She hadn't seen him in a while. Three days to be exact. Or was it three months? She lost track when the days entered triple digits.
Anna had been pleading for her to eat more, claiming with justified concern that a nibble or two of bread and a glass of water was not enough to sustain a young woman. Especially when that young woman would proceed to hack up the minimal content of her stomach within the same hour of consuming the food.
But this was normal. She was fine. She wasn't okay or anything remotely close, but she was physically fine. The only issue was that she wasn't functioning. She didn't lose control of her powers or freeze anything. In fact, her powers seemed to have disappeared just as he did. She stopped using her powers when she no longer had him at arms reach. And she blamed this loss on the world.
It was supposed to be a simple mission: save an elderly lady from a burning building, or was it rescue a lion from a tall tree. Was it the other way around? Well, it didn't matter since Jack could have made a cage of ice, or a ladder of ice, or something, anything, out of ice because he was just that amazing and she regrets for not having told him enough times how amazing he was. What was the point of having powers if you don't get to have them to save those close to you. With that reasoning, Elsa had no reason to have powers. Her body agreed. It had been a year since she froze anything. It has been a year and a half since she talked to anyone.
Missing. That was the excuse that everyone who was too lazy to actually look for him said. He just up and vanished into thin air. Sure, he may have ridden on air, but he did not become it. What part of that was difficult to comprehend?
The only thing they could agree on was that he never came back that night, and she never got the chance to tell him she loved him as more than just a partner in crimefighting. Their jobs entailed danger. Heck, their jobs needed danger, otherwise, they would not be needed themselves. Superheroes were society's scapegoats after all and Jack was proof of it. But they were supposed to rise above the norm and thrive. And she can't thrive without him.
She tried looking for him. She really did. He just never wanted to be found.
Until now.
He was right in front of her. She could see the distinct straight contours of his face, the pale shadows of his skin, the long eyelashes that could cause a hurricane if only he tried. All this was right before her, and all she had to do was hold out her hand to prove to the others. the nonbelievers, that he was fine. And he didn't resist. It meant he agreed with her, right? The only problem was that he did not welcome it either.
Elsa pouted, seeing that he did not respond the way she wanted him to. He looked as if something was holding him back. Although that surely could not be the case, as he was free to move in his black suit. But that was the thing, he wasn't moving. It was probably because of the cramped box he was in, but he looked comfortable enough. At least he didn't look uncomfortable.
"Welcome back, Jack," Elsa whispered the first welcome, a warm smile on her face that never reached her eyes.
The mourners turned to look at her as if she was an apparition herself.
"Won't you show me your eyes, Jack?" Her lip trembled.
"They were always the prettiest shade of cobalt." A tear.
"If not your eyes, won't you, at least, say my name? Have I wounded you to the point where you can no longer call out to me? J-jack?" The only response she got was a literal cold shoulder.
"You know you're unnaturally cold, Jack? You know that don't you?" A mutinous whimper.
"I would warm you up, but it doesn't look like the others would appreciate me removing you from your bed. You should rest. That's what you need. A good nap." Elsa began to stroke the stray hairs that remained unkempt.
"When you're all rested you can go back to being the fun-loving idiot I know and love." At this point, Anna had stepped out from the crowd to place a wary hand on Elsa's shoulder.
"Elsa, I don't think Jack is going to repl-"
"Of course, he will!" Elsa shrugs off Anna with a growl.
"He always replies! Al-always! Then he'll follow up with his signature smirk. He smirks at everything I say, remember?" She starts to laugh uncontrollably. "Even when it's cringe-worthy, he'll laugh and he'll know exactly what I need to hear even when I don't. He knows. He's just tired right now." Elsa turned her attention back to the sleeping man. "Right, Jack?"
Glassy eyes glance expectantly at the motionless body. Tired of having waited for two years, tired of being called crazy, tired of waiting for Jack to respond, Elsa finally took the initiative for once.
"I'll warm you up," Elsa says breathlessly as she steps up to the body in the box and pressed her lips onto his cold, icy ones. It was their first kiss, and neither of them will even remember it.
"I missed you, so, so much." She crumbles.