Frozen 1. Prologue

**I originally posted this fanfic on my tumblr some time ago but figured that since I have an account on ff I could also out it here. Please note that I lack experience in writing (this is my first story) and English is my second language. **

**I'm also very slow at writing so updates may take a while, and the chapters are going to be long. **

_**Special thanks for StansSin for beta reading through this chaotic piece of badly written fanfiction. **_

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><p>While she was waking up, Elsa remembered leaving Arendelle, the look her sister gave her when she was getting on board of the ship she was going to travel by was still raw in her memory. She wasn't afraid of the sea like Anna was, still remembering the day when a word of their parents' death reached the kingdom.<p>

The queen was sure her powers would protect her ship from disappearing under the waves, but it wasn't the sea that turned against her on the second night of her journey.

She brought a hand to her face, her head hurt badly; a painful reminder of the blow that knocked her in unconsciousness. The air around her was thick and heavy, she slowly opened her eyes but it was too dark for her to see anything. There was only a feeling of moisture surrounding her and a sound of waves hitting the wooden walls of the ship, and the temperature; it was hot and hard to breathe.

Like in a sauna.

She heard something shuffle not far away from her.

"…Hello? Is somebody there?" she muttered into the darkness, barely able to utter a word.

"Nah. I'm not here." replied a strangely familiar voice"I'm far away, travelling with my thoughts through some cool, colorful places." The voice added cracking pathetically between syllables after a few seconds of silence

"… I know you…" Elsa whispered under her breath,God she felt like she was going to melt.

"I have heard your voice somewhere before…"

Something shifted again and the owner of the voice sighed and muttered a few inaudible words to himself.

Elsa tried to get up but her legs failed her. She was too weak to move, she tried to use her powers to get rid of this insufferable heat, but they failed as well.

_That's right…_ _my powers are the reason they made an oven out of this place. They're quite clever as for a bunch of pirates._

She was glad that she left Anna in the castle.

_God knows what they would have done to her._

"Anna… "the queen whispered.

_Did she know? How long have I been here?_

"Hey, you!" she tried to speak loud enough to be heard by the stranger. "Do you know how long have I been unconscious?"

Silence.

"Do you know who I am? … Damn…" she breathed out, feeling like she was going to pass out at any second.

Before she could ask any more questions (which were probably going to stay unanswered anyway) the door to a place they were locked in burst open and a short, bald man with a black, thick beard walked in, holding a lantern in one hand and a bucket full of water in the other.

He smiled when he saw Elsa awake.

"Hello there, little snowflake." The pirate said with a smile growing on his face, revealing an incomplete row of yellow teeth.

"I'm going to end you… " Elsa murmured in response "… as soon, as I will get out… of here."

While throwing threats at her captor, she noticed the rusty bars surrounding her.

She was sitting on the floor with her back propped against the wooden wall at the back of her cell.

The pirate walked into a cell right next to hers and spilled the content of a bucket he brought with him into an iron tub filled with incandescent coal.

The room was filled with steam within seconds.

"Oh my.. " the man said, completely unfazed.

He left the cell with an empty bucket in his hand and slowly walked across the room.

Elsa glanced at the direction he was heading in and saw another man, with his hands tied together above his head and hung on a hook which was fixed to the ceiling,

his feet were barely touching the ground.

That must have been the other prisoner_._

Now she understood why he didn't wanted to talk.

Spending a lot of time in a position like this was making it difficult to breathe, and the steam was making it even worse for him.

Oh God, maybe he was dead? Maybe he died while she was trying to talk to him. His long auburn hair were hiding his face from her sight, the only other thing she could notice was his thick beard, shorter than the one covering their captor's chin.

The pirate walked over to the man and placed a bucket on his head like it was some sort of a hanger.

"Our little snowflake says that she's goin' to end me. Do you think she can do it from that cell, or maybe I should step closer?" he said and then knocked on a bucket "I always wanted to see some real magic, I bet it's pretty, just like you."

The man growled while turning to Elsa, slowly walking towards her cell.

She held her breath and tried to not look at him, suddenly aware of the fact that she was in a very bad situation and her powers weren't responding.

"Isn't it a little too hot in here? Maybe I should take your clothes off?"

The short pirate pressed his face to the bars and scanned the woman behind them, his eyes wide and shiny, making Elsa uncomfortable.

He was about to say something nasty when a muffled voice cut him in.

"Aren't you afraid of burning this ship with all this coal… and .. heat…? Ugh.."

Murmured the other prisoner, who was seemingly still alive.

"Shut up Hans!" the pirate barked in irritation and turned his attention away from the queen.

"Hans…?" she whispered.

So that's why his voice sounded so familiar, and these auburn hair….

Of all the people she could be locked with in this place ,it had to be this traitor, and she even started to feel sorry for him.

But this wasn't the best time for getting angry about the past, especially since he seemed about to die.

She didn't want to be left completely alone with the crew of this ship, even if Hans wasn't in a better position than her.

There was a voice of intuition telling her, that he could be useful in near future. Maybe they would come up with a plan to escape from here, two heads are better than one after all, even if they were in rather questionable condition.

They heard a voice from outside calling for somebody named Bill. The pirate looked at the door and cursed under his breath, then turned to leave after flashing a glance at Elsa.

He took his lantern with him and shut the door.

They were in the dark again, breathing hot, moist air and trying to stay conscious.

"Are you still alive?" she asked.

He grunted in response and tried to shift his body as though looking for a more comfortable position for hanging on a hook.

"… Has your brilliant, villainous mind… created some sort of… a plan of escape… while it was wandering around the world..? "

"Mm."

"I take it as a 'no'… " she whispered, out of breath.

It was getting more difficult to talk and Elsa started to feel light headed.

"I feel… like I'm going to melt…. ."

She heard a heavy sigh coming from Hans' direction muffled by a bucket that was still placed on his head

And then she drifted off.

The next time she regained her consciousness the waves were furiously throwing the ship in every possible direction, trying to overturn it.

