Fandom: Disney's Frozen (2013)

LGBTQ+ content: None

Warnings: Implied child abuse

Synopsis and extras: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles was not born a power-hungry monster. But the world has eventually taught him that naivety and innocence make one weak. (Otherwise known as Prince Hans's villain origin story.)

Word count: 994

Notes: I wrote this story for a WattpadDisney contest from one of my old accounts. Hope you enjoy it!

With every passing minute, he felt the shards of his broken heart scrape against his hollow chest, making it bleed. It was nothing too new. The wounds will not heal either. He was once foolish enough to grieve over what he will never have, but he will make up for his foolishness. Soon.

He was tired of the chattering beside him, but Hans was not going to ruin this. Not now. He played along, laughed, cracked stupid jokes and laughed again knowing the princess of Arendelle was already in his clutches.

He did feel sorry for her, for he saw a part of himself in her. But she was so pathetically weak. Weaker than he had ever been. And if he had ever learnt anything in the past twenty-three years of his miserable life, it was that the weak never stood a chance.

They were sitting on the balcony, eating krumkake. The night could have been beautiful but he didn't have time to admire it, his eyes were on the princess.

"Okay wait, wait. So, you have how many brothers?" she asked.

"Twelve older brothers." He leaned closer to her. "Three of them pretended I was invisible... literally...for two years." It wasn't a lie. But he held back the fact that he was thankful for the negligence. He had gotten enough attention from the rest of his brothers to scar him for a lifetime.

"That's horrible," she whispered, her voice laced with pity. He had not wanted anyone to pity him.

As time passed, Hans realized that his judgement regarding the princess of Arendelle was correct. She was naïve and gullible, like a child.

Like he had been.

But Hans was not a child now. He had grown up, realized his mistakes and pieced back what remained of his heart. Its surfaces were now stony and sharp, pricking at his wounds, reminding him of his pain and humiliation. Resolving to come to Arendelle, he had thought that there would be nothing for him to lose. But now, with Anna looking up at him with stars in her eyes, he let his initial plans fade away. He felt new plans hatching, the circumstances working in his favour.

Forget Elsa, he told himself, no one will be getting anywhere with her.

Their conversation drifted towards love and Hans's heart was hammering in its cave.

Go with it, he told himself, go with the tide.

When the moment came, he pounced on it.

"Will you marry me?" Hans asked the flushed princess, his own eyes wide and his breathing heavy, his face obviously red, only because of their extemporized dance on the rooftop. He hoped he looked as excited as he sounded.

Anna's yes was expected, and Hans was not surprised in the least. She was so desperate for love, for attention, to be seen. It all seemed too familiar but to Hans, it also seemed as if it was a lifetime ago. As if he was reborn, reforged, with only distant memories and a will of steel to claim what he deserved.

Anna began running to the ballroom, seizing his hand in hers. As he stumbled behind her, he remembered the time he had prepared himself to ask that particular question, years ago.

Lucille, he had been muttering to himself, as he passed the labyrinthian gardens and the elegant stone fountains, you have been the light of my life, my star in the darkest nights. My heart beats for you and only you. I-

He had stopped, abruptly unable to believe the sight before him.

The love of his life was sharing a heated passionate kiss with his elder brother, Jurgen.

He had thought he was dreaming, caught up in a dark nightmare. As he stood there, with unbelieving eyes, they had eventually come to notice him standing there.

"What are you doing here, rat?" Jurgen had spat. "Scram."

He looked at Lucille for an explanation. She had merely smiled at him and leaned against his brother, who gingerly distanced her to get to the dumbstruck prince. Hans had been too slow to avoid the blow of his brother's meaty hand and he had hit the ground with a dull thud. Jurgen kicked him in his exposed stomach.

Lucille had only watched.

By evening, he had been shameless enough to go to her again. He needed her to tell him that it was all just an act, that there was a reason she had done so.

"Why?" That was all he had asked.

She had laughed. "Why not? You are nobody, Hans."

"Please Lucille, why are you doing this?"

"I only wanted to get closer to your brother," she said, irritated by his mere presence. "You are only a hopeless pathetic child."

"But you said you loved me." Hot tears were blurring his vision. The woman before him had been his dream. Her smile alone had made his miserable life bearable, even when his parents and his brothers ignored him completely, and called him weak and pathetic, she had stayed with him.

She turned to him and smiled. "Oh, Hans," she said, "if only there was someone out there who loved you."

Hans forced himself into the present and was aware that they had reached the throne. As Anna introduced him to the new Queen of Arendelle and asked for permission for their marriage, her resolve proved to Hans that his judgement was correct.

The Queen was in his way.

He remembered his mother's words when he was grieving over the loss of his love.

Stop whining and be a man. There are thousands who would kill to be in your place.

Gone were his dreams of a fair angel who would end his misery. He had a new dream; the throne of Arendelle, in all its glory, in front of the ceremonial red tapestry.

This time, he would make his dream come true, for all to see.

If need be, he would kill for it.

I've seen a lot of headcanons explaining that Hans is not actually cruel. I wanted to explore that a bit. Also, the line "Oh Anna.. if only there was someone who loved you" stuck with me. So I thought, what if it was something someone else had told him? Hence, this story.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Leave a comment if you think Hans is not inherently evil. Leave a comment even if you think he is. 😁 Don't forget to leave a vote too, if you think this story is worth one. Have a wonderful day!

Regards,
𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙄𝙀.