Chapter 4:
Freezing Heart
You'll have to kill Queen Elsa.
He felt nauseous from his conversation with Lars, who offered up this cold, heartless solution to the problem he faced. He'd always known Lars was dark, but this plan was downright diabolical.
"Kill Queen Elsa?" Hans asked Lars in disbelief that the words had even fell from his mouth. Hans then suddenly remembered watching Lars his whole life, always whispering in his father's ear, always around. He began to wonder just how many of the ruthless things he'd watched his father accomplish as king had been through the influence of Lars.
One time, when Hans was quite small, he remembered wandering through the castle hallways late at night trying to find his mother. He happened upon his father's study, the door slightly ajar. He reached for the handle, hoping to see his mother nestled by the fire reading a book as usual, but instead he heard the hushed voices of his father and Lars, plotting.
"Your majesty, King Julian has had plenty of warnings. It is time to make good on your threats," he'd heard Lars harshly whisper.
"But the countless, civilian lives at stake-" the king began.
"Collateral damage, your highness. He knew this was the risk!"
"I don't want that blood upon my hands," the king sighed.
"Are you weak? Do you want the other kingdoms to believe you won't hold true to your threats if they do not uphold their part of a treaty?" There was a long silence.
"When should we begin getting our men ready?"
Young Hans had a very little idea of what they were talking about, but the conversation stuck with him his whole life. It was at that moment, as a child even, that he realized that Lars was a force to be reckoned with, and his powers of manipulation were strong. But even knowing these things about him, it was almost impossible to not fall into his trap. Ultimately, the man knew what he was doing.
So when Lars told him he needed to kill Queen Elsa, Hans knew that as deplorable and awful as it was, Lars had a reason behind it.
"You will be a hero in the eyes of the kingdom," Lars assured.
"Anna would never forgive me," Hans said, shaking his head, "they'd lock me up for sure. I-it would accomplish nothing!"
"Not if it was an accident," Lars said darkly, his eyes intense. Hans chewed on that a moment. "She is dangerous, Hans. She obviously has no control over herself, of her powers. Any other leader would march up that mountain, drag her down and hang her for witchcraft. She is killing her own people! Something must be done about this. And you are the hero that should do it."
"But…Anna…" he thought aloud.
"Of course you'll have to marry her, she is your only way to the throne now. It shouldn't be a problem if she loves you the way you say she does. Then, you can still rule as king, isn't that what you want? Isn't that what you've always dreamed of?" Lars asked. "You said so yourself, you and Anna are in love, am I correct?" Hans' head lowered, his eyes averting to the floor. His head hurt, he was so confused.
"Yes, w-we are," he said with less conviction than before. He sighed an exasperated sigh and ran a bothered hand through his hair. He knew he cared for her, he knew their connection was real. But was Lars right? Could he have just been the first man she met outside the castle gates? "I don't know! I don't know anything anymore."
"My confused boy, let me help you," Lars purred, his boney hand finding Hans' slumped shoulder. "You will be the leader Arendelle needs, you will feed the hungry and cloak the cold. If Anna has not arrived home by sunset tomorrow, we will send you and a few men after her. She will be returned safely to the castle, and you will go up the North Mountain and destroy the sorceress, and end this winter by any means necessary." Hans said nothing. Lars sighed. "Consider her death…an acceptable loss. Anna will mourn, but she will turn to you for strength and support. She will take her sister's place as queen with you by her side."
Hans was at war with himself.
The part of Hans that thirsted for power, for admiration and respect, knew that one could simply look at this as a tactical maneuver, some would even call it ambition. Many men had done much worse for power, and Elsa really was killing her own people; they would never survive much longer in these conditions. He arose, walking slowly to the window, watching the blistering snow, no end in sight. He stood at the glass, catching himself in the reflection. His eyes looked tired, morose.
So much for a new, carefree life.
