday as well. Regardless of any days before that."
"Oh," was all Robert could muster. At least until he said, "You also saved my life in the fjord. I should have led with a thank you for that. I think that makes you even in many ways."
"Mathematically, maybe," Elsa figured. "Though I have always loved geometry."
Robert chuckled, deciding that was the best time to finally shut up. Of course, since Elsa wasn't talking either, someone had to. "I suppose I should get some rest," Robert said, as if he was trying to rush out of there.
Although his bed seemed less relaxing by comparison now.
"So you are going to stay?" Elsa asked, reminding Robert of his earlier vow. "Unless you really do need to go home. Or back to your boat. No, it shouldn't be that boat…." She then dreamed up, "I could commission a new boat for you."
"That's all right," Robert shrugged off. "After this….I doubt I'll use another boat again. It was always going to be a temporary career."
"I see," Elsa noted. "Well, we'll think of something. Until then, you stay here as long as you want, and I promise we will make time to see you. Our entire family."
"Take your time," Robert offered. "Apparently I'm not going anywhere."
He had never dreamed of talking about the past with anyone. Certainly never with the Queen. He certainly never thought he'd go five minutes without getting frozen.
And he definitely didn't think it would include him making a joke. Or her smiling at it. Smiles after a day like yesterday should have been completely out. But like she said, it defied explanation.
Finally, Robert took steps to actually leave, and Elsa didn't try to stop him. Instead, he stopped himself right before he opened the door. "Be well, Your Majesty," he said in lue of a more obvious good night.
"You as well. Mr. Hansen," Elsa said. They both missed the fact she paused before using his proper name.
But when he left, Elsa could note that she hadn't said more than a few words at a time all day. Not even to Anna when she told her about meeting him, and calling off the suitor search. She certainly didn't say a single, solitary thing about yesterday, what she did, and what happened to anyone.
Yet she did all of that just now with this man.
Elsa could only raise an eyebrow and give a curious hum. Then she went back to her seat, grateful that at least the next couple of minutes would have better memories. That was all she could probably ask for right now.