Many Beauty and the Many Beast

by Felicity Collins

  "Shoot"

  "We should kick him in the balls!" I stared at her.

  "Now, I really like the way your brain works, but I don't think that's exactly what we're looking for"

  "Oh, I liked the idea!" she said pouting.

  "I won't deny it, it is tempting" we laughed at the idea.

  "Now, seriously. What are we going to do with him?" she asked. I shook my head with a smile and took her face in my hands.

  "You don't need to worry about it. I'll think of something and if I need your help I'll ask you, okay?" Anna frowned but didn't complain.

  "Alright, fine" I smiled and kissed her forehead.

  "I have a meeting now" I said walking to the door.

  "I'll see you later" Anna called back.

  "Okay, later" and with that I left the room. Was that really the right choice? I had no clue. My head had been screaming not to do so. If Hans did something, the head of the queen of Drakora was at stake and a war with her kingdom was the last thing I needed. But then again, what other options did I have? I killed him, my law change was pointless. I let him live, my position was questioned. That third option Skylynn had given me was definately the most risky, but the only way out.

  For once, I followed my instincts and now, all I had to do, was hope I made the right choice.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I sat in my cell bunk, thinking over what happened yesterday in the court room. Skylynn… she… she's such an idiot! I didn't want her to put herself in danger because of me. I lied to her in that room and I lied to Elsa (lying it's something that I've learnt to do really well), I would have done the same for Skylynn. I would have done it a thousand times over if I had to. The only person I was mad at was myself for not stopping her and Elsa for allowing her. Now she got my hands tied, not with a thick rope but with razor thin strings that can cut my wrists at the smallest wrong move. I meant what told Elsa, I meant every word. This situation I am in is not mercy, this is so much worse than that. I don't want their mercy, but then again, I wasn't here because of the sisters' mercy, I was here for Sky's stubbornness. My train of thoughts was interrupted when the cell door opened and three people entered the room. It was none other than Queen Elsa, Princess Anna and Skylynn… dang it!

  "My, my, Anna! It's so… not nice to see you again" I sneered getting up from my bunk.

  "The feeling is mutual" she answered glaring at me "And it's Princess Anna to you"

  "Funny… I thought you wouldn't allow your little sister to see me, Elsa. Not after I broke her heart" I said with venom.

  "First, it's Queen Elsa" she snapped "Second-"

  "-I'm sorry to burst your ego bubble" continued Anna, finishing Elsa's sentence "But I got over you after 15 minutes, so… no, I'm not really that heartbroken"

  "And third" cut in Skylynn "Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are here to inform you about your punishment, and since I am now responsible for your actions here, I am to know what your punishment will be"

  "Oh, how wonderful! Please, your Majesty, be gentle on me!" I said sarcastically

  "She's been very gentle with this punishment" Anna said glaring at me.

  "Then, come on. Talk" I said leaning on the wall and crossing my arms. Elsa sighed and shook her head.

  "Right now, you need to recover from your wounds" she began "As soon as you're healed, you'll be working with the ice-harvesters alongside Kristoff. We already informed him about this and he will be watching you like a hawk. Every morning from 6 a.m. till sunset you'll go to the mountains with the ice-harvesters. Whatever Kristoff says, you do, no questions asked. If he comes to me complaining about your behavior, I'll make sure to put you in the coal mines. Sunday you'll stay here in the cell"

  "Doing what, exactly?"

  "Think over about your actions" Anna snapped.

  "Sorry, but I had a month to think it over and guess what? I don't regret anything"

  "You are such an idiot" Skylynn commented.

  "I could say the same about you" I snapped at her.

  "I'm not the one rotting in a dungeon" she said with a shrug. I remained quiet. That was a low blow... but I deserved it.

  "Anyway" said Elsa "This is the punishment I've decided for you, any questions?"

  "Yes" I said. They looked at me expectantly. Elsa with her head held high, Anna glaring at me with her arms crossed and Skylynn clutching her arms behind her back "Can you leave?" I asked. Anna's jaw fell on the floor.

  "You're inside a cell, we come tell you about your punishment and you… Gosh! The nerve!" she complained.