She has been rolling from one corner of her cell to another, trying to catch a hold of the bars and hoping she would be able to summon enough energy to keep her body in one place as the ship, its content, and the crew were tossed around by the raging storm.

In this moment she was glad for being locked behind the grate that was protecting her from various boxes and chests randomly sliding in direction the ship was being turned.

When she finally managed to grab the bars queen's attention switched to Hans, who was dangling on his hook like a sack of potatoes, he wasn't trying to put any resistance against the forces which were throwing his body around, nor was he reacting to random items falling at him.

"Hans! Wake up! HANS!" Elsa yelled, but he wasn't responding.

Clouds of grey fog started to fill the room and she could smell the scent of burning wood.

The incandescent coal have been spilled and one of the walls caught fire.

"Damn those stupid bunch of oafs!" She murmured, feeling the temperature rise rapidly, her eyes were starting to sting.

A few pieces of coal rolled around her, and she tried to avoid them, when the ship was hurled at the side her cell has been located.

A few wooden boxes and a bathtub flew in her direction, the boxes crashed on the bars of her cell but the tub was much bigger and heavier, which made the rusty bars break under the force of an impact.

The heavy tub flew inches past Elsa and hit the wall behind her, breaking several planks, creating a quickly expanding leakage.

She felt panic rise within her as water started filling the floor, partially putting down the fire that had managed to creep up a wall on the other end of the room, and started eating through the ceiling.

The queen grabbed onto rusty bars of her cell and hoisted herself up, hoping she would be able to summon enough energy to walk out of it…. but then what? There was nowhere to run in this storm.

More planks broke under the pressure of waves hitting wildly on the side of the pirate's ship and more water started to pour in.

She knew that only her powers could save her from going down with it, but for some reason she still couldn't summon them.

Elsa managed to drag herself out of her cell through the hole made by the same tub that broke the ship's wall.

She could barely stand, let alone breathe because the room was filled with smoke and steam, the water filled the whole floor up to her knees already and it was only a matter of time before the whole vessel will be ripped apart by the sea.

"Elsa!"

She heard a muffled cry coming from her left.

Hans regained his consciousness and tried to wriggle himself out of the hook he was hanging on.

"Elsa! Untie me!… Hurry!"

"I'm coming!" she called back at him, feeling dizzy.

How did he know she got out?…

No, it doesn't matter, not now.

She summoned as much strength as she could and moved in his direction, still holding onto the bars that extended all the way to the end of the room.

When she finally reached him, she had to grab his shirt with one hand in order to keep herself in standing position, and used the other to slide the bucket off of his head.

"There's a small knife hidden in my right shoe, just by the ankle. Take it out and- !"

Before he managed to finish, the ship was tossed on the side again, making them stumble.

If Elsa wasn't holding onto him, she would have fallen into the water that was already filling half of the floor.

She knew what he wanted her to do; take a knife out and cut the ropes which were binding his wrists, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do it.

She was out of breath, barely holding his shirt and the water level was above her thighs. Besides, she had never, ever tried to go dive.

Gods! She didn't even know how to swim… but she had to try. There was no other option.

She inhaled as much air as she could and slowly lowered herself to her knees, still holding onto Hans' shirt with her right hand Elsa lowered the left one, sliding it down his shin, and trying to keep her nose above the water.

She brushed with her fingertips over the rim of his shoe, took a deep breath, and went down to reach for the knife hidden inside.

After a few seconds Elsa rose up, gasping for air and holding a little blade in her hand.

She was feeling dizzy and the smoke around them made her want to throw up.

Now she had to reach up, and cut the rope.

Great! This was definitely going to make her lose consciousness.

Trying to stand on her tiptoes, she extended her hands above her head, consequently hiding her face in the crook of Hans' neck and trying to find the ties.

If they were in a different situation, he probably would have liked it, but now it was just making him feel uncomfortable, because Elsa was supporting her weight on him while he was barely in condition to support his own.

The queen struggled with cutting the ropes for a few long moments before eventually managing to free him, and they both fell into the water.

Hans summoned the last bit of his strength and, despite the violent rocking of the ship, he managed to help Elsa get up. Hooking one arm around her waist he started to lead her to the stairs at the other end of the room.

All the pirates were on the surface, trying to regain the control over the vessel and struggling with lowering the sails,and he hoped that none of them will bother to check on the prisoners.

He didn't have enough power to fight, not to mention Elsa.

She was holding tightly onto Hans as they were climbing the stairs, wondering how they would survive this storm.

He seemed to have a plan, and much to her dismay, she had to trust him and hope he wouldn't just throw her into the water as revenge for not letting him to take over her kingdom.

He was crazy, after all.

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><p>She still held the small knife which she got from Hans as he was dragging her up, and they almost fell off of the stairs a few times when the ship was hit more fiercly by the waves.<p>

Hans tightened his grip around the queen's waist a few moments before he jumped out of the lower deck pulling Elsa along with him, praying he was be fast enoughto get to a few empty barrels stocked under the staircase that was leading up to half deck, before somebody will notice them in this chaos.

He also hoped, that the water won't wash them off the board when he heard a voice behind him yell something about 'the witch escaping'.

Now they were done.

He's going to get killed and she will be thrown under the deck once again, but the thought didn't stop him from running towards the staircase, while the rain and wind were blurring his vision.

There were more angry yells behind them and, just as he finally reached his target and grabbed onto the railing to steady himself, the ship swayed to the side and a giant wave washed over it, washing off their pursuers.

Hans took the knife from Elsa's hand, brought her to her knees seeing that she wouldn't be able to stand on her own, and made her hold onto the railing on the staircase, he needed both of his hands for this.

Soaked in cold water and shivering he reached to grab the rim of one of the barrels, and cut the rope tying them in order to keep them in place .

The empty containers fell on him, almost making him lose his balance and trip over his own legs, but he managed to stay in a standing position.

He caught a rope with one hand and fell to his knees, with the other he grabbed Elsa's arm, pulled her closer to himself and made her wrap her hands around the barrel next to them.

