I got a lot of requests for this fic after a comment I posted on a JElsa picture about a headcanon of mine. :3 Enjoy. *I disclaim, I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Frozen*
TotalGamer98 presents to you;
Imaginary Friends
Children pretend so much, some more than others. Little girls pretend to be princesses, and little boys pretend to be their knights in shining armor. Occasionally I could see them from my window, before I began closing the curtains. The small boys would trot around on pretend horses while the girls would picture themselves as damsels in distress. I could never understand why they wanted my lifestyle, because I hated it. If I was a normal village girl, I could seclude myself much easier. But no, I was a princess, and one day I would be queen. One day I'd have to emerge from my room and meet the world. I wasn't looking forward to it.
So, after cutting myself off from the world because of my powers, I began to pretend as well. I would imagine, in my head, that I was a little village girl, and this was my little village room, smaller than my closet. But it didn't help much; I was still alone. I realized that almost nothing changed when I tried to picture myself somewhere else, so I gave up. That was when I began reading.
Books were so different than life; they allowed me to fall into someone else's shoes and feel their joy, their pain, and their love. And it was in a book that I first heard of him.
"Jack Frost," I whispered to myself, running my fingers over his picture in the book. He looked strange to me, resembling a flying blue gnome who brought the ice patterns to your windows. That was how that one book interpreted him, anyway. I wanted to know more about him, honestly hoping he looked different, but after hours of scouring every book on my bookshelf, I discovered no other mention of Jack Frost.
Next time Father visited me, I asked that he find whatever books he could on Jack Frost and bring them to me. I wanted to know what he truly looked like, but more importantly, I wanted to know how he dealt with his powers if he truly did bring the frost. Did he have friends? How did he avoid hurting people? With my childish imagination, I truly believed he was real and could help me with my powers.
Father brought me books on Jack Frost whenever he found them. He would also tell me about whatever he heard from the villagers regarding the boy I came to call "The Ice Prince".
"They say he brings the snow on Christmas, and if you get a lot of snow when it's supposed to be warm outside, it means he likes your village," Father smiled at me one night as he tucked me in. "He loves to see children playing in the snow, and helps them learn to sled."
I smiled as I yawned. "He seems nice," I murmured tiredly. "Do you think he can help me with my powers if he's like me?"
Father chuckled a little. "If I ever meet Jack Frost, then I'll be sure to tell him to come and talk to you," He kissed my forehead gently before blowing out the candle and stepping out the door. I curled into my covers, dreaming of playing in the snow with a tall, white-haired boy with beautiful blue eyes like mine. And I believed in him with all my heart.
I woke up in the middle of that night to hear the wind howling. I sat up blearily, looking over at my window and walking over to it to close it. I had no idea how it had opened; perhaps it was the wind, but I was too tired to care. After blinking my eyes a few times, my sleep-filled vision cleared, and I distinguished the shape crouching on my window seat from the night outside. He wore a brown cloak with the hood pulled over his face, dark trousers, and in his free hand he held a long, hooked staff. He looked like he was drawing, making beautiful patterns on my open windowpane by only brushing his finger across it. My eyes widened as I stepped forward. Was this really him?
He seemed very engrossed in his work, putting so much into my particular window. After a while, however, he seemed to feel eyes on him and turned to look down at me. His face was still shadowed, but I noticed his ice-blue eyes. He watched more for a moment, then turned back to his work, mumbling something incoherent. I tilted my head in confusion.
"What did you say?" I asked him.
He chuckled sadly. "I said, why don't you quit staring out your window and close it, you obviously can't see me…" Suddenly the blue-eyed boy stopped. He whipped around to me, and I could tell his eyes were wide. "You… Did you hear me?" He asked in wonder.
I nodded. We both stared at each other in equal awe for a moment, before I spoke up once again.
"Are you really Jack Frost?"
The boy cautiously stepped from my window, coming to stand in front of me. He had bare feet, but he didn't look cold at all. Looking down at me with those amazing blue eyes, he removed his hood.
I found myself giggling slightly. His snow-white hair was a complete mess, but somehow it was perfect. He just seemed right; everything about him did. He was so much taller than me, so he slowly knelt down to look me in the eye. "Can you see me?" He whispered quietly. I didn't reply, or even nod, but did the strangest thing that surprised us both.
Slowly reaching my childish hands out, I felt his hair.
