It had happened in a flash, she had barely taken it in. She was surprised at just how easy she found killing her. The sun's rays were a comfort to her as another surprise sank in. The surprise of how heavily Hans' death was weighing on her. He must have known there was a minute chance she would be fast enough to use the bolt on Elsa before she could end him, but it was the best chance to take her down. His final act of noble sacrifice proved just how much he had changed, that he had been genuine since they met in that tavern.
Another warm breeze gently brushed her skin, it was then Anna opened her eyes and realised she had to act. There was no time to mull over why the clouds parted and why the temperature was rising. The tower she was standing in and all its counterparts had ice as significant parts of their structures. The temperature had risen so rapidly that it was only a matter of time before the lack of structural integrity brought the building she was standing in tumbling down. Anna turned and looked at the aftermath of the recent events. Elsa's body lay motionless, she felt no regret as she stepped over it to get to Hans who was still propped up by the icicles that had killed him. She wanted to free his body so he could have a proper burial, he had earned that much. Despite the numbness in her arm still residing it took little effort to break him free. She slung the punctured body over her shoulder and headed to the front of the palace. There would be no secret tunnels, no fighting, just carrying a man who deserved some peace in death that he never received in life. She had to pick up the pace as the ground beneath her was starting to show cracks and the stone loosened with every step she took. The bridges between the towers were also rapidly decreasing in reliability.
Each trophy from the conquered territories that was left behind just accentuated the ultimate futility of Elsa's actions. The legacy she had worked to build came crashing down into the mountainside, tower by tower. Despite some close calls and a few precarious leaps, Anna made her way down to the old palace. It was taking a beating from the falling debris of the collapsing towers but it was holding firm. Once clear Anna placed Hans on the first table she could find, she leant her hands on it to catch her breath and looked down at him.
"Why'd you have to go and do that Hans?" she said. She kept looking at the man she knew and could no longer hold in her frustration. She slammed her fist down on the table. She was briefly distracted from her turmoil when the table broke in half, Hans' body falling with it. She picked him back up to find somewhere else to place him. Once she had carefully put him onto another table further down the corridor she turned her thoughts to what just happened. The furniture was not fragile enough to be wrecked that easily. She waggled her fingers and clenched her fist, despite still having almost no feeling in her arm everything seemed to be working normally. She removed her gauntlet to reveal a hand and forearm made of ice, the rest of her arm was still covered but she feared it would be a similar sight. So far it seemed, much like her facial scars, that temperature had no effect on it.
"Anna, what happened?" She was so preoccupied she had not realised someone had appeared behind her, she quickly slipped the gauntlet back on and turned to see Jasper.
"How did you get up here?" Anna said.
"I've got our remaining fighters keeping the palace secure, I was searching for any clues for what happened when I heard a lot of clattering from somewhere near here," Jasper said.
"A table… never mind. What about the imperial guards?" Anna asked.
"When the clouds parted everything outside just stopped, everyone's in a state of shock, guards included. The whole city is at a stand-still. Does this mean you did it? Is Elsa dead?" he said.
"She is, Hans died to make sure it was possible," she said. Jasper's explanation seemed over-simplified, she was sure Elsa's death alone could not cause the permanent winter to dissipate, something else was at play. Jasper stepped forward and put his hand on Hans; he closed his eyes and bowed his head.
"Who's this?" another man said. Jasper turned away, stopping what he was doing in the process.
"I could ask you the same thing," he said.
"I'm Sebastian Lindstrom, chief advisor to the Empress and unlike you, I'm supposed to be here," he said.
"Shouldn't you have been in towers?" Anna asked.
"Why yes Anna, but when the rioting started the Empress demanded to be left alone," Sebastian said. Anna was taken aback, he had recognised her instantly.
"Don't look so surprised, I've seen pictures of you around here every day for two years now. Not to mention the fact the Empress talked about you all the time," Sebastian said.
"Well I…" she began. Sebastian cut her off.
"It's not your sudden appearance that I'm concerned about. It's this man and the dead prince from the Southern isles that's particularly out of the ordinary," he said.
"You know who this is?" Anna said.