She had obeyed without even looking at him.

Hans quickly did the same, taking advantage of the slightly decreased rocking of the ship, and wrapping a rope around them and the barrel as tightly as he could without hurting them.

They looked ridiculous, and he wasn't sure if this was going to work but it was the only thing he could come up at the moment. He didn't really have much time for thinking about alternatives, as the only dinghy on the ship was surrounded by pirates struggling to keep their holds on every available rope and plank sticking out of the deck.

"Now what…?" Elsa murmured to him, one side of her face pressed to the wooden surface.

"Take a deep breath, and pray to all gods you know that we come out of this alive." Hans replied with shaking voice, he hoisted them up and stumbled a few steps back.

A bright bolt of lightning tore through the sky and the wind intensified, they heard a loud cracking sound coming from the main mast as it was breaking at the base, but before it collapsed at them another colossal wave fell on the ship, throwing them out into the dark waters below them.

The last thing Elsa saw before they hit the surface was an enormous explosion, ripping the fluyt in half, caused by the ignition of gunpowder, stored in the room above their cells.


	2. You're getting under my skin

Hans slowly started to regain his consciousness, the upper half of his body was laying on something that probably yesterday, served as some part of a ship, just a few planks that still held together... somehow.

He slowly raised his head and brought one hand up in an attempt to rub his eyes, but moving proved to be much too painful at the moment, and he gave up, laying his head down on the planks once more, everything was wet and cold.

Cold...

_Pirates, ship, storm, bucket, woman, 'boooooom'._

_Woman?!_

His head shot up again and he tried to put himself into a sitting position with a groan.

_Elsa._

He turned his head around, searching for her but there was no sight of the Queen anyway near him.

_Did she drown?_

He didn't remember what had happened to them after they were washed off of the ship, perched to a barrel like a pair of sloths.

Fantastic!

All the effort he put into saving her turned out to be pointless, and here he had some hope that maybe she could pardon his previous actions against her and get his family to give him back his royal title for saving her life, or any other title, really.

Anything just to make him something more than a peasant, but now she just... went, and drowned... and ruined everything!

_Again._

As if losing his only hope for making his life worth living once more, he was now stuck on a piece of plank drifting in cold, salty water without food or drink. And completely, utterly alone in the middle of nowhere.

He was sure that with her help they could reach dry land without a problem, but now..?

_Ugh what am I going to do now? Why any plan involving that woman always has to go wrong?!_

The former prince furrowed his eyebrows and tried to come up with best solution to his miserable situation but his mind was clouded by visions of his own slow, and lonely death.

Surely he's going to die from dehydration and nobody will even know about it, or some sea monster will eat him, maybe mermaids will drown him.

_That actually wouldn't be so bad._

He always wanted to see at least one mythical creature in his life, and such end wouldn't be as pathetic as getting completely dried out while laying on some broken scrap of wood.

Hans was splayed on his part of wrecked ship, fantasizing about mermaids, sea monsters and all those amazing things he heard so many tales about when he was a naval officer.

A few hours had passed and a loud splashing sounds made him turn his attention away from his ridiculous thoughts.

He looked up and glanced in direction the sound was coming from.

There she was, vigorously thrashing in the water and trying to reach the barrel she was previously drifting in, but not for long considering the fact that she couldn't swim and she had started to panic, which made it even worse for her.

He once again willed his aching body to move, and started swimming towards Elsa, wondering if saving her for the second time would gain him some extra points from the queen, making it easier to convince her to pardon him.

When he reached her, Hans wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to himself, holding her in a tight hug.

"Thank you..." she breathed out, still gasping for air.

"You're welcome, Your Majesty." he murmured tiredly in response.

He may have been a traitor, but still he grew up surrounded by well mannered royalty and addressing the Queen by her name while they weren't in any way related made him feel uncomfortable.

_They could be well mannered only when it was an absolute necessity though... still better than nothing._

The thought of his brothers made him frown.

Still, being rude to somebody of higher social status was a trait of a peasant and he simply refused to act like one, even when he wasn't a part of royal family anymore.

He was thinking about himself too highly to admit that he was now a part of the group he used to see as the lowest.

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Hans swam back to his drifting scrap of ship and helped Elsa climb onto it. When she had pulled her legs out of the water he placed his hands on the rim of their raft and pushed himself up, dragging his body right next to hers.

They could barely fit there together, his right arm and leg were pushed off of it and nearly half of him was drenched in the water, as if that wasn't enough something was stabbing him in the abdomen.

He moved his hand to examine the object, and to his surprise it turned out to be a door knob.

They were drifting on a door, or at least something, that used to serve as wooden door.

_How ironic._

He thought, and after a second started to wonder if they were laying on their front side, or the back side.

Were they open, or were they closed? He was searching for some sort of a good omen now, if he was laying on the front, that meant everything is going to be all right, but if it's the other side, then, they can say 'goodbye' to the world of living.

He would start panicking at this point but the voice of his companion pulled him back into reality.

"Hans?'

The woman breathed right at the back of his neck which made his whole body go stiff, because right now, in this moment, he was going to see if saving her was going to pay off. Maybe she was going to freeze him, or drown him, or curse at him, maybe she was wondering why he was still alive, or maybe she was scared of him, he tried to decapitate her, manipulated her sister and left her to die alone in their own library after locking the door behind him.

_She's going to kill me._

"Why did you save me?"

Hans closed his eyes and smiled to himself. This was even worse. What is he going to tell her? What reason could he have to save somebody who he had tried to kill 4 months ago, and who he had blamed for his current lack of everything, including his dignity? He should have made up some good answer when he had time, but now it was too late. Obviously, he had to screw up somewhere.

"Because I could." He muttered without even trying to look back at her.

_Nailed it._

"Rude..." Elsa stated while trying to sit up, and the comment seemed to make his body tense again.

She knew that she couldn't trust him, people like Hans always had some ulterior motives and she was going to squeeze the truth out of him as fast, as she could.

