Prologue: An Encounter
Bernard could count the number of times he'd been this angry on one hand.
There was the pocket watch thing—that had gotten him really upset. There was the time the Toy Santa sentenced him to house arrest, that was a really angry time. There was that ice storm fourteen hundred or so years ago that knocked out Santa's connection with the magical world just before the seasonal Council, with no way to contact Mother Nature to see what had happened. That wouldn't have been too upsetting, if it wasn't for the fact that the Santa at the time had sent Bernard to take a look first hand, earning its place as one of the top three things that had gotten him this angry the moment Bernard saw the damage.
But this? This situation took the cake.
Normally, it would be fine; had he been at the Workshop, he probably could have easily stopped it. But he hadn't been. He had been on a well-needed vacation de-stressing after two very, well, traumatic Christmases had taken a toll on both him and Elle, his partner in every sense of the word. Everything had been fine prior to leaving, though! They had waited until after the first week of December and had been ahead of quota, set for the arrival of baby Claus, and this season looked like it would go off without a hitch. That's really why they had decided to go on that vacation (and also really, really needing it).
But then they had left Curtis in charge.
"Don't worry! Elle and I have it all worked out. Curtis can take care of things up here while the two of you take care of yourselves."
"I'm sorry Santa, did you say Curtis? Really?!"
"C'mon, give the kid a break. This is a chance for him to make up for, you know…"
"Being Curtis?"
"I was trying to phrase it delicately, Bernard but…yes, I guess so."
Santa had assured him that it would be fine, and Elle thought so too, so off the two had gone with everything set for a good holiday season. Bernard wanted to say that it had been a stupid idea, but he couldn't. He and Elle had really needed the vacation. It had been working wonders on their stress levels and they had been enjoying themselves a lot! It had been nice to just be with each other.
But then they got the news.
Santa's family had come up, which was fine. Carol's parents had come too, which was…less fine. But they had taken measures to prevent the couple from finding out about the North Pole being, well, the North Pole. And on top of that, Jack Frost had been at the Pole too! Staying in Elfsburg for "community service". Apparently, the Legend had once again messed with the balance of nature and tried to promote "Frostmas" for the billionth time. But Santa had been very willing to let the winter legend have a second chance. Except this was like, the third or fourth or tenth second chance he had given the man!
And now, Bernard's enjoyable vacation with Elle had been cut short and he had to (regrettably) get back to work. Why? Well, because about an hour ago, a message from Judy had arrived, telling them what had happened after their last update.
Somehow, Jack had managed to become Santa.
Everyone knew it had happened, but couldn't remember it. According to Judy, it hadn't been pleasant since they were all shaken up about it despite not even remembering what had happened.
Not even Bernard remembered. Had he even been there?
Steering himself away from that existential train of thought, he stopped his angry march and thought of where he wanted to go. He pictured the outskirts of the city, just by the Dome, before disappearing in a shower of golden sparks. He reappeared right where he had pictured, the Dome's brilliant colours dancing and the city lit up in the distance. He marched towards the path down, needing some time to compose himself still, passing the drifts and the hills and the snowman—
That made him stop. The snowman? Nobody came out here to build snowmen.
He turned back around and glared at the snowman, looking at the buttons and the blue coal eyes—aha. Gotchya, he thought.
"Hiding out Frost, huh?"
"No no no wait—!"
It was too late. Bernard had already sent a small blast of golden sparks towards the snowman when it spoke; he recognized the voice just a little too late. Powdered snow and gold sparks flew about, the twigs flying off into the wind as a person was thrown into the snow. A shower of fluffy white dust lifted up as she fell down.
"—wrong Frost."
"Jacqueline?"
"Yes…"
Bernard rushed over the drifts (losing his footing a couple of times), making his way to Jacqueline who sat in the pile of snow that had once served as her snowman disguise, holding her head and looking a little disoriented. He grabbed her pale hand and helped her up, the sprite brushing off her white dress and shoving her brown hair behind her.
"Sorry about that, kid. You should've said something!"
"I did! But also, you looked a little angry and I wasn't sure how well you would react to a snowman suddenly yelling hey B-Man, wait up!"
Bernard looked thoughtful. "Probably the same way. Sorry."
She waved away the apology. "It's fine," she replied, busying herself with dusting the snow off of her dress.
"What're you doing all the way out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, you know. Aren't you and Elle supposed to be on vacation?"
"We were."
It was silent for a moment, neither of the fae moving. Bernard hadn't expected to run into anyone on the outskirts of Elfsburg, and of all the people and magi-beings that he could've run into, Jacqueline was not at all who he had expected. At least, not this specific winter sprite. If the white dress and thawed hair were anything to go by, not to mention her demeanour today and how disoriented she looked, Bernard figured she had heard about what had happened.
"I guess you heard about what happened?" she asked, before Bernard could.
"Jack Frost froze Laura and Neil and locked them in a cupboard with their daughter, Lucy, who's probably more than a little scarred for life now, and tricked Santa into using the Escape Clause in order to steal the coat from him which, apparently, worked. Judy's letter didn't say much about that particular bit of info. Apparently, nobody remembers the timeline, but they're all shaken up by it."
"That's not surprising. It wasn't a pleasant one."
"You remember?"
A nod. "Jack Frost became Santa. So someone had to become Jack Frost."
"That would fall on your shoulders, wouldn't it?"
"It is technically my job." She sighed. "I still had—have my connection with him, which is why I still remember the full thing, I think. It was exhausting. And worse, nobody believed me when I told them that he wasn't supposed to be Santa!" She said, throwing her hands up. "They all thought I was insane. You…you don't remember?"
If Bernard had thought she looked disoriented before, she looked absolutely distraught now. "No. Sorry, Jacqueline. I don't recall it at all. But I hope I believed you. And that you came to me to tell me about it."
