A/N
Hello and thank you for clicking into this fic of mine!
Other chapters (other than the ones with the most current update) will not contain A/Ns, but this first chapter will as I find it necessary to kind of give a background/warning for those ready to dive into this multi-chaptered Jelsa fic.
For one, this IS a Jelsa fic (Jack Frost x Elsa), second - it IS a Modern AU, and third - it IS rated M. This is also a Romance/Tragedy, so take heed - things are going to get dark and twisted, so if you're here for a feel good, cutesy Jelsa fic with a shallow plot and one-dimensional characters, then please click out now. I intend to make you think while reading and at the same time, experience a multitude of feelings.
However, if you do like psychological thrillers, action, Jack being a badass bodyguard, with a Jelsa romance that goes deeper than just "liking each other", then please -
feel free to continue reading!
Enjoy the moment.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FIC UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING! EDITED CHAPTERS WILL HAVE AN INDICATION AT THE TOP.
[3.3.2016] - Part II release date
Marionette
Rise of the Guardians x Frozen modern AU multi-fandom crossover
Summary: As Elsa Winters' bodyguard, Jack Frost is bound by his duty to serve her. What starts out as an innocent friendship grows into a passionate romance that neither of them expected. Will Jack be able to put his duties before his feelings? Can he protect her from the darker forces at play...and from himself?
Warnings - WILL contain gore, torture, violence, explicit language, and several "lemon" scenes
Chapter 1 - The Bodyguard
The young girl giggled blissfully as she rolled around in the snow, unaware of the damage she was doing to her delicately sewn cotton dress.
"Young Mistress, please stop that! You'll ruin your clothes!"
Popping her head out from the pile of snow, she giggled happily again when she saw the maid running over to her. "You have to catch me first!" she squealed delightedly, jumping around and creating flurries of snow behind her as she ran with wild abandon.
Exasperated, the middle-aged maid pleaded with the girl to stop. "Your mother and father will get very angry if they see your ruined dress!"
The blond haired girl spun on her toes, her thin braid flying out behind her, and she did a little graceful dance as she continued to evade the maid's clutches. Finally, they both stopped when they heard a voice calling out the young girl's name.
"Elsa? Darling?"
Her blue eyes immediately widened, a playful light sparking within them. "Papa!" she exclaimed, running through the snow covered courtyard of her family's mansion and into the arms of her expectant father.
He chuckled as she nuzzled his shoulder lovingly. "Elsa, you got snow all over you!"
Elsa only giggled happily in response as her father helped brush off some of the excess snow on her shoulders and head. "Isn't it great?" she asked with a toothy grin.
Agdar looked on lovingly down at his daughter and looked over at the maid, who was walking over to them with the most exasperated look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Wendy," he mouthed under his breath, apologetically.
She shook her head, while respectfully bowing her head towards him. "There's no need to apologize, Master. My job is to take care the young mistress after all." She mustered up a weak smile, despite how tired she was from chasing Elsa around for the past half an hour. Quietly, she excused herself to go help the other maids with dinner preparations.
Upon entering the dining room, she sighed dejectedly of which the other maids took notice.
"I assume you had to take care of little Elsa?" one of them asked, laughing softly at Wendy's reaction.
"Yes," she replied, setting down the forks and knives upon the long table. "She's quite the handful, especially when she's playing outside in the snow. I swear, if you told her to sleep outside in it, she would."
One of the younger maids chimed in. "Oh, if I knew, I would have offered to switch jobs with you, Wendy," she said as she eyed the middle-aged woman guiltily.
She waved it off with a kind smile. "It's fine. Even though I've been assigned as Elsa's personal maid by Mistress Idun, I enjoy looking after her personally." Her expression turned solemn as she let her fingers linger upon the utensils. "...It's also because I can't help, but feel like I've failed her as her servant."
The other maid seemed confused as to what Wendy was referring to, when another maid stopped her dinner preparations to ask her, "oh - you were hired just a few months ago. Did no one tell you what happened to the young mistress seven years ago?"
She shook her head, while widening her brown eyes in curiosity. "What happened to her?"
"She was abducted in the middle of the night," Wendy explained somberly. "The master and mistress were in such a panic when they found out that they paid a large sum of money in order to get her back. Us servants were not told much information about the entire ordeal, but it seemed as though Elsa has no memory of the incident since the kidnappers drugged her."
"You can't blame what happened, solely on yourself, Wendy," the young maid reassured. "They sound like brazen, dangerous people. It wasn't like you could fight them off yourself."
"Hm," the middle-aged woman replied with a gentle smile. "I try not to, but after working for the Winters for almost ten years now, I feel attached to them." She tried to change the topic as the maids filed into the kitchen to start bringing out the food. "I heard Master Agdar speak about hiring a new servant - a bodyguard for the young mistress."
"A bodyguard?"
"Yes. It seems as though he had been wanting to hire one ever since the young mistress' kidnapping, but with the birth of Anna and the sudden growth of the corporation after that, Agdar hadn't had the time to do so until now."