The Queen glanced around, her mind processing the area.

They were surrounded by an endless expanse of water, the lack of wind and the grey sky above them made it look like a giant, grim mirror.

Elsa stared at her reflection for a few minutes, her hair was a mess and she seemed paler than usual, tired, starved, hopeless, her head surrounded by dark clouds. The image made her frown and she turned her attention back to Hans, who started to slowly slip off their raft.

"There's not enough space for both of us on this piece of wood." She blurted out.

"Really? What makes you say that?" He replied with voice full of bitterness, his teeth chattering from cold.

She winced and looked back at the open sea, and then at her hands.

_Well, it's worth a try..._

She focused on a clear spot in front of her, gathering as much of her power as she could muster, and used it to sculpt a small ice boat.

The action drained her out of energy, which was quite uncommon because her powers seemed to have no limits no matter how she felt. They tended to go on rampage when she was weakened rather than diminish.

_Weird..._

She hoped that the boat won't sink when she will get in, anatomy of sailing vessels did not possess any place in her spectrum of interests. On the other hand, so wasn't architecture bit she still managed to grow a decent ice castle back on the North Mountain.

_Now I need to get inside. Please let my powers be strong enough to form an ice patch to that damned boat._

Thankfully, the trick of water freezing under her feet worked but as soon as she put her weight on the ice patch she heard a loud crack. When she realized that the frozen surface wasn't as solid as she hoped, the Queen sprinted straight to the boat, and jumped inside without looking back.

As soon, as Elsa regained her balance she heard Hans clear his throat, and turned her gaze to him.

They were staring at each other in silence for a few minutes.

When Hans noticed that she wasn't going to speak up first, he pulled himself fully back onto the door and expectantly raised his eyebrows at her.

"...Well?"

"_Well_ what?" she replied, trying to appear clueless.

She didn't want to be stuck with this traitor, especially when she was alone and with her powers acting weird. It didn't matter if he saved her life, obviously he did it only because she had the power to get them out of this unpleasant situation.

"What _what_?... What are you waiting for?" He sat up and gestured to himself with both of his hands.

"What about me?"

"What _What about you_? You think I'm going to just let you in here?" She pointed at the floor under her feet.

"What?! After all I've done for you!? You can't just leave me like this!"

"Is this your reason for rescuing me then? You knew my powers can save us." Elsa said as her boat started to slowly drift away from the upset man.

"What?-... uh... no... Wait, did you just say 'us'? So you _are_ going to help me after all." Hans said with a satisfied smile.

"Don't change the subject." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Just admit that you did it all only for yourself."

"...or maybe I could simply swim over to you, and invite myself in." He nodded at the boat and Elsa narrowed her gaze.

"If you so much as dip your pinky in the water, I will freeze your nasty bottom along with the rest of it, to that scrap of wood you are sitting on." The Queen growled while shaking her finger at him.

"Can you?" He shot a challenging glare at her. "Kill me, that is, because this is what you're implying right now."

She went still for a moment and her eyes wandered to the side.

_It's not like I wasn't thinking about it before but... _She looked back at him, sitting patiently on his spot and waiting for her to reply.

"It depends on your behaviour." Elsa raised her chin, visibly satisfied with her own words. "If you saved me only in order to save yourself, what guarantee do I have, that you won't try to get rid of me when I'll let you in?"

"Well... I don't want to sound rude Your Majesty, but you said it yourself. You will freeze me." Hans looked her in the eyes again. "To death." He added with a nod, faking a sad expression.

Elsa frowned and looked at her feet, she felt so stupid for using such a flawed logic; especially in front on him.

_Flawed logic huh...?_

"I don't want to sound rude _traitor, _but even if I allowed you to come on board, your hideous backside would still freeze to its surface without any intervention from my part." The Queen smiled at him. "Because it's made of ice. Which is very cold."

Hans slowly turned his gaze away from Elsa's face, and looked at the boat while his mind was processing her words.

He had made another mistake...

Why did he always had to overlook the most important details!? The ones that had the biggest impact on his own well-being!?

He glanced up at her, and then back at the boat again several times, each time his frown grew deeper.

"I- I'm sure I would come up with something."

Elsa watched in amusement as his face grew red, and he scratched his bearded chin while he was trying to come up with some more, or less, acceptable solution.

"Maybe I could just collect some planks and sit on them?" He muttered to himself. "It should be less painful when I won't be making any direct contact..."

When he looked up again he noticed that the distance between him and the boat significantly increased and Elsa was sitting comfortably inside, with her back leaning against the side without taking her eyes off of him.

"Alright... all jokes aside, I'm going in." Hans stated calmly as he started to slip into the water.

"No. You are not." Elsa pushed herself closer to the rim of her boat, preparing herself, to try to prevent him from invading her space.

Once he saw that she's going to make it harder for him, Hans stopped swimming a few feet away from Queen's reach, narrowing his gaze at her; he inhaled a generous amount of air and disappeared under the surface.

Elsa's eyes went wide, she wasn't expecting him to do this sort of thing.

_Where is he getting all this energy from?_

The thought crossed her mind as she was frantically turning her head around, trying to spot him before it was too late.

She heard a small sounds of dripping water behind her, and she could feel through the ice as his hands were sliding up the boat's other side.

_This damn Kraken! I'm going to freeze those tentacles off!_

She dropped her body temperature to the lowest level possible, spun around on her knees, and grabbed his hands, almost freezing them solid. Hans yelped and instinctively pushed himself away from her, pressing his hands to his chest.

"Vicious witch!"

She looked at him in shock.

_How dare he!?This- this..._

"Stubborn ass!"

"Excuse me?!"

"You're not excused, and you will never be! Ever!"

"I wasn't asking for-...ugh! I'm not going to play this game with you, woman."

Hans growled and threw himself straight forward, this time without trying to hide and sneak in again, his patience was at its limits. He gripped firmly the rim of the boat, not caring about how cold it was, and Elsa grabbed his shoulders, trying to push him off.

