Regrets

It was known throughout the land that Princess Anna was getting married. When that day came, people from kingdoms far and wide came to the wedding in Arendelle. Everyone was invited. Well, almost everyone. The kingdom of the Southern Isles was left off the guest list for good intentions. It had been several years since Prince Hans committed the atrocities in Arendelle, but the memory was still just as fresh as yesterday. Even though Hans' father and his brothers understood the reasoning for not being invited, they still couldn't help but feel anger towards the youngest prince. Since he returned to the Southern Isles, Hans' father and his brothers made sure that he paid the price for what he did to Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. The punishment included everything from shoveling horse manure to polishing every suit of armor in the castle. At first, Hans resented his punishment. He was too fixated on how his plans failed. It was all full proof or so he thought. Never had he imagined that Anna would sacrifice herself to save the sister who had shunned her for so many years. But that's exactly what happened. It was the undoing to his plan to seize the throne.

When he first heard that Anna was getting married, he didn't think much of it. He figured it was to that lowly ice harvester that almost punched him on the boat. Thankfully, Anna beat him to that. He had to admit, that she threw one hell of a punch. After that, Hans' thoughts regarding Anna weren't much other than anger at her foiling his plans. She was on the verge of death when he left her, but somehow, she found a way to stop him. This time however, as he watched the many ships sail past the kingdom, heading to Arendelle for her wedding, a different kind of feeling overtook him. For the past several years, Hans spent his time hating Anna, but when he saw the ships on the horizon, he thought about how those ships could have been for him. There was no denying that Anna was head over heels for him at one time. It was all part of her naivety. Hell, that was why he chose her. But he remembered how happy she was the night he met her. The idea of finding a man to spend the rest of her life with was incredibly rewarding to her. And truth be told, even though the whole evening was just a part of his plan to control the kingdom, he had to admit that she looked very pretty. Hans wondered what Anna would do if she saw him today. If he had to venture a guess, she'd probably give him another punch to the face or ask Elsa to freeze him from the inside out. One thing was for sure, she'd never look at him the way she did the day she first met him. Of course, he had only himself to blame for that.

As for the man Anna would be marrying, Kristoff Bjorgmann. He wasn't royalty, but Anna didn't care. He was the love of her life. She wouldn't be marrying him otherwise. Still, the thought came back to him that he was almost in Kristoff's shoes. If it weren't for his ulterior motives, it would be him standing at the altar today, watching Anna walk down the aisle. If he hadn't left her for dead and tried to kill Elsa, he would be the saying "I do" and kissing her. But he did all those things, so it wouldn't happen. Actions had consequences, and his he had to live with for the rest of his life.

When the ships faded from view, Hans sighed to himself. These thoughts were tearing at his heartstrings. Something he thought he never had. In a few hours, Princess Anna would be married to Kristoff Bjorgmann. And he would be here in his kingdom, forever alone and unhappy. Still, he was sorry to miss her wedding day.

A/N: This is a cool idea that came to me today. I'm not sure if Hans truly regrets his actions or not, but I thought this would be an interesting story to write. Rumor has it that he will appear in Frozen 2, but nothing has been confirmed, so take that with a grain of salt. If he does, I wonder what role he'll play. If you liked this story and would like to see a Hans redemption story, I wrote one a few years ago called "Stranded with You."