"Mama...will Anna be okay soon?" Elsa asked worriedly as she stood by her little sister's bedside. Cradled in a swathe of blankets, the young child did not look too good. Although deep within the realms of sleep, her entire face was a pinkish red from the fever she had.
"She will be, don't worry," Idun smiled down at Elsa, gently pulling her away from the bedside. "The doctor will come back tomorrow to make her all better." She led her daughter out of the bedroom and held her tiny hand as they walked down the hallway.
She sadly dropped her head. "I hope so...Olaf wants Anna to be better soon too."
"Olaf?" Idun laughed softly, "the snowman friend you two play with in the courtyard?"
Elsa's bright blue eyes seemed to twinkle excitedly at the mention of their snowman. "Mhm! He cares a lot about Anna, just like I do!"
"That's very kind of Olaf." Idun listened to her daughter's active imagination as she told her of how she and Anna had many instances where they played out the roles of princesses and pretended that Olaf was their valiant knight. "Maybe you can go tell Papa all about your stories," she coaxed Elsa as they arrived at his study. Idun remembered how her husband, Agdar, wanted to speak to Elsa about a pressing matter regarding her kidnapping. She protested against it, but he was insistent as if he was anxious.
Idun tightly held her daughter's hand and smiled down at her. She knocked on the study's door and she heard Agdar's voice on the other side.
"Come in."
She opened it up, the door slightly squeaking as she did so.
Almost immediately, Elsa sprinted into the room cheerfully. "Papa!" she exclaimed as she ran around the large study desk and hopping into her father's outstretched arms.
"Elsa, honey," Agdar said, returning the young girl's enthusiasm with a grin of his own. He captured her in a tight bear hug, eliciting a bubbly giggle from the young blond haired girl.
"Papa, stop! That tickles!" she said in between laughs.
He chuckled, noticing his wife through his peripheral vision. Agdar turned his head slightly to make eye contact with her and she rather somberly averted her eyes as she took a seat on one of the plush sofas in his study. With a soft clearing of his throat, he set Elsa back on the ground and led her over to Idun. "Is Anna doing alright?" he asked the ten year old.
She nodded enthusiastically in response. "Mhm! Mama said that the doctor's going to make her all better! I hope he does, because it's a little boring to play outside with just me and Olaf," she said, pouting as she took a seat beside her mother on the sofa.
"Olaf?" Agdar said with a gently smile, taking a seat beside his daughter. "You mean that snowman you two always build outside?"
Elsa's face instantly lit up at the mention of her irregularly shaped, snowman creation. "Yeah! He's our knight!"
"Ah, is that so?" he asked, entertained by her ever growing imagination. Agdar met gazes with his wife, who warily glanced at him, wondering when he was going to tell Elsa the important news. His lips turned into a kind smile again as he faced the young girl. "Elsa," he addressed her, "how would you like it if Papa gets you a real knight for your birthday?"
"A real knight?" Her eyes went wide in wonder.
"Yes, a real one. They can help Olaf," he said with a nod, leading her onto the idea.
Elsa clapped her small hands together bashfully. Her entire face lit up in delight as she excitedly returned her father's nod. "Okay!" she responded with a brimming enthusiasm while her mother's gaze fell in a solemn silence behind her.
Her hands that were gently cupped in her lap, tightened around each other at the uneasiness she felt inside of her. Idun briefly locked gazes with Agdar, of which she quickly averted away from, showing her quiet disapproval of his decision.
The maid rushed over to the front door, the lacy hem of her dress flying about behind her wildly. She reached the door and opened it, only to let out a gasp of shock when she saw the man behind the door.
A large burly middle-aged man, standing well over six feet tall, dressed in a dark red overcoat with a luxurious fur trim, stood before her. His grayish blue eyes twinkled kindly as he stared down at the trembling maid. A kind smile wrinkled his face as he spoke with a thick Russian accent, "hello, Miss. This is the Winters' residence, yes? Agdar Winters asked for me to come over."
Still frozen to the spot with shock, the maid stiffly nodded and let the large man into the mansion.
Almost immediately after the man was invited into the warm mansion, he was greeted wholeheartedly by the person he had been called to meet with. "Nicholas!" Agdar exclaimed from the second story balcony. He rushed over to the double staircase and strode over to his friend.
"Agdar!" the man named Nicholas said with vigor. He gave a hearty laugh as the two men shared a solid handshake. "It has been awhile, hasn't it?"
"Try a year," he chuckled, "come - let's go talk more in my study."
The apples of Nicholas' cheeks plumped up as he smiled, thanking the maid that set down a cup of earl grey tea in front of him. He sipped it and sighed contently at the warm liquid going down his throat.
"I'm sorry, I know you prefer coffee with extra milk, but -"
"Ah, no," Nicholas waved his hand, setting down the hot tea on the coffee table. "It is fine, old friend. You worry too much over these small details - like always." He chortled. "So - what is with the urgency?"
Agdar's expression fell as he slowly turned his back against him. He somberly looked out the window, his gaze practically empty as he spoke. "I'm afraid that I've caused something that has gotten out of my control."
Nicholas set his eyes into a hard gaze at his friend. "...What did you do, my friend?"