When he noticed a layer of frost that started to expand from under her palms, he quickly reached up and clasped his arms around her neck, pressing her head to his shoulder, he hoisted one leg up and hooked it on the edge of her makeshift sailing vessel.

Her upper body was dangling outside the boat as she was still trying to push him away and freeze his garments, and Hans was slowly dragging himself inside, using Elsa's own body and his leg as a lever; grunting, growling, hissing and cursing all the time.

He was about to finally get on board when the Queen's knee slipped, which caused them both to fall into the water again.

Elsa squeaked, and before Hans knew it, her limbs were tightly secured around him while her chest was rubbing against his face.

She was shaking, and holding onto him with such force, he found it hard to breathe.

"Look what you have done, Your Majesty..." He huffed into her breasts, with his arms still around her.

"Me?! It's your fault! It's all your fault! You stupid, ugly, excuse of a man!" She started yelling right above his head with trembling voice.

_I'm not ugly..._

Hans thought with a snarl. He truly had enough of her already, and for a few seconds he considered drowning the woman, whom was glued to him like a koala; but decided against it, because he didn't know if the boat would still be there if she died, and he may be needing her powers later.

"Take me with you, or I'm going to let go." He threatened, looking up at her.

"Don't you dare..."

He smiled at her, spreading his arms wide, waving them slowly in the water, and Elsa gasped, and her legs tightened their grip around his upper body.

Her face was now pressed to the tip of his head, and he could feel her jaw clenching, when she started gritting her teeth.

"Let me get on board, I know how to navigate... I will take you back home."

"Never." She hissed into his hair, and the thin layer of ice started to spread on water surface around them.

"I'm just going to dive then."

He stated blankly, and started to lean back, slowly submerging the back of his head in the sea.

"NO! No! Don't! I'll let you in! I will let you stay with me, just don't dive..."

The ice surrounding them slightly thickened, and he could hear her sobbing as he stopped.

"Do you promise to not try, to throw me out, Your Majesty?"

"I-If you p-promise to not hurt me, a-and help me get b-back on land." She stuttered in response, too scared to keep denying him a place on her boat.

"You have my word, but you need to stop doing that." He grumbled in annoyance and, nodded his head at the ice patterns expanding in a circle around their bodies.

Elsa held her breath for a short amount of time, scanning the frozen surface, the sight of it made her feel uneasy; like the thickness of it wasn't fully representing the level of fear she had felt when Hans was about to explore the depths of the sea.

"Are you going to stare at it until the night falls, or are you going to let me get us to your pathetic excuse of a boat?" He asked impatiently, poking one of her breasts with his nose.

The Queen looked down at him with eyes as round, and big as coins, and her face turned a very deep shade of red.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and the ice slowly vaporized into thin air.

After they managed to clamber into the boat, Hans started to fish out every piece of wood passing by; he was placing them around and under himself neatly, in an attempt to minimize any direct contact between his own body, and ice.

Elsa was sitting across him, on the other end of her icy creation, watching the wet planks slowly freeze under his boots.

He felt her stare on his back and peeked at her from behind his shoulder, noticing as her eyes slowly wandered down.

She was looking at him like he was some sort of an idiot doing God knows what.

Intrigued by her expression Hans followed her gaze, and saw the frost creeping on top of his newly made little nest.

His hands fell limply to his sides, and he stood still in silence, staring at slowly freezing wood gathered under his soles, the same wood that was supposed to protect him from sticking to Her Majesty's personal miniature of an iceberg.

He was already trembling from being in the cold water for far too long, the former prince hugged himself and started to rub his forearms; partially from cold, and partially from frustration.

Wasn't it amazing? His inability to overlook those little, very significant details, like the fact, that wet stuff will most likely freeze when it's put in direct contact with a big chunk of ice?

No wonder she was looking at him funny.

He was a cretin, and he managed to prove that to the only person who held the power to change his miserable fate.

Hans turned around and looked at Elsa.

"Could Her Majesty... try to... make the temperature on the boat...maybe... 'jump up' a little?" He muttered through gritted teeth.

If her expression from before wasn't mocking enough, the one she wore now made him feel like the biggest idiot on Earth.

"Are you seriously asking me to make ice less cold?" She asked in disbelief, raising both of her eyebrows.

This was the one of the most ridiculous situation Hans had found himself in, aside from that one time when he fell asleep on the table after having too much wine. The two of his older brothers took this as an opportunity to shave off his sideburns, and then draw them back on with red ink.

Needless to say, he was quite terrified when he saw his face in the mirror after waking up. The entire palace heard his high pitched scream, and a few guards ran into his bathroom with swords in their hands only to see him crying in front of his own reflection, thinking his face was bleeding.

He found the prank quite funny, now that some time had passed, and he felt a smile creeping on his lips.

" What are you so happy about?" He heard the Queen ask with wariness in her voice.

"Oh, nothing... just old memories..."

Elsa squinted her eyes at him, she didn't want to spend with him any more time, again she thought about breaking their promise, freezing him and throwing him back into the water; his presence was making her anxious and uncomfortable but... didn't he say that he could navigate?

Hans sat down and leaned his back on a few planks covering 'his side' of the boat, wincing when he felt the cold eating through them.

"You said that you could take me home." Elsa said while watching as he tried to get comfortable.

"Yes, I did."

"Well?"

"Well.. I can't do that with a sky like this, so we will have to wait until the night falls, and pray there will be no clouds, because I need to be able to see the stars."

He said while looking up and Elsa's gaze followed, they both winced at the sight above them.

The sky was heavily clouded and the chances for it to clear up were very low.

The Queen's stomach growled loudly, reminding her about the lack of meals during the last few days.

She brought her knees up to her chest, propped her forehead on them, and wrapped her arms around her legs loosely.

She was so hungry and tired, and the fact that she was stuck with Hans irritated her more than it should.

There was also this strange feeling, like a wave of electric impulses was sent through her whole body, right under her skin every few minutes. It was unsettling and she felt her chest getting heavy with anxiety at the thought of it.