  "We're done here, let's go Anna" Elsa said and was about to walk away when Skylynn stopped her.

  "May I have a moment with him?" she asked. Elsa's blue eyes set on me for a second then back to her.

  "5 minutes" she said and exit the cell with her sister trailing behind her. As soon as the cell door was closed, Skylynn walked over to me. A heavy silence ruled among us as I went to sit back on my bunk exhaling deeply.

  "Why did you do that?" I asked her "Why do you want to save me so badly?"

  "You're my brother, Hans. You would do the same for me. Yes, you've been an idiot and screwed up badly, but I know who you are and you're not a murderer or a traitor" she started softly "What I don't understand is why did you have to do this? I mean, why did you even think you pull off such a… suicide mission all on your own? I have to admit, it's impressive that you actually managed to get that far, but you are not the bad guy" she said

  "Does it matter anymore?" then it hit me "Wait- you're actually complimenting me for the way I almost took over the kingdom? Good thing you keep saying I'm not the bad guy"

  "To take over a kingdom the way you did requires smarts and you have them, but doing it how you tried to also requires you to be evil at heart, if you were, you wouldn't have made the mistake of leaving Princess Anna alive" that got me by surprise.

  "So, you're saying I should have killed her when I got the chance"

  "I'm saying that if you really were the bad guy, you would have… but you didn't"

  "This doesn't change the fact that I committed treason, I almost killed two people, I am doing everything I can to have them hate me-"

  "-Yes, about that. Why?" I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair, then I looked up at her.

  "You really want me to say it, don't you?" I asked

  "Yes. Now spill it"

  "I asked Elsa to freeze my heart when you two came to visit"

  "WHAT?!" she exclaimed shocked.

  "Sky, what's the point of apologizing to them, now? What's the point in having you save me? After that little show I pulled off and what I said to them here, they won't see anything in me but the monster who caused them pain. When I left the Southern Isles to come here the only thing I had was some dignity and now I lost… everything. I meant it when I asked Elsa to freeze my heart" I paused and sighed "You're wasting your time here" I said holding my head down. Part of my mind screamed IDIOT! But part of me was also relieved. I had promised myself not to say anything to anyone and die like the caged animal I was, but this was Skylynn's force, she knew how to make me talk. She was the only one I wanted to talk to, the one who has always seen me as more than just the unlucky 13th prince, less than a spare. She saw me as her Big Brother.

  Sky walked over to me until she stood right in front of me and took my face in her hands forcing me to meet her gaze. Her stormy grey eyes, a trait she took after her mother, looked at me tenderly as she ran a hand through my hair.

  "You still have me, Hans. I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere" she said "Don't mess this up Hans, but don't do it for me, do it for you" Then I couldn't contain myself anymore as I wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged my little sister as she held me back. We stayed like that for a moment, but then I realized what I was doing. Conceal. Don't feel. Conceal. Don't feel. No emotions! I abruptly let go of her pushing her away and stood up again walking away, not daring to meet her gaze.

  "You're wasting your time h
ere with me. You're a fool if you think that working for Queen Elsa is going to make me change, because I also meant what I said about my actions" I said coldly "I'm actually proud of them because at least everyone knows what I'm capable of, now, the only thing I regret was not killing Anna when I could, if it wasn't for her, I could be king right now"

  "And you're a fool if you think I'm going to believe to all the crap you're spilling" Sky retorted.

  "Leave, Skylynn. It's best for the both of us"

  "You don't have to hold the weight of this on your shoulders alone, I'm here to help you. Don't shut me out, Hans. I'm sorry if I wasn't there for you these past two years but, now I can really help you. You'll just have to trust me, we can work this out together, you won't have to hide anymore. I'm going to be right here" God! Why does she have to make everything difficult?!

  "Sky…" I began "go back to Drakora, your life is there now. There's nothing here for someone like you. You think that you can help me, but the truth is that you'd do so much better without me. Go back home and steer clear of me. I don't want your help, Sky. Why don't you want to understand, or rather, accept that? I don't want you to be here, I don't want you to come and play heroine to save my butt because as you could well see, I screwed everything up. If I were you I would leave tonight and never return so you can be safe back home, I can blow this up too and make it easier for me"

  "I won't, because if there is something you taught me is that you don't ever back down from a promise. Yesterday, I basically gave Queen Elsa my word and I'm not breaking it. I'll be right here to make sure you prove yourself to the Queen and the Princess until they decide you can have your freedom again" she said determent.