"I'm afraid that my daughter's kidnapping was only the beginning," he muttered, "they won't stop until they have everything."
"I thought you said took care of it, Agdar," the bearded man inquired suspiciously.
"I thought the same," he replied, "but I'm afraid the threat towards us hasn't gone away. After the kidnapping, my corporation has grown immensely, but at the same time the threat towards my family has grown as well."
"Agdar…"
"You have to understand, Nicholas. I'm eternally grateful for your services in helping to get my daughter back when she was kidnapped, but I'm afraid I'll need to request your services once more."
The Russian man frowned slightly, as if looking at him with disapproval. "I'm afraid none of us can help you if you want to hire us to kill. We are bodyguards, Agdar, not mercenaries or assassins for hire."
"I am aware," the dirty blond haired man replied with a smile. "I'm sorry, Nicholas, I should have worded it better, but I am not asking for that kind of help. I'm asking if you have someone available as a bodyguard for my daughter, Elsa."
Nicholas paused in thought, stroking his wispy graying beard as he did so. "I do have a few - "
" - They need to be young," Agdar cut in, earning him a confused look from his friend. He elaborated, "I'm not comfortable with a grown man watching over my daughter. Not to mention, I would like for them to be a playmate for her at the same time - preferably someone her age. I don't want her to know that they're here as a bodyguard."
"A playmate -" he softly contemplated. "We do have a young boy - almost fourteen, but he is not ready yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Our organization, The Guardians, we strive for the best. That is what our boss, Manny Lunanoff requires of us. This boy that I have...he is not ready yet. He still has much to learn."
"That doesn't matter," Agdar insisted. "Surely he is capable of some duties?"
Nicholas let out a cross between a scoff and a snort. "Of course. He is capable enough to take down men twice as large as him. He is as good as any other bodyguard you can get your daughter, but he just isn't up to our standards yet."
Despite Nicholas' explanations, Agdar insisted that he give this boy a chance. "He can receive training with you on the weekends when Elsa doesn't go out for school. As for his education, I will pay for all of it. He will receive nothing, but the finest."
"Are you sure about this, Agdar?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "It is strange that you're so set on this decision. Why do you want this boy so badly?"
"For my daughter's sake, Nicholas," the caring father sighed, looking out the window and down at the courtyard his study overlooked. He saw Elsa playing in the snow again, building up her Olaf snowman so carefree that it caused a bitter smile to cross Agdar's face. "Yes...for her sake...nothing more."
Elsa saw him briefly when they entered her father's study, as she was on her way to her room. She wondered if she had saw a ghost or if her eyes were playing tricks, but she could have sworn that she saw a boy with stark white hair and looking like the very deity of winter - with pale skin and crystal blue eyes. She had never seen a more beautiful boy, so delicate looking, and she secretly waited around the corner, down the hall, occasionally peering out to see if they were ever going to come out.
She just wanted another look at him out of curiosity. She attended a co-ed private school and although the uniform was orderly, it sadly did not affect any of the boys with their behaviors. They had greasy hair, some already going through the effects of puberty with equally greasy skin. They picked their nose, spat on the ground, and acted like a bunch of baboons - teasing and making fun of all the girls and making it a mission to pull at a girl's braided hair every morning.
"I'll go get her -"
Elsa heard the sound of her father's voice from his study, snapping her out of her thoughts. She quickly popped out from behind the corner just as he called out her name. "Papa?" she asked. approaching him.
"Oh! Elsa," Agdar knelt down, grasping his daughter's narrow shoulders. He smiled brightly and asked, "remember I said I would get you a knight? Well - " Standing up, he moved out of her line of vision so that she could look into the study herself.
There he was - the beautiful boy she had seen earlier. He was pale skinned with equally pale hair, but his dark eyebrows and striking eyes made him stand out in his otherwise - docile appearance.
She shyly glanced up at the large, burly man who stood behind the white haired boy, hesitant on what she should do. Elsa, still awe-struck with the boy's appearance, wondered if she was living within a fairy tale as he smiled at her. He had a gorgeous smile, revealing his perfectly white teeth, and equally gorgeous set of ice blue eyes that creased as an angelic smile illuminated his face.
They were roughly the same height, with him barely an inch taller than her, Elsa noted. She flinched a little when she saw him hold out his hand towards her. Her mind went into a blank and she suddenly forgot how to even shake hands. Her nerves got the best of her and she absolutely hated it.
"My name's Jack Frost. What's yours?" he asked in such a gentlemanly voice for a young boy that it nearly melted her legs into a smooth jelly.
"El - Elsa," she shyly responded back, taking his hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Elsa," he smiled charmingly again, causing her to blush. Elsa felt her heart fluttering inside of her chest whenever he spoke. He sounded like a prince in the animated movies she and Anna loved to watch on the weekends.
With this, Elsa thought it was safe to say that she was the main character in the story, the princess with a charming knight-prince that would protect her. Realizing this, she put up her regal, "princess-like" persona, like whenever she and Anna pretended to be princesses. She straighten up her posture and smiled gracefully.
"I'm pleased to you meet you too, Jack."