"If you could make a law, any law, right now, what would it be?"

Really, Kristoff didn't know what he was trying to accomplish by coming down here. He figured, it must have been some sort of sick curiosity that drove him here. Hans was a mystery to him - an infuriating mystery, but an enigma nonetheless. As much as he already didn't care for the man just from Anna's words alone, Kristoff had to know what Hans was like - if what was said was totally, and completely accurate.

But, really, this wasn't his brightest idea.

The question - while completely out of nowhere and quite odd to Kristoff - was left hanging in the air, the two staring each other down. Kristoff would have likened it to wolves challenging one another, aside from the fact that - currently - there was no real malice between them.

"...What?"

Apparently, that was the answer he'd expected - since it drew a dry laugh from the imprisoned man's lips.

"Come now, you must have some idea? No? Well, one can't say that's very surprising. There's a reason for that."

That earned some growling. The wolves weren't just circling anymore.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Kristoff hissed, stepping closer to the bars that separated them.

"It means you're a commoner. It means that you have no reason to be as such associated with any royal entity as you now are."

Wait...How could he know? They only briefly saw each other out on the fjord, Hans couldn't possibly know Kristoff's relation to Anna!

"...I did what I was hired to do. I got Anna up the mountain, and I got her back," Kristoff refuted, brown eyes narrowed.

"Ah, yes, Anna. Anyone else of your...station...would have called her Princess Anna. But not you. It may have been a few days, a culmination of hours, but a lowborn brute such as yourself managed to win the attention of the Arendelle royals. Please, don't look so dumbfounded; I may be stuck in this little hellhole, but I can still hear things," Hans scoffed, not looking the least bit uncomfortable in his cell.

Kristoff glowered at that, lip curling up in a vague snarl. "I didn't ask for any of what they gave me - and I wouldn't have even taken it, but..." But Anna insisted, wouldn't take no for an answer.

"And, in such a backwards little country as this - where witches rule, and sane men are thrown out of the kingdom for trying to save the people from such treachery - is it really so far-fetched to think an ice harvesting oaf could weasel his way into the royal family?"

The wolves were snarling, snapping at each other with bared teeth.

"Well, looks like I'm doin' a better job of it than you, if I was. You're locked up for what you did to Anna, and the Queen - and you're trying to pass yourself off as benevolent? What a joke...," Kristoff growled, hands gripping the metal bars of the cell.

Hans chuckled at that, a gloved hand pressed lightly to his face. "Benevolence and malevolence have a very thin line separating them. Yes, I gained the trust of the people - I was kind, merciful, humble. But I cared nothing for them beyond what they could get me; much like a farmer with stock cattle. Benevolent actions, malevolent intentions. If I had actually cared for Anna, or anyone but myself in this whole mess, I would never have gotten what I desired."

Kristoff scoffed, pushing himself away from the cell bars. "To be king, is that it?"

"Precisely," Hans hummed, green eyes seeming to shine in the semi-dark like a cat's.

Kristoff shook his head, figuring this all to have been a waste of his time. He should have simply trusted Anna's word on Hans' character, there was nothing else to be gleaned from him.

"Caution, harvester. Following the steps of a woman and letting her whisper sweet nothings into your ear...It wouldn't be the first time the crown of a king was placed onto a commoner's head. But can such a man, so low in life and yet suddenly raised up, shoulder the weight of a kingdom, its people, and its laws?"

Kristoff paused at this, his back turned to the Southern Isles prince, but he didn't react further.

Neither wolf prevails over the other, but while one moves to lick its wounds and ready for the next struggle for dominance, the other leaves with a tucked tail and uncertain future.