  "Damn it, Skylynn! You're such a stubborn fool. I'll never have my freedom!"

  "Yes, you will! I'm working on this but you need to put some effort in it too"

  "For what? I'm trapped and nothing is going to change that! I just put myself in a situation with no escape!"

  "There's always a way out, Hans"

  "Not in this case, and even if there was what will I do once I get out of here?"

  "You can come to Drakora with me. You can count on me. You're not alone"In any other moment I would have run to her to hug her, but now, I couldn't afford it. She is the best little sister anyone could ask for, but I couldn't let her in. Not this time.

  "Skylynn you want to save me but you can't! Leave me alone and get out of here" in that precise moment the door opened

  "Queen Skylynn, 5 minutes are up" said Queen Elsa coming into the cell.

  "Just a second" she told her and then turning back to me. I already knew what she was about to do and that meant I had to hurt her even if I didn't want to. She was leaving me no other choice. "Why Hans? Why are shutting me out? Why won't you talk to me? Why don't you trust me anymore?"

  "Because you were stupid enough to buy all those years of faking, Skylynn!" I snapped looking at her in the eyes "Truth is, I never trusted you, I have never cared for you. All I ever did for you was out of pity, you were just an experiment to me, an experiment to see how good I could get with manipulation and now I can say I'm really good at it. I mean-" I paused laughing without humor "Look at you, the great heroine, the Queen of Drakora, in my cell room after willingly self-condemned yourself to death in my place, just to get me out of here" for a moment Skylynn looked at loss of words, but this wasn't enough to make her get out of the room and never come back. It wasn't enough to convince Queen Elsa of the horrible person I really am. I had to hit Skylynn's sore spots.

  "I can say I'm a very good puppet master" I continued "You're just so blinded by all the lies I've fed you with that you are so determent to find some good in me. I got you wrapped around my finger" Hit One: bring down guard "I wonder what Landon would say if- oh right!- he can't say anything he's dead, how stupid of me! He wouldn't be too happy to find out his precious little wife is so gullible after all, would he? Face it Skylynn, you don't really want me out of here because of genuine fraternal affection towards me, you want me out of here because without someone to rely on you are totally and completely lost. When we were younger you had me, your 'Big Brother', then you had Landon, and now that Landon is dead, you are coming back to me. You may have become a queen, but the truth is that without someone having your back you are as dangerous as a hay straw. Even now, you're acting all big and mighty queen because you have Queen Elsa and Princess Anna backing you up" Hit Two: direct attack. And now Hit Three: finish off. However Sky's silver eyes turned cold and serious.

  "So all I've ever been to you was just a puppet" she said flatly. No emotion. Nothing. She was stoic. I could not decipher if I had actually hurt her or not. Before answering her I turned around. I couldn't hit her with another blow looking at her in the eyes, I just couldn't "Then why did you go through all that trouble if I meant less than nothing to you?"

  "It takes a little sacrifice to train your perfect hunting dog" I replied coldly.

  "So, the only reason you spent all those years with me was just so you could… test your mind gaming skills" It wasn't even a question, but her voice was sardonic, not hurt.

  "Why else would I waste my time with my worthless bastardhalf-sister? You should have never existed in the first place" I said. And that was the third hit. I had never called Skylynn 'bastard half-sister' before, like I never told her something like that last sentence. When I said those words, I felt disgusted with myself. I knew she had heard it before from our brothers… but never from me. Now I was just like them, but if she hated me… it was going to be best for the both of us. There was a moment of silence. Skylynn didn't answer. She remained quiet and shook her head.

  "Queen Skylynn" Elsa called. Skylynn looked at Elsa, then back to me. She didn't have to say a word, her grey eyes spoke for her. I knew this was going to be hard and to drive Sky away from me, I didn't just have to hurt her, I had to psychologically destroy her, like I did with Elsa when I told her that her sister was dead because of her. Skylynn turned around and walked towards Elsa, then she stopped and turned back around.