The good part of Hans, however, knew that he would never be able to look into Anna's eyes knowing that he'd killed her sister, no matter how justifiable and heroic the act itself may seem.
"This…" he felt his eyebrows furrow into a frown, his eyes involuntarily misting. "This is wrong." Lars came up behind him, placing both hands upon his shoulders this time.
"Thirteenth in line," he said darkly. "That's always been such burden on you. Knowing that your brothers despise you, that they don't expect any greatness from you. It has taken its toll on you, hasn't it?" Lars' voice was strangely sympathetic. Hans felt his head nodding in agreement. It had been hard. "But, just imagine how surprised they would be to know that your mission in Arendelle was a success, hmm? You'd have the respect, the power, the love that you've always wanted, wouldn't you?" Lars smirked, turning and walking to the door.
"Why does it have to be so hard?" Hans asked, more to himself than to Lars.
"Part of having power is having to make hard decisions," Lars sighed. Hans didn't respond. "I'll leave you with your thoughts, your majesty," and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
Hans didn't bother dressing for sleep, just slipped off his boots and collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted, but he was quite certain he would be getting no sleep tonight; there was still too much too do, still too much bouncing around inside of his restless mind, especially now. He tossed, he turned. He found it hard to rest easy knowing so many were cold, knowing Anna was somewhere out there.
He began to play back the events of the evening in his mind, from meeting Anna on that dock to watching her ride off into the cold. Was it really only a mere 24 hours ago that things felt so promising? He wished deep down that he could just start the day over, try again with different results. This is why his family hated him. He always made a mess of things.
He blamed himself, probably more than he should. He hadn't the slightest idea that Elsa would freeze Arendelle, that he would be left to care for a kingdom in peril. Perhaps he really wasn't king material, perhaps he wasn't cut out for this.
And all he kept thinking was that now he had to make a decision about Elsa. Morning was coming, relentlessly, and the snow showed no sign of stopping.
When Hans awoke, only a couple of hours had passed. He was groggy, still tired, but day had finally broken; he knew that the kingdom could not wait for him to catch up on much-needed rest OR think about all that had happened. He dressed quickly, arming himself with his sword, hurrying down the confusing and maze-like corridors to meet with the guards in the courtyard.
"Your Majesty," Kai greeted. "I trust you slept well?" he attempted politely.
"Thank you," Hans responded, unsure of what else to say. 'No, actually. I hardly slept at all and mulled over my plot to kill your queen and marry your princess.' He took in a deep breath, his lungs filling with cold air. It was slightly refreshing, and certainly helped wake him the rest of the way up. "Any news from the North Mountain?" Hans asked, happy to see that snow had ceased, even though the kingdom was blanketed in deep, thick snow.
"None yet, my liege. We have sent some men to scout the area for food and firewood," Kai reported. "What is our next move?" he asked, his eyes full of hope. Hans glanced around, the townspeople were huddled together by weak fires, trying to plow roadways for their horses and securing their homes. They looked tired, weary.
"We will-" he paused, thinking about what Lars had said the night before. "Continue to cloak and feed our people, do what we can to stay warm. We are working on a plan to return the Queen and the Princess safely and thaw this winter," he said assertively. He ran to the back of a wagon where he picked up a stack of blankets and cloaks. He began to move through the crowd.
"Cloak? Does anyone need a cloak?" he asked aloud, trying to help as much as he knew how. To be honest, he was mostly just winging it at this point. All he could do now was make himself useful and keep the townspeople safe, warm and alive. A woman approached, one he recognized from the ball. Her name was Gerda.
"Arendelle is indebted to you, your highness," she said, heartfelt.
"The castle is open. There's soup and hot glogg in the Great Hall," he announced. He approached a guard that looked unoccupied, handing him his stack of cloaks.
"Here, pass these out," he instructed. He turned to see the Duke approaching. He internally rolled his eyes, knowing full well he was not in the mood to deal with him right now.