"So many inane questions, it's my job to know who the significant people in the world are. Granted I can't remember which one that is, there were so many in that family that all their faces to start to blend into one," Sebastian said, examining the corpse.
"It's Hans, he killed the Empress. In her dying moments she made sure that he wouldn't live to celebrate it," Jasper said. Anna did her best not to react badly to this telling of events and took the time to contemplate Jasper's motives as he spoke with Sebastian.
"So this man just goes ahead and kills the most powerful person in the world. On the same day Anna reappears no less?" Sebastian said.
"He had a certain vendetta against these two if I remember rightly," Jasper said. Sebastian stroked his chin.
"Luckily for you most people are missing the important facts to debunk your story," Sebastian looked at Anna. "Don't worry though. I'll make sure our little assassin's coronation goes smoothly."
Anna squinted at him.
"You're awfully calm about this," she said. Sebastian shrugged.
"My loyalty is to the Empire, not the Empress. She was such a detriment to the smooth running of everything anyway. Luckily for all of you, I'm very good at what I do so managed to keep it all together," he said.
"So you don't have a problem with what you believe to have happened" Jasper said, still not confirming Sebastian's accurate perception of events.
"We both know if people think Anna had anything to do with Elsa's death there'd be far too many challenges to her heirship, otherwise you wouldn't have just tried to lie about it." He started to move off.
"If you'll excuse me I have a lot of organising to do and a cohesive narrative to spin," he said, he then chuckled. "Very savvy of you to pin it on Hans though, the believable motive and skill-set should work nicely." He then left promptly, with a slight spring in his step.
"Strange man," Jasper said.
Anna looked at Jasper, down at Hans, then back to Jasper.
"Hans was always going to be the fall guy wasn't he?" Anna said. Jasper sighed.
"From the very beginning yes, it was his when we first started forming the resistance," he said.
"How very convenient for you that he died," Anna said. Jasper shook his head.
"For both our sakes I'll pretend you didn't say that, we planned for him to go into hiding after this. He knew his role, at first he was happy to be the one to take credit for Elsa's death but as he grew more reluctant he still stuck to it for the greater good of everyone. He was a good man and my friend," he said. Jasper turned away and bowed his head again. She knew she was on edge and had reacted unfairly. There was an entire city outside paralysed by confusion, her hand was frozen over and the man who granted her closure, possibly even began to love again had been killed by her sister in front of her very eyes. It was hard to think clearly with it all. The way Hans was acting on the journey and the way he treated Freya recently made sense to her now though, he wanted to distance himself, push Freya away as he knew he would be disappearing one way or another. Anna was angry at herself for only just considering Freya now. She would be distraught if she saw Hans like this.
She backed up against a wall and slid down it until she was sat on the floor. The warmth of the weather was starting to take its toll as well; she pulled down the long neck of her shirt as her attire was for the freezing tunnels below. Jasper gave her a concerned look.
"Did Elsa attack you?" he asked.
"What makes you say that?" Anna said.
"Part of your neck, it's iced over" he said. Anna's eyes widened, she needed to check if the ice was taking hold or spreading.
"I need to go," she said. Jasper seemed content to let her work through it, even if he did not understand what it was or the urgency required.
"I'll go find that Sebastian guy, see what it is he's actually doing right now," he said.
Anna rushed to where her room had been. She found it, went in and closed the door behind her. Nothing had changed. Elsa must have wanted it preserved this way.
She looked in the mirror and saw the ice scarring from her face had expanded to her neck and continued under her armour. She took off her layers as fast as possible, with the exception of the shield mounted on her back which she leaned carefully against the wall. She was now only in her undershirt and leggings. Her entire right arm and shoulder was ice, it had spread up to her neck and joined with the scarring on her jawline. She stared at herself, looking for any signs of further spread or melting. The minutes passed by and there was no sign of change, the numbness was still there, she wandered if it would ever go. Elsa had found one last way to make her mark, even in death. Anna barely noticed the time go by as she diligently watched the ice engrained in her body. She was only startled out of this trance by a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" she said.
"Freya," was the response from behind the door. Anna considered sending her away or making her wait until she could cover up her arm and neck. She let these thoughts go when it dawned on her that hiding away was exactly what Elsa had done to her all those years ago.