He didn't say a word, and simply let me run my small fingers through the white mass. It was so soft; like new fallen snow. I loved it. I stopped after a moment, pulling back to simply look in his eyes again. He looked so shocked, and I was about to utter an apology, but then he began laughing.
"I guess that answers that question!" He grinned at me, displaying perfectly white teeth. Was everything about this boy like the snow?
I found myself smiling. "So you're really Jack Frost?"
He smiled back at me. "Really and truly. But no one's ever talked to me before."
The smile drained from my face. So he couldn't help me. He's been isolated too.
He frowned at me. "Hey, what's with the long face?" He murmured, putting a hand under my chin and bringing my downcast face up to his. "I don't want to see anyone cry while I'm around, understand? No crying," He smiled gently. "So what's wrong?"
I sniffed. "I thought you could help me," I murmured, pulling my sleeve over my eyes to wipe away the salty tears. "I thought you might be able to tell me how to use my powers while interacting with people," I couldn't wipe away the tears quickly enough; they were coming faster now. "I don't know how to deal with being alone anymore!"
I found myself falling into the arms of a boy I had just met, throwing my arms around his shoulders and crying to him. I felt his arms hold me as well, and it soothed me. I wanted to stay in those arms forever, no matter how cold they were.
"What's your name?" He asked softly, soothingly. I tried to hold my sobs long enough to answer him.
"E… Elsa…" I cried.
"Well then, Elsa," He pulled me around to face him, and tried to wipe the tears from my eyes with his fingers. Instead, they turned into tiny ice crystals, but he didn't seem to notice. "Looks like we've both been alone for a long time. But don't worry," He smiled gently. "We have each other now."
We learned a lot about each other that night. We began talking, and I told him about my powers once I had calmed down.
"It's always been there," I murmured, demonstrating my abilities as snow gently began to fall from the ceiling while we both sat in the window seat. "The trolls say I'm special; that the magic chose me. But I hurt my sister with it, and so I wouldn't hurt her again, I haven't left this room in a long time."
Jack was silent as he watched the snowfall. "At least you have a sister," He spoke. "I don't know where I came from. I just remember waking up one night in a frozen pond, and the moon told me I was Jack Frost."
I looked at him quizzically. "The moon?"
He nodded. "I know he did. And then I saw that I had powers, too," He murmured as he caused a sheet of ice to coat the floor. "But… People can't see me. Often they pass right through me," He smiled sadly. I liked that smile; whether he was joyful or lonely, it never seemed to leave his face. "You're the first person to be able to see me, Elsa. Wonder why that is."
I thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't know, really," It was my turn to smile at him. "I just know that I wanted a friend. Someone to talk to, who would help me with my powers. But really, I think I just wanted someone who could understand me. I believe you can do that for me," I told him. "I believe in you with all my heart, Jack."
Jack proceeded to visit me every night. I felt my loneliness fading away, melting like snow in the warm rays of friendship. We'd play in the snow we created together, and I began to believe my powers could be used like his; to bring joy, laughter, and fun. And sometimes we'd just talk. We'd talk about things as simple as what we had for breakfast, or anything interesting we had done that day, and he'd tell me about what was happening in the outside world. For while the world couldn't see him, he could see it all, and he could travel the Earth in minutes with his power to fly as the wind. He told me of the beautiful buildings in Russia, and of the tall mountains in Asia. He made sculptures with the snow, and I felt like I was right up in the sky with him, looking down at all the tiny castles and forests. It was wonderful.
I must have been fifteen when I finally noticed it. He had come through my window as he did every night, and I took note that he was exactly the same as he had been when he began visiting me. That had been nearly seven years ago, and I had aged. He had not.
"Something wrong, Elsa?" The white-haired boy asked me.
I tried to think of a way to describe what I had just discovered. "Well, Jack… Um… Well, my sixteenth birthday's coming up," I began. "So… How old are you?"
Jack was silent, as if the question had caught him off-guard. "I… Don't really know," He replied slowly. "I've been this way for as long as I can remember. Ever since I woke up in the lake."
I sat down on my bed, watching my hands instead of him now. "Well, I'm getting older," I murmured, "But you're staying the same. Does that mean that," I looked up at him once again, my expression forlorn. "You'll outlive me? That I'll die someday, and you'll stay like you are forever?"
Jack looked startled. "I never thought about that," He murmured, beginning to look panicked. He walked over to me, sitting down next to me. "You know, I hope not," He said after a while. "I don't want to live forever. I'd trade my powers to grow old with you," He reached over slowly and took my hand.