  "Don't blow it, Hans" she said and got out of the cell, it was just then that I noticed Anna was still there and she too heard what I told her… better off like this. Anna glared at me once and walked away with Skylynn. Elsa stood there for a moment and looked at me not with a glare, but with some sort of disappointment.

  "This is why didn't want to freeze your heart, there is no point in freezing something already frozen" she said and then walked away as the guards closed the cell door. The moment they did, I threw myself next to the door placing my ear on it, hoping to eavesdrop the three girls speaking with one another, hopefully they didn't wait to go too far away from the heavy door so that I couldn't hear them. Fortunately the talked right away.

  "Thank you for not freezing his heart, Elsa" I heard Skylynn say gratefully.

  "Hu?" was her first response "Oh, you're welcome… I guess…" she said I couldn't see it, but I bet she was sharing an unsure glance with Anna, I could hear it in her voice.

  "You're…" Anna began uncertainly "You're not fazed by what he said? At all?"

  "No…well..." Skylynn started "Those were very low blows, indeed, but- come on!- Hans could do so much better than that" she said… I was hoping she didn't say that.

  "What?!" exclaimed the two sisters.

  "He wants me to hate him? He'd have to psychologically destroy me and let me tell you, after a war and other stuff, that's almost impossible and he knows that" she said… and she was right, I had to do worse than that.

  "Don't you think you're expecting a little too much of yourself? He told you horrible things and, I'm sorry, but it seemed like he meant it" said Elsa. It wasn't really tactful, but I suppose she couldn't find a nicer way to say it. Frankly, if I were in her shoes, neither could I.

  "That's exactly the point, Elsa" Sky said. Judging from the way she said it, I could just picture a smirk on her lips "Anna, how do you know when Elsa is lying or hiding something from you?" I
heard her ask the redheaded princess. There was a pause, then Anna spoke up.

  "I-… I don't know, actually. Maybe it's how she acts… or the way she says things, or the nicknames she gives me when she's hiding something" she said unsure.

  "I don't give you nicknames when I'm hiding something!" complained Elsa.

  "You do, you always say 'Anna, dear', or 'dear sister' every time you're hiding something"

  "I don't"

  "You do, deal with it" Anna cut short. I couldn't help the small amused smile appear on my lips. "Anyway" said Anna "I don't really know, it's more like a feeling I get. I kind of sense when she's lying or not"

  "There" Sky began "That's exactly how I know when Hans is lying" Shesaid "Plus, it'll be really hard for him to mentally destroy me because he knows that after all the horrible crap I've been through in my life… I'd just get to add that" Skylynn added and I could just picture her shrugging with a smirk. After that there was silence and Skylynn's footsteps walk away. I suppose her last statement must have left the two sisters slightly shocked as they did not say anything, but I heard their footsteps follow my sister's a moment later.

  My goal was to put a distance, a door, a wall, between me and Sky, and make sure Elsa and Anna hated me, instead, I succeeded in getting both the queen and princess to despise me even more, but made Skylynn even more determent in getting me out of this situation. I had failed

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  One of the perks of being queen is that: A) you get to have certain privileges and B) you get to do whatever you want. Problem is, the second perk doesn't count in another country, obviously. In fact, every time I want to see Hans I need to ask for Elsa's permission and guess what, I got a big fat 'No' for three days in a row. Today, is the third time I ask her to see Hans and her answer was 'No'. I've already bothered Elsa enough these days, but I have to admit, testing her patience is kind of fun. She's good at mind games, although she doesn't like them and that's the fun part. Anyway, I was in my room laying on my bed thinking about the events while drawing, it relaxed me, just like writing music and sword fighting, blame Hans for the last two. I still didn't understand Hans' behavior. For a second he acts in a way, and the second later he acts in another. This is something I tend do to as well, but I don't understand why he would put his defenses up with me too. What I didn't want to believe was the fact that he told me he wanted to die. He wanted Elsa to execute him, I mean, he asked her to freeze his heart! I'm glad Elsa didn't. She acts cold but her heart is nothing but warm. She's too good for her own safety, but she doesn't trust me yet, and I don't blame her.