"Come in," Anna said. Freya entered, closing the door behind her.
"That's new, are you okay?" Freya said upon seeing her.
"I have no idea but it seems to be alright," Anna said. She sat down on her bed and looked straight forward, it was an excuse not to look Freya in the eye. She seemed far too chipper to have known what had happened.
"How did you get here so fast?" Anna said. She felt in no way prepared to tell Freya Hans' fate.
"I met Jasper on the way back, he was much easier to convince to let me come with him to the city," Freya said.
"He let you fight?" Anna said, Freya was still wearing that sling she made her.
"He made me wait outside the city limits and I made a promise to stay out of the main fight anyway. When the sun came out and all the noise stopped I figured it was over. I was able to walk right on in," Freya said. She sat herself next to Anna and looked around the room. "This place is so much nicer than the towers," she said.
"How exactly did you find this room?" Anna said, cursing her luck that Freya had found her before she could have regained her own composure.
"That advisor guy recognised me as "the one who ruined that ugly tapestry." I didn't even realise he had ever seen me." Freya said. Anna was noticing how astute Sebastian was, she would have to keep a close eye on him.
"Anyway, when the towers came crashing down I wanted to see if you were alright. He told me this was probably where you'd be so directed me to this room. Judging by your arm and the sunshine I'd say you had a run-in with your sister," she said.
"She's dead," Anna looked at the floor. "And I don't know why the sun is out," she said.
"That can't be easy," Freya said.
"I miss the woman she once was, but I don't think that was same woman who died up there. I don't know if it's even sunk in yet, I doubt it ever truly will," Anna said. Freya seemed unsure how to respond as she just made a vague sound of acknowledgement. There was a silence between them, the urge to tell Freya what had happened was nagging away at Anna. She had faced a horde of rampaging fanatics, confronted her sister and her arm was no longer flesh and bone due to perverted magic. Yet dealing with Freya felt like the most nerve-wracking thing she had to deal with today.
"I haven't seen Hans yet, I take it he hung back with Jasper to co-ordinate the city attack," Freya said. Her attempt to change the subject made is to so much worse. Anna had to say something, keeping secrets was what lead to Elsa's downfall. She refused to make the same mistake. Anna exhaled, it was now or never, she contemplated taking hold of her hand before talking but refrained as Freya would know something was off if she did that. Anna faced her, looking her in the eyes for the first time since she came in.
"Han's was with me when we went to find Elsa," Anna said.
"Oh. Where is he then?" Freya asked with no hint of suspicion in her voice.
"He didn't make it," Anna said. Freya's face dropped.
"He died making sure we could succeed, making sure it wasn't all for nothing," Anna said, unsure whether clarifying that would make it better or worse. Freya was quiet at first, she looked away.
"He did what he had too. The resistance owes him, we all owe him," Freya finally said. Her face was straining and her voice cracking. She was doing everything in her power to stop herself from crying. Even now she was trying to be steadfast in the face of tragedy, blaming no-one and trying to justify and detach from Hans' loss. The way she was trying to hold back the tears just made it more devastating to see. It went against every lesson she had learned for the past three years but Anna hugged her, being careful with her right arm as she did so. The sun shone brightly through the window as Freya buried her face into Anna's shoulder, she was sniffling away and breathing heavily.
"I'll miss him too," Anna said.
They were embraced, neither speaking. Anna thought of everything she had lost and all she had done. Her friends gone, Kristoff's execution, losing her home and spending years witnessing the depths people sank too to survive the harsh environments of the Empire. She blinded herself to it all by hiding away with fighting and drinking. Hans had swooped in and lifted the veil for her giving her new purpose and even in the short time they had been reunited, he had made a lasting impression. Now he was gone as well. As for Elsa, she had been through so much with her and managed to help her when her powers first went out of control. But just when Elsa was back to her old self, she began to crumble again. All of Anna's attempts to pull her away from the path of madness came to nothing and in the end it was her who had to put Elsa out of her misery.
"You've lost Elsa, I've lost Hans. We have to look out for each other now," Freya said. Anna had lost everything, even her sister. But maybe, just maybe, through all this she had gained another.