"Prince Hans, are we just expected to sit here and freeze while you give away all of Arendelle's tradable goods?" he asked, accusingly. Hans stood tall, trying to at least appear confident and collected.
"Princess Anna has given her orders and-"
"And that's another thing; has it dawned on you that your princess may be conspiring with a wicked sorceress to destroy us all?" That was it. Hans had finally had enough of this. His eyes narrowed, his voice lowered.
"Do not question the Princess. She left me in charge, and I will not hesitate to protect Arendelle from treason." As he spoke the words, he didn't recognize his own voice, his own tone. It came from a place deep inside of him that he didn't even know existed, but the fear in the Duke's eyes when he threatened him gave Hans a small rush. Is that what power feels like? To be able to coerce people into doing what you want, just like that? All he knew was he liked the way it felt.
Suddenly and without warning, Hans and the guards could hear that alarmed whinnying of a horse. Hans turned to see Anna's horse, frightened. It was kicking and bucking, startled by something. But one thing that Hans couldn't help but notice was that the horse was alone.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, boy. Easy. Easy," he coaxed, grabbing his reins to help calm him down. He could hear the upset murmuring of people in the crowd.
"Princess Anna's horse!" one said.
"What happened to her? Where is she?" said another.
Hans was distraught; he knew better than to let her go off on her own. He looked up at the mountains, knowing she was somewhere up there.
Alone. Cold. Defenseless.
He then looked down to all the troubled faces of the townspeople, guards and coronation guests. All eyes upon him, looking to him.
"Princess Anna is in trouble," he uttered aloud. "I need volunteers to go with me to find her!" he announced. The Duke instantly offered up his two henchmen, but Hans didn't care who it was as long as they hurried quickly, time was running out and they needed to find her. Not just because he cared for her…but because any chance of him getting to the throne died right along with her.
The snow came up to Sitron's knees as he and Hans forged through the powdery snow. While the blizzard itself had ceased, the sky was white with clouds and it was clear that it could begin again at any given moment.
Hans kept moving forward, his posse close behind him. None of them spoke too often, other than shouting orders back and forth once in a while. Hans relished in the luxury of having time to sort through his thoughts up to this point. He'd been so tired before that he really hadn't had the opportunity to figure out just how he felt about everything. In all honesty, even Hans didn't know what he was thinking at this point. His confusion over the situation, over his feelings for Anna, just made it all that much worse.
He was on phase two of Lars' plan. Going after Anna. It had only been a few hours since she vanished, but he never should have let her go alone. Why didn't he just go with her? If he'd just gone then he wouldn't have had that little heart-to-heart with Lars, and maybe he wouldn't be so messed up inside now.
But Anna wouldn't LET him go, either. Even had he protested, she refused. This was something she had to do alone, she'd insisted.
However, he also realized that he would have insisted on going with her more strongly, but she said something that made him stay.
"I need you here to take care of Arendelle."
Just like that. A throne, no matter how temporary, just handed over to him. He was disgusted with himself. At this point, the woman he cared for was probably frozen or devoured by wolves and still all he could think about was that damn throne.
That part of himself was the part that scared him the most, the part he had tried to leave back in the Southern Isles. But there he was, making horrible decisions in the name of power and control. All he could think about in that moment was taking care of Arendelle, NOT because he cared for their well-being, but to win over the favor of the kingdom and be a hero.
But I'm NOT a hero.
NOT to the person that needed me most.
No, all this time to think just made Hans realize that he still wasn't, and might not ever be, a truly good person. Because while the tormented Hans rode up the mountain searching for the woman he loved, he wasn't sure anymore if it was because he actually loved her or if he loved what she could do for him.
But couldn't it be both? Couldn't he love her AND what she could do for him? And couldn't he try to control Elsa without killing her, but use Lars' plan as a last resort? The problem, however, was that now he had tasted what power truly felt like. He'd had a kingdom look to him, he'd known how great it feels to be king…and he wasn't sure he could ever go back to what it felt like before.