Hans looked away from her and let out a heavy sigh, he was more used to the lack of food than the woman sitting across him, but still, he couldn't help it when he felt his own hunger growing.

He stared at the sea, resuming his previous train of thoughts about the monsters that possibly dwelled within, and hoping that they were not far away from land.

They both waited for the night to fall.

The rest of the day passed quietly, Hans was only getting up to stretch his legs and unstick himself from the freezing wood from time to time.

Surprisingly, after a few hours, the cold became a little less unbearable, he guessed that he must have simply gotten used to it at some point, but still, his body couldn't stop shivering.

Obviously he won't get out of this situation without at least catching a cold, assuming that he will get out of it at all.

When the sun began to set it was evident the clouds won't stop blocking the view anytime soon.

Elsa shifted her body, so she was leaning on the side of her boat, her hands still wrapped around her knees, and she was slowly dozing off.

Hans, whom had kept his gaze on the sea for the most of the time, now turned his attention back to Elsa.

The Queen was sitting awkwardly across him, with her head propped on the edge of her ice boat, eyes closed, and knees tucked under her chin. She was wearing a white nightgown embroidered with little blue flowers around the hem, décolletage and, slightly torn at the edges, long bell sleeves. During the whole day, he tried to not pay attention to her body, which was distinctly visible through the wet, slowly freezing fabric of her dress, but the fact that she was basically sitting between his spread legs, due to limited space on the boat, wasn't helping at all.

"Are you planning to fall asleep like this?" He pointed at her.

"What do you mean by _like this_?" She whispered with hoarse voice, without even bothering to rise her head.

"Curled in the corner. You spent the whole day in this position, you're going to hurt yourself if you'll stay like this any longer."

Elsa winced in irritation and looked up at the former prince, but her expression quickly changed when she set her eyes on the man.

His figure was illuminated by the orange light of the sun setting behind his back, his calm, green eyes were focused on hers; his semi-long hair now as red and wild, as fire, sprawled around his face, which was cloaked in shadow.

He looked magical.

Elsa stared at him for a few minutes, her round eyes reflecting the last rays of setting sun.

"Is something wrong?"

He asked with genuine voice, and she quickly turned away, he was surprisingly calm during the time they have spent together, and she didn't know how to feel about it.

She expected him to make some offensive remarks about her and ogle at her body while her nightgown

was drying, but that never happened.

Instead of being rude he looked rather tired, cold, and now maybe even a little concerned, but Elsa chose to believe that she's just imagining things. She doesn't want to get too friendly with him, she already knew how deceptive he could be.

"Nothing's wrong." The Queen glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Just, don't talk to me unless I ask you something."

Hans only shook his head and turned his head to the side again, he was already in quite unpleasant situation, there was no need for making it worse.

If she wants to get a gigantic back pain, and sore muscles, then so be it.

After the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon, it was almost impossible for them to see each other in the darkness.

The air became even cooler and Hans prayed to every deity he could think of, for being able to survive in such low temperature, it surprised him that he didn't get hypothermia after spending a long time cold waters.

He kept rubbing his hands, arms, and legs in attempt to keep his blood circulating.

Couldn't Elsa be cursed with some sort of warm, summer-like powers instead? Everything would be a lot easier to cope with if he wasn't trembling and gritting his teeth all the time.

Falling asleep right now wasn't the best idea, but it was getting harder for him to stay conscious. He thought about asking Elsa to help him stay awake, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that she would decline.

_She's probably asleep anyway, it was a tiring day._

Hans tried to think about something pleasant; roasted turkey, a mug of beer, a hot bath, clean clothes, a shave...

_How many hounds did my family own? _

_Is my room still there?_

_I'm so cold..._

Were his last thoughts before he fell into a deep slumber.

Elsa woke up first, she was thirsty, hungry and her body ached in so many places, she was sure the majority of them weren't even listed in the most recently published medical tomes.

The first thing she saw was Hans hugging his legs just as she did before she had dozed off, the queen felt the anger rise within her at the sight of him, but the feeling faded when she realised that he wasn't moving. There should be at least a little movement of the upper part of his body, to indicate that he's breathing.

She had stared at him for a moment, wide eyed, then she outstretched her leg little and poked his arm with her toe.

Nothing.

"Hans? Wake up."

She poked him harder, but again, there was no response.

Now she started to panic, making the water around their boat freeze. Not that she actually cared about this traitor, but the idea of being stuck with a corpse, (especially when there was so little space between them) terrified her.

Slowly she pushed herself closer to the man in front of her and reached out to shake his arm, but before she managed to touch it, he grabbed her wrist.

Squeaking, Elsa quickly pushed herself away in bewilderment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to startle you. "

Instinctively Hans raised his hands in front of him, as he tried to apologize.

"I thought you were dead!" She yelled at him with trembling voice, and the ice blocking the movement of their boat started to thaw.

"Calm down, I'm not dead." He stated calmly, and began to rub his forearms. "Not yet."

"I don't want to drift across the sea alone with a dead body."

Hans was about to reply when a water drop fell straight on the tip of his nose, prompting him to look up.

They sky was still completely covered with grey clouds.

He sighed and looked back at Elsa.

"I think that at this point we should start to pray for it to not turn into another storm."

A dense shower washed over them, in the exact second in which Hans finished the sentence.

Fantastic.

"I think you should give us some kind of a roof." He murmured to his companion.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted at him, still overwhelmed by the thought of him dying while she was sleeping.

"That was just a suggestion."

She growled and took a few deep breaths, then waved her hands above her head, forming an icy shell around them.

"That's better." He said with a sight, and Elsa rested her body against the wall, listening to raindrops hitting against it.

"Now we're stuck inside a drifting ice egg, and it got colder." He added after a few moments of silence, a frown decorating his features.

With a bitter smile Elsa flicked her finger and Hans's part of a roof disappeared.

"Is that supposed to be funny? Because it isn't."

