Jump Into the Fog

You Can Taste the Pretense in the Air

Jump Into the Fog

Chapter 18

"It's extortionate and I don't care.

You can taste the pretense in the air."

--

If she was being perfectly honest with herself, Anna was completely torn between obeying and defying Kristoff. She would lay awake at night, staring up at the ceiling and contemplating sneaking off to Arendelle again. She could do it this time… After all, he'd only caught her once, out of the many times she'd been down there. And it'd been too easy to sneak away each time. Surely once more couldn't hurt…

But who was she kidding? Of course it could hurt. It could do more than just hurt. She could be killed on this excursion, she knew. And while she was perfectly fine accepting death if it meant she could help save her sister, she wouldn't lay down her life just because she was sneaking into Arendelle in the dead of night.

And, looking over at Kristoff's sleeping form, Anna realized how much her heart yearned to be happy again. How much it wanted Kristoff to be happy as well. She asked so much of him, and he wanted nothing in return except to see the smile on her face.

This, she realized, was true love, where she hurt so much, but at the same time, she felt elated, flying practically. Sure, Kristoff was nowhere near perfect. But he was perfect for Anna, and that was what really mattered.

So when he gave a snore and rolled over, Anna would sigh in defeat and close her eyes. Of course she loved Elsa. But Anna didn't want to see that disappointed look on Kristoff's face ever again.

In the end, the guilt was too much, and Anna knew that, if Hans wanted Elsa dead, he'd have done something by now. By this point, she was sure if Hans asked her to jump off a cliff, she would have blindly done so.

He'd hidden the monster for almost a year now.

And Anna was going to set it free before she slayed it.

--

The decision to slay Hans had always been implanted in her mind. But the more Anna thought about it, the more she started to see that it was the only way Elsa could ever come to her senses. She'd wanted to kill him since she'd woken up a few months ago.

Then, when impure thoughts of seeing her stomach grow, of seeing Hans completely dominate her, that's what threw Anna over the edge. She was a bull, and Hans was made entirely out of red matter.

Destroying him was her only option now, she knew. And she was more than willing to step up to do it. The spell would be broken. Elsa would mourn, Anna was sure, but she would be forgiven one day.

It was for the good of her sister.

"I keep hearing he's pretty good for a King, being dealt with ruling a frozen kingdom and all," Kristoff dismissed with a shrug as he dismounted Sven. Often he'd bring news from Arendelle when he went down to buy supplies or attempt to sell ice.

Scowling at his response, Anna slit her eyes slightly and sheathed one of her blades with a bit more force than necessary. "You don't know what you're talking about," she accused bitterly. "You didn't see him in the shadows. You don't know who he is like I do."

Kristoff held his hands up in self-defense, brows furrowing in worry. "I may not, but if you say all Hans cares about us having his own kingdom and now he has one… well, shouldn't he be trying to show the people this was what he was meant to do?" he pointed out slowly, knowing he was on thin ice here.