The group approached a tavern, one that had faint tracks in the snow nearby. He instructed his men to stop and hopped off the horse. At the very least they could ask for directions up the North Mountain and re-supply, even just take a break somewhere warm for a few moments, they'd been traveling so long.
The warmth of the store was a welcome feeling for Hans, and his hands instantly began to ache from hours of being numb in the snow.
"Yoo-hoo," a large, mustachioed man greeted him as he walked in, bee-lining for the sanctuary of the fireplace. "Can I help you?"
"We are looking for a Princ-" he stopped himself, realizing that the mountain man may have no idea who princess Anna is. "-ehm, a woman. She may have come by this way last night. She was wearing a green gown, strawberry blonde hair-"
"Jah, she vas here," he nodded. "Bought out our entire vinter section." Relief washed over Hans, happy to know she'd at least made it this far, that they were on the right track. He hurried to the clerk's desk, leaning in eagerly.
"Wonderful, do you know which way she went?" he asked, desperately.
"Jah, her and her friend vent up the North Mountain, I saw them leave early this morning, before the sun came up."
"Great, I'll-" Hans paused, his brows lowering. He realized what the shop owner had just said. "Her and her…friend?" he asked. "Was it a blonde woman?" Perhaps she'd found Elsa?
"No, the man vith the veindeer and the sled,"
"Wait…Man…?" Hans repeated quietly.
"Jah, they stayed the night in my stable, then left in the vee hours," he smirked. "They thought I didn't see him but Oaken sees everything that goes on up here."
"They stayed the night…together? In a stable?" Hans asked, his confused tone becoming more disgusted than anything else. Oaken nodded, Hans took a step back. Although he was confused and profoundly hurt at this realization, he tried his best to brush it off quickly.
"We are also trying to get up the North Mountain, what is the quickest route?" Hans asked, all-business. The man shook his head.
"The storm is too bad, you'll have to try again another day." Hans' patience wore out, he'd had enough conversing with this guy. He turned to his men who were still warming up by the fire and picking up various supplies.
"Come on, men. Let's go," Hans ordered before angrily storming out the front door and into the snow outside. He took a moment to collect his thoughts on the porch of the tavern, taking his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes. He was now beyond exhausted, it showed on his face. He was angry, but he wasn't sure exactly why.
Then he realized just what it was that was burning him up inside.
On one hand, Hans realized he should be relieved that Anna wasn't alone on her hunt for Elsa, that at least someone was with her in case she got hurt or in trouble. But the fact still remained that Anna wouldn't let Hans go with her, wouldn't let him protect her. There were plenty of officials that could have taken care of the kingdom in their absence, but she wanted to do it alone.
And yet it was now increasingly clear that Lars' theory about Anna, about her running off with any other man she found outside of the castle walls, may be right. Which, in turn, triggered the awful, aching thought:
What else was Lars right about?
All this time, confused or not, Hans knew that Anna and he cared about one another, had a real connection, and regardless of his own, personal and political agendas, he planned on marrying her. This whole time since she took off he was beating himself up, imagining the worst happening to her, and knowing he should have gone with her. He should have been the one beside her, protecting her.
The first day out of the castle she gets engaged to you, then stays the night with a strange man in a stable.
The voice returned, slewing as much self-doubt and anxiety as it could. He realized, no matter how much he wanted it to be true, it was naïve to believe that Anna loved him. She didn't love him, she didn't even know what love was.
Which meant that his mission in Arendelle could no longer be personal.
It was just business, now.
a/n
Incredibly tough chapter to write, mostly because Hans' thought are simply ALL over the place, but I think it is because HE is simply all over the place. He is completely at war with himself over what he WANTS to do, what he SHOULD do and what Lars is trying to MAKE him do. The torn prince, eh?
Also thank you guys for your awesome, thoughtful and great reviews. As a writer it really helps encourage more to come! I hope you're all enjoying it.