"I'm not in the mood for your stupid comments."

"What?"

She slid her finger down through the air and an ice wall fell between them like a heavy curtain.

"Are you serious? You can't just leave me in the rain! I'm already shivering!"

He banged on an ice block several times, but it didn't even budge.

"Watch me." Replied a muffled voice from the other side.

He started rubbing his forearms again.

_Could this situation get any worse?_

Hans thought while he started to hum a melody to cheer himself up, the one that he heard during a play in the Grand Theatre of the Southern Isles, it was his last visit there before he left for Arendelle.

The rainy weather didn't last long, and when the clouds finally passed, he eagerly greeted the sun with a wide smile. He was drenched in water from head to toe and the front sides his boots started to freeze, but the sunshine at least provided him with some warmth. It wasn't much, but still better than nothing.

No matter how good the presence of sun appeared to be, the feeling of cold, wet shirt sticking to his torso was quite unpleasant, his pants were also making him feel uncomfortable, surprisingly a lot more than yesterday. It was probably because he got used to it while he was drifting unconscious in the water for a long time.

He decided to stand up, stretch and take his shirt off when he heard Elsa's tiny ice room thaw behind him, and she slowly stood up.

"Looks like a Queen has hatched." Hans laughed to himself.

She looked at him, and her eyes went wide when she noticed the lack of shirt. The view made her blush and she quickly turned away.

"W-what are you doing!? Put your shirt on!" She commanded from behind her back.

"I can't, it's wet."

"It was just as wet yesterday and you didn't seem so bothered."

"Well, now it is bothering me, besides it's your fault. You left me in the rain."

Elsa fell silent, and he noticed that she changed her nightgown into a pair of pants and a shirt similar to his own, but hers were made of ice, of course.

Blue and shiny...

_She must have based her clothes on my own. _

He noted in amusement. Only she still wasn't wearing any shoes.

After a few minutes of stretching her sore limbs, the queen sat down.

"So, where was Her Majesty going during such an unpredictable season?"

He looked around, examining the sky.

"Not your business."

The Queen turned away her head and crossed her arms across her chest, but when he didn't sit down Elsa looked back up to him.

"What are you doing?"

He turned back to her

"I'm trying to determine what time is it, and where we could be. Now when the clouds are finally gone, we can take you back to your sister. I will just tell you the directions when the stars will show up and you will do this… 'whisshh!'..." He waved his hands in front of himself, trying to imitate the wind. "...using your powers, and voila! Unless we will find ourselves closer to some other country, we'll see …"

He trailed off and looked back at the sky.

"Don't you need tools and maps to do that?"

"Well... I do, but I know these waters and hopefully I will be able to set our course without them." He replied with a strike of pride on his voice.

After holding his hands in various positions, checking the direction of the wind, scratching his beard, and rubbing his forearms several times to warm up, Hans finally sat down, and announced... that they will still have to wait for the stars to show up, and then, proceeded to stare fiercely at the woman in front of him.

"What!?" Elsa snapped, unable to ignore his gaze.

"My trousers suit you quite well, Your Majesty." He smiled as if his words held some other meaning.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." She felt like he didn't start complimenting her now for no reason.

"Maybe, but my navigating skills on the other hand, can get me wherever I want. Since you wish for me to take us back to Arendelle, or an allied country, whatever, you have to give me something in return."

His smile grew wonder with every word, slowly revealing a row of white teeth.

"I knew it! From the moment I saw you hanging on that forsaken hook, in that old, dirty ship, full of those witless rats, I _knew_! You care only about yourself, and whatever you do, you're doing it to save your own head! And here I was starting to think that you could have at least a grain of decency, and I already gave you a place in my boat." She hissed at him, suddenly angry at the confirmation of her previous worries.

"There's nothing I could gain from decency anymore and the place on this thing is not enough your majesty." He dropped his smile and looked her dead in the eye. "If you refuse to do as I say, I will lead us straight to Weaseltown, and as far as I know, they will not treat you kindly."

"It's Weselton." Elsa growled narrowing her eyes. "Name your price."

"I want you, to write a letter to the king of the Southern Isles, tell him that I saved you, that I helped you get back home, praise me in it as much as you can, tell him that I've changed, ask him to make me a part of royal family again." Hans told her, his eyes shining with hope.

She snorted.

"And what makes you think that once I set foot on my land, I won't turn my back on you without fulfilling our agreement? Just like you did to my sister not long ago." Now it was her turn to smile, satisfied that she appeared to have an upper hand in their bargaining.

"I will tell everybody I meet, every wanderer, soldier, maiden, inside or outside Arendelle, how excellent of a lover is the Queen of the North Mountain. I will tell them in detail how she trembled in the arms of her would-have-been murderer, and former fiance of her sister, of all the ungodly words she was screaming into the sky as they were making love _right on this boat._" He leaned forward with his eyes fixed straight on hers.

She gasped and covered her mouth.

"How dare you! You snake! I will have you executed!" She yelled in fury and smashed her fists on the rims of her boat.

"Ah! Not so fast." He smiled at her again and straightened his back. "You see, there's a reason for me to be still alive, I might not be considered a part of royalty anymore, but I'm still a brother of a king and eleven princes. Once they find out that you ended my life; and they will find out, they always do, they will question you and your motives, and then things may get ugly. Victor doesn't like when somebody else is playing with his toys." He growled out threateningly.

The queen greet her teeth.

"Fine, but until then you will serve me." She pointed her finger at him.

"Deal." He extended his arm and poked her fingertip with his own. "Now all we have to do, is wait for the sun to set again."

Barely an hour has passed since their conversation and his stomach let out a loud howl, making Elsa jump in her seat, but before she managed to say something her own belly started to demand food, as if it was reminded about the lack of it once more.

They both looked down at themselves, and Elsa's face got slightly red.

Awkward.

"We could try fishing, can you make a fishing rod?" He turned his attention back to her.