I found unfamiliar warmth creeping across my face at his touch. Was I blushing? I began to smile, and turned to face him. "And I would trade my powers to live forever with you," I told him. I meant every word. And then his cold lips met mine for the first time.
It became a habit for us; every night there would be a kiss hello and a kiss goodbye. They were sweet, innocent kisses that proved to each of us how much we cared for and understood each other.
But then there was that day. The day I watched my parent's boat leave sadly, and prayed for their safe return. My prayers were to be denied.
The night after the news of the shipwreck, Jack came to my window as always. But unlike before, I wasn't waiting in the window seat. He seemed confused when he stepped in, and I quickly turned away. I was buried in the sheets of my bed, and I knew I was a wreck. I pulled the covers over my face, and I heard him chuckle.
"Oh, so you're hiding today?" His cheerful voice was unwelcome in my pit of despair.
"Yes," I snapped. "So get out."
I was so harsh to him, and I wanted to regret it. But I didn't; I just wanted to be alone.
Jack's voice came again, quieter and more serious. "Elsa," He said softly, gently. "What's wrong?" I heard his footsteps coming nearer and felt the pressure on the mattress when he sat down.
I pulled the covers off my face and turned to face him. My nose and eyes must have been red from crying, because he instantly looked concerned. "Elsa, talk to me," He said. "I can help."
I shook my head. "No. No, you can't. You can't help because you can't understand."
He frowned. "Please just talk to me. I'll understand," He said again. I suddenly lost my temper at him, emotions overflowing.
"NO!" I shouted. "No, you won't understand! You don't have a family!" I was shaking as tears burned my eyes again. "My parents DIED, Jack! Mother and Father are DEAD!" I screamed before I buried my face in my pillow. I felt as if I was acting like a child, but I didn't care. I knew Anna wouldn't hear my yelling; she would already be asleep, and she had become a heavy sleeper.
Jack didn't move for a while, and I ignored him entirely as I sobbed. When I looked up after a while, he was gone. I hadn't noticed him leave, but suddenly I realized how much I wanted him by my side, and I began sobbing harder.
The next day was when the doubts arose. Slowly, I began to wonder if I had dreamed up Jack Frost one night in my childhood loneliness, and if I thought about him so much that he continued to become more real to me. Was he simply an imaginative comfort that I continued to believe in, a Prince Charming I had conjured up to keep me company?
I couldn't play with imaginary friends anymore. I was to be crowned Queen soon as a result of my parents' death, and I must be mature.
That night I waited for him. I sat up in my bed and waited for him to come, but I didn't believe he would. Not anymore. Jack was all that was left of my childhood games of playing pretend, and I had let that fantasy go.
He didn't come that night, or any night after.
He never joined me in my palace of ice.
He never flew out of the sky to save me from my dark cell.
He never even joined me when I was returned to my home and accepted by my kingdom.
However, during the first snow of winter, as I drifted to sleep, I saw the frost stretching across my window in what appeared to gentle, hand-carved patterns. But, as I always did, I dismissed it as imagination.
Jack Frost, no matter how much I wished it, would never be real.
The night Elsa could no longer see me, I felt as if my heart split into a thousand shards.
I had come through her window as always, talking to her and asking is she was better now. But she didn't reply, simply continuing to stare at the window behind me. I walked up to her, asking her what was wrong and trying to share our kiss hello. Instead, to my horror, my body passed right through hers.
I think I cried. I could see her crying too, as if she wanted to see me, but had no hope of doing so. That night my snow princess left me, and was replaced by a cold queen.
I was always by Elsa's side. I watched over her, wanting to help her when I saw what her powers had gotten her into. I could only watch, however, as she was put through so much despair.
When she finally began to use her powers as I did, to bring smiles to the faces of her people, I hope she thought of me. I was so proud of her.
I drew on her window during the first frost of that winter, wishing my queen the best of luck. But I didn't return to bring the frost again and simply let nature, and Elsa, bring winter to Arendelle from then on. It hurt too much to see her getting older, when I knew I would stay young forever.
Occasionally I wonder if I dreamed up the princess; a child just like me who would understand my loneliness. It seemed too good to be true sometimes. Maybe I was so desperate for companionship that my imagination ran away from me. But I discovered that I don't really care.
Even if Elsa was just an imaginary friend, I will never forget her.