She smiled. "You did."
There was another brief silence, Bernard feeling bad for his friend but also remembering that he had business to attend to. "Sorry to cut this short Jacqueline. You know I love chatting with you, but I've got a huge mess to clean up, an Elf to reprimand, and who knows what else fell apart while we were gone that I'll have to get sorted after what Frost did! No offence, seeing you is always nice." He threw the last sentence over his shoulder, resuming his march down.
"None taken. You're always politer than most people I talk to."
"I think that's called friendship," Bernard said. That got a laugh from the sprite. He stopped in his tracks, turning back around. "Why are you here, though? Sorry if that came off as rude. That and my small rant," he added, as an afterthought. Jacqueline had enough issues, and today especially seemed like an off day for her. She didn't need an angry friend on top of that.
She waved it off. "Don't…don't worry about it, B-Man." She took a few steps forward, seeming to collect her thoughts before stopping beside Bernard and continuing. "I woke up this morning looking like this," she said, gesturing to her white dress and brown hair. "I was feeling much more tropical than usual as well. The hair usually thaws every night anyway, but my clothes never do. On top of that, those tropical feelings weren't mine. I assumed that they were…that it was Jack." The sprite paused and looked away, taking a deep breath. "Bernard," she began, looking right at him now, "This is going to sound completely crazy but…I think something thawed him."
"Thawed him? Really?"
"I have it on good authority B-Man, trust me."
"But I thought it couldn't be done."
"Or so the stories say. I couldn't believe it myself, really. I thought it was crazy. So I decided to come see for myself but…"
"Confidence ran dry?"
A nod. "I'm not ready to face a thawed Jack. Not so soon after Frostmas, and not at all after the Day of Darkness, even after all this time."
Bernard felt the anger rearing up again. The Day of Darkness. One of the three (well, four things including the current situation) that had gotten him really, really angry. That day, Jack had started a huge ice storm in the magical continent that blocked out the afternoon sun and threw the continent into darkness for nearly a week. It had a double meaning for those who knew, though. It was also the day Jack left his family home, and left his family…broken.
"Do you think you can do me a favour?" Jacqueline asked.
Bernard shifted his weight from one foot to another, and tilted his head. He had time to listen.
"Could you tell me? Tell me if…it's true? If I'm right? Tell me if…if Jack really has thawed. Tell me what happened, when you find out. Please."
Bernard softened. "Of course, kid. That's the easiest of the stuff I have to do now," he added, smiling when his friend laughed. He had always watched out for her, and lately he found that she had been returning the favour and watching out for him. It was the least he could do for the kid.
"Thank you, Bernard!"
"Of course," he replied, slightly thrown off from the hug she had attacked him with. "Don't worry about it."
They broke off the hug, Bernard properly starting on his way down. "I'll see you soon, I expect."
Jacqueline nodded, watching as he headed down the hill and disappeared in a shower of gold sparks. "See you soon," she whispered. If what she suspected was true…and Bernard really did confirm her suspicions…well.
Things would change, though she couldn't even begin to fathom how.
With a deep breath, weary of the thousands of things that could possibly happen (assuming she was right about…about Jack), Jacqueline turned on her heel and in a brilliant burst of snowflakes and blue sparks, was gone, nothing but a pile of snow with two forlorn sticks telling of her presence there that day.
A/N-I cannot BEGIN to tell you how many times I have edited this prologue, holy. Anywho, here it is! The final new version of it and the start of this lovely ficlet of mine!
Crystal Springs has been in the works since the moment I saw the third movie twelve years ago! It took me a solid 6 to 7 years to properly shape Jacqueline, link all my plot points together, and finalize everything in this story. I'm still finding new things about it six years later, can you believe it? I love this story to death and I love hearing what you lovely people reading it have to say about it. Please leave a review throughout the story! Feedback, pointers, and constructive criticism are all welcome! Or even just your favourite parts! Things you liked! Educated guesses about what just happened! Let's book club this sleet, friends! I especially like those reviews!
Also, ANs before or after the chapter? I'm curious on what the preference is.
STORY DISCLAIMER
I do not own The Santa Clause movies, nor do I own any of the characters from the movies used within this work. I am making no profit off of this story, it sis purely for the enjoyment of myself and my lovely readers.
I also do not own the character Ellington "Elle" Connelly. She belongs to shittyelfwriter, formerly etiquette-faux-pas, my friend Ana, who has happily let me use Elle within this fanwork and any other ones pertaining to or related to Crystal Springs. I have promised to return her relatively unharmed, and owe Ana my biggest thanks ever for letting me use Elle!
I did come up with Crystal Springs, the Legate Law, the Legates (Dite, Xander, and Myles, whom are the ones mentioned by name within Crystal Springs), the Frost Family (Blaise, Winter, Fino, Fiera, and Jacqueline), and the Baddie of the fic. Any resemblance they bare to any real person, place, or thing is purely coincidental. The views characters express within the work are not necessarily the views of the reader.
The lore is drawn from a ton of mythology and fairy tales, which are more or less common domain. As such, if anyone would like to use Jacqueline, or Crystal Springs, or any of the Legates or concepts related to Crystal Springs the continent, I would very much appreciate a PM asking first. Seriously, please ask permission first before using them in a story! Though if anyone ever considers fanart, please just throw it directly at me I will absolutely die!
Finally, I am aware that disclaimers are seen as a very old concept in the world of fanfiction, and that this disclaimer wouldn't stop Disney or the directors of The Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3 from suing me, but I've been around since disclaimers were a regular old thing with fanfic and I am a creature of habit. Thankfully, this huge wall of text is the only one you will encounter throughout the fic!