"I don't think so… I'm not an expert but I know that you can't catch fish on ice." She looked at her hands, since they jumped out of that ship her powers were still feeling weird, like the were dulled by something, crawling back into her instead of poring out. This was very odd and disturbing feeling, and she decided to not use her magic unless she really had to, if this _sickness_ didn't leave until she reached Arendelle, she will have to visit the trolls.

Elsa looked back to Hans only to see him biting on the boat's rim.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to my ship!?"

_God! What is wrong with this man!_

"This is not a ship." Hans detached his face from the ice. "It's a drifting block of frozen water… sweet water." He raised one eyebrow and turned his head slightly to the side, like he was hinting on something.

"If you melt it, you can drink it." He added, and bit on the ice once again.

She sat there wide eyed, it was her ice, she made that ice with her own hands, and he dared to… eat it!?

The Queen didn't know if she should be offended, or amazed by the fact that he came up with such ridiculous idea, and that it actually worked.

Aside from hunger, thirst and fear of dehydration haunted her mind, God knows when was the last time she had a drink.

The other rim attracted her attention and she kept staring at it, torn between wanting to try to melt some ice in her mouth and drink the water, since her powers only allowed her to dematerialize it, and not giving Hans the satisfaction of admitting that he's right, and making a fool of herself in front of him.

A loud crack came from his side, and she saw him sitting back on his place with a chunk of ice between his teeth. He took it in one hand and raised his eyebrow at her.

"What? You want a bite?"

Elsa tensed and shot him a glare.

"That's _my_ ice." She pointed out in slightly offended tone.

"Oh come on!" He threw his arms in the air. "We have to drink something! Do you want to get sick and die?"

"What do you care if I die?!"

"I won't get out of here without you so I think I have to care!"

"Oh such a hero! Thank you for my ice!" She snatched a bitten of piece off of his hand and threw it into the water.

"Why did you do that!? Do you know how much my teeth hurt from biting onto it!?"

"Because I could!" She folded her arms on her chest and turned away from him.

"Why must you be so-! So annoying, and vicious!? I hope my daughter will never become like this!"

"_Me _vic-... what did you say? _You_ have a _daughter_?" She stared at him in shock.

"Uh... no. Not yet. I have to get married first..." He looked at the sea and smiled sheepishly. "But I want to... I would buy her pretty dresses and toys and stuff..." He was sitting there smiling and blushing, and of course, rubbing his forearms again.

His sudden change in mood took her out of guard.

"What? Are you out of your mind?"

_He must be, we haven't eaten in a very long time, and he just had a few drops of water, maybe he's sick. _

"Forget it." He snapped back at her, he didn't even know why he mentioned that, it was probably his weariness showing.

He liked to think that one day he will have his own family, almost everyone back in his kingdom had wives and kids, he felt left out.

The former prince watched for a moment as the sun was nearing the horizon, painting the sky in orange hues. Soon the night will fall and he will be able to find a way to Arendelle and get out of here.

Elsa's voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

"As I can recall, the last time you made an attempt to build a family, you ended up leaving your fiance, and _my sister_, to die, then you tried to kill _me_, and rob me from my crown."

Hans kept staring at the sea, pretending that he wasn't listening.

"Oh, and since you're not a prince anymore, you can't marry out of political reasons, which means you would have to fall in love with somebody, and we both know that you're capable of loving only yourself."

The Queen frowned at him, as she remembered how Anna was clinging to him at the coronation ball, and what he did to them after she ran to the North Mountain. "And even if your ego allows some little space for somebody else in your life, no one is stupid and blind enough to dedicate themselves to you. Not after all these things you've done, and I bet there's no person on earth who already doesn't know about you! News about royalty spreads very fast." She said with venom in her voice.

How dare he talk about wanting family in front of her, she wouldn't even allow him to stand near children.

He stood abruptly making the boat sway and Elsa's body tensed. For a moment she thought that she got on his nerves too much and he'll try to do something to her again, but he merely stretched his arms and back, and turned around.

"What are you doing?" She asked, fearing that he might be hiding another blade somewhere within his trousers.

"Can you turn your head for a second?"

"Not until you tell me what you're doing." The queen demanded, preparing herself for an incoming attack.

He growled in irritation.

"I-am-going-to-_piss_! I need to piss out what little water I was able to drink! Do you understand?! Do I have your blessing!?" He turned around again to face her and grabbed the hem of his pants. "Or maybe you want to see how does it look like huh!? Do you want me to piss on you, your majesty!?"

Elsa squeaked and covered her eyes.

He couldn't take it anymore, to her everything did was wrong, and suspicious, and he didn't have the nerves to deal with her anymore.

"Go, do it you brute!" She yelled and turned away.

"_I_ am a brute?! You keep playing on my nerves as you please, you left me in the rain, thrown away my water, and told me that I don't deserve a family!"

"You tried to kill me, left my sister to die, and forced your way into this boat!" She tore her hands away from her face and glared back at him. "And it was _my _water! Besides how did you think I would act towards you!? With mercy and compassion!? " She snorted and turned away once more.

"At least if you want me to get us out, stop treating me like a piece of shi-!"

"Ship!" Elsa cut him out, pointed in front of her and quickly stood up, making Hans almost fall out of the boat.

He was processing the information for a few seconds with furrowed brows, before his gaze followed her outstretched arm.

There was a ship indeed, and not very far away from them.

She was bouncing happily in her spot while he strained his eyes to make out the appearance of the sailing vessel.

"Wait a minute... this is _my_ ship! MY ship!" Hans putin his hands on his head. "How dare they!? _How dare!?" _He huffed out in rage.

"It doesn't matter! We're saved!" She exclaimed happily and shot a beam of magic into the sky.

He didn't reply, instead the former prince kept glaring at the blurry form in the distance.

After Elsa threw a few more lights above their heads, the ship turned towards them.

* * *

><p>On board stood a familiar figure and glanced through a spyglass at an odd pair waving at him vigorously from a weird, tiny boat.<p>

"Where the hell did they come from?" He asked himself as the distance between them started to grow smaller.


End file.
