I'm Afraid of What I'm Risking if I Follow You

Part 12

"I-it was awful," Elsa eked out. "I wouldn't have gone, but Bruni, he..." She shook her head, trying to talk through her sobs. "I didn't even see the memory play out, but... Anna, I think his mother killed the troll who gave her the magic in the first place. Hans's expression was so horrified..."

Despite the fact that she was still damp, Anna hugged her sister tight. "Do you think that helped or hurt Hans?" she asked.

"I-I couldn't ask." Elsa gripped to Anna's cloak. "I haven't talked to him since..." Well. Since she hugged him, now that she thought about it.

"You made quite the scene!" Anna pointed out, pulling back a bit. "Slapping him like that and then storming off."

Elsa laughed, wiping her eyes. "Not as good as that punch... Did Olaf—?"

Anna shook her head. "There was a moment... like the flicker of a candle. He faltered for a bit, but then... everything was back to normal. We somehow just knew you were okay."

So... whatever she'd done had been instantaneous. She thought to Moana, thought to Bruni and the other spirits, who actually cared about what happened to Hans. The change in him had always been there, and she was finally open enough to accept that the greedy prince who'd just wanted Arendelle once he'd gotten a taste of power... he didn't exist anymore. Not when his prison on the Southern Isles and two years on the run had actually gotten through to him, actually drove him from what his mother had tried to instill. He was... more than what he'd been taught to believe.

"I have an idea why he went back to Ahtohallan, but... it's just that: an idea, a feeling," she confessed.

"Elsa, if that's the case, you do need to talk to him," said Anna lowly. "But did you both find what you were looking for, do you think? How to break his curse?"

"I... think so." Saying it out loud, she was starting to realize something, but she wouldn't say it out loud or really think about it until she had some rest, and a clear head. "I saw a few of the nicer memories, the ones that actually helped him get past whatever his mother had tried to instill. Turns out she did want to make an empire using his brothers once he secured the throne in Arendelle. It doesn't make what happened right, but... I understand his desperation, at least."

"I think it's more than that." Anna's voice was still low. "You've been spending so much time with him, that the spirits have also made a bond, too. That's probably why they were so distraught when he froze over. You helped bridge a connection."

Elsa's brow furrowed; she couldn't believe what her sister was suggesting. "Anna, I'm not in love with him," she said, very surely.

"I didn't say that!" Anna declared, putting her hands up defensively. "But I think you like him. Otherwise you wouldn't be so torn up about all of this."

"I'm not torn up!" Elsa exclaimed quickly, probably proving Anna's point.

"Elsa, you have a lot to think about, with what you discovered in Ahtohallan, and what Grandpabbie told you. It's just so much to absorb. Obviously there's something about him that at least intrigues you, and it's not just that he's handsome." Anna shot her a cheeky smile.

Elsa sighed again, crouching by the river. She ran her hands through her damp hair, shaking it out. "I want him to give some indication that he's the cruel prince who left you for dead, but there's nothing he's done to show that. It was a one-time instance. Everything I saw in Ahtohallan suggests someone who's grown past that. But... am I allowed to forgive him for something so terrible?"

Anna kneeled beside her, rubbing her back gently. "I think only you can answer that. And only you know if... whatever you've developed with Hans, is worth exploring."