Summary: Elsa tries to save the life of an injured and incapacitated Jack Frost.

There was a storm coming.

That summer evening was clouding over quickly and the sky churned black and brooding, so Elsa hurried. Dinner preparations would be ready within the hour and Anna was no where to be found. Servants had last seen the princess heading towards the fruit orchards.

Honestly.

Her sister could be such a child sometimes climbing trees at her age, Elsa thought to herself as she entered the fruit orchards outside the castle's courtyard. When she did finally find her sister hanging in a tree, Elsa was not amused.

To be perfectly correct, Elsa found Anna dangling at the top of one of the tallest tree in the orchard, clinging to a branch with all her might.

"Anna!" Elsa called. "The Royal Council will be dining with us later tonight. Come down here!"

"Wait," Anna told her, eyes fixated on something on the ground which Elsa could not see from where she stood but Elsa could see that her sister was trying to reach for something. "Hang on."

The wind was picking up and Elsa shook her head. It was going to rain soon. "Really, Anna. Must you act like such a child..."

"No, really," Anna insisted. "I've almost got this..."

Eventually Elsa watched as a Anna snagged her elbow around a bent, wooden staff. She then proceeded to descend the tree, ensuring that she took the easiest, safest route down considering her arms were occupied with this staff she now held.

Anna jumped down the last branch and held the staff out proudly for Elsa to see. It was a shepherd's crook. Curiously Elsa glided her hand across the length of it. It was cold as ice.

"You'll never believe this," Anna began. "This staff just fell out of the sky while I was out here. Pretty wild, huh?"

Elsa stayed quiet and when Anna looked at her, she realized Elsa was looking right back with a gaze that was completely unfathomable. It was almost as if she was in pain from trying to conceal her distress.

Before Anna could ask her what was wrong, Elsa rounded on her feet. She scanned the orchard for any signs of a white-haired boy she had once known as a young girl.

Jack Frost.

Long ago, Elsa had encountered Jack. Every winter the boy would visit and Elsa recalled how she would look forward to it. They would play games in the snow together. Have snowball fights. Sledding. Ice skating.

Then the day after Anna had been accidentally sideswiped in the head by Elsa's touch of ice, all that fun had come to an abrupt end and it was only a matter of time before Jack Frost stopped visiting her entirely.

But Elsa never forgot those memories. Or this staff he always carried with him.

"Do you remember Jack Frost?" Else suddenly asked her sister.

Anna made a face. "That imaginary friend of yours?"

"He wasn't!" Elsa insisted, blushing furiously at the thought of having an imaginary friend. "You never believed but..." And then more quietly, "He was real."

Anna quickly put together what Elsa was trying to say. "And you think this—," she shook the staff that remained in her hands. "Was his?"

It was definitely his staff.

Elsa nodded. She would recognize it anywhere. He never went anywhere without it. Elsa fastened her eyes around the staff. She looked uncertain for a moment, the faintest touch of fear clenching her jaw.

Something very terrible had happened.

Jack stepped forward, placing one foot in front of the other. He took another tottering step and nearly collapsed when his foot could no longer support his weight.

"Come on," he rasped to himself, struggling to hold himself upright on one knee. He rose onto his feet.

In hindsight, taking on the King of Nightmares alone had not been the smartest idea but Jack didn't see any other option at the time. He refused to remain a bystander any longer while Pitch continued to harass a lost child wandering in the woods, feasting on his fears.

Jack intervened. He created a very controlled and very intense blizzard to circle around Pitch long enough for Jack to safely guide the child back to nearby kingdom of Arendelle and out of danger.

And Pitch had been absolutely furious with him.

Then it happened.

One moment Jack had been riding the winds through the mountains of Arendelle. The next, the darkness had knocked the air from out of his lungs. The attack had blind-sided him. It zapped his strength and by luck alone when he dropped out of the sky, he had landed on soft ground.

In his disorienting fall, the staff slipped from his hand and out of reach so when he did hit solid ground, he struck it at full impact.

Jack didn't recall much of the actual fall itself. Only that when he finally woke up, he lay there for moment, not quite remembering why he was there. He eventually took a deep breath and pulled himself onto his hands and knees, finally managing to stagger to his feet again.

Jack was exhausted from the effort of trudging forward. He bowed his head and felt as something wet dripped from his brow and splatter against the ground.

He turned his head toward the skies to see that the storm which had been brewing overhead had finally begun to spill with rain. Rain continued to drip down his face and when Jack wiped it away with the back of his hand, he frowned.

This wasn't good. He was out of his element and much too vulnerable out here.

He had to find his staff.

Jack took a short breath, then another. He focused on an apple hanging by the nearest tree that grew near him. Deep breaths hurt too much so he made short, erratic gasps. It was getting strangely harder to breath.

The apple blurred in dizzying circles and Jack closed his eyes. It was not for long because he collapsed to the ground completely. He was still awake when he heard his name being called.

"Jack?"

Jack was struck by the strained and frantic tone of the woman's voice. He was confused for a moment, not understanding who he was seeing when he forced his eyes open. All around it was raining and the skies were darkening.

The young woman standing over him had traces of snow encrusted in her braided hair. Her eyes were a startling shade of ice and it did not take that long for Jack to recognize who she was.

Elsa.

How she had grown since the last time Jack had last seen her as a young girl.

The woman looked over him, pale as snow - which admittedly, really wasn't that odd considering her unique abilities. She looked over Jack, then glanced down at herself quickly before returning her eyes to Jack.

"Jack Frost?" she asked quietly, seeming unsure if he recognized her. "It's...Elsa."

Jack was flat on his back. He tried to sit up a little so that he could get a better look at Elsa who was currently leaning over him. He felt sick being without his staff this long. Really sick. Mortal fear flooded him. Jack swallowed hard, his stomach twisting at the sudden agony of his aching body.

His eyes flashed to meet hers. "Hey," he said, being unable to think clearly of anything better to say.

Elsa continued to rove her eyes over him as if searching for any signs of injury. He seemed in pain and yet, there was no visible injuries which Elsa could see.

"Are you hurt?" Elsa kneeled down now to get a better look. She tried to keep her tone as even as she could.

Jack closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to ignore the world that was spinning around him. It was getting hard to continue thinking clearly.

Elsa was quiet now and Jack was relieved for the momentary silence. His head was pounding and there was a sharp, throbbing pain in the back of his head. He must have hit it pretty hard when he had hit the ground.

The cold rain that fell over him felt numb on his bare skin.

It startled him when he suddenly felt Elsa tuck her hand under his shoulder, trying to lift him off the ground.

"Come inside," Elsa told him but her attempt to move him caused Jack to dig his fingers into the dirt spread under them and gasp in pain.

The ragged gasp that tore from Jack's throat sent an icy dagger into Elsa's own stomach at the realization that he was without a doubt hurt.

When she saw Jack's eyes slip closed again, she turned her head towards the open air. "Anna!" she tried calling her sister's name whom she thought was still in the apple orchards, but she must have already returned to the castle to change her clothes to something more formal before dinner that night. "ANNA!"

Jack's eyes opened again quickly and he took another pained gasp. Elsa immediately turned her eyes back towards the boy whom she was helpless to comfort.

Around her the wind howled and the rain had completely soaked through her clothes. She shivered not from the cold but from fear or not knowing what to do but she refused to leave Jack alone like this.

"ANNA!" she hollered again for her sister.

Jack's eyes finally flashed to meet hers and he found the strength to reach over and grab Elsa's face with one hand. "Elsa," he said tiredly. "Relax."

Her eyes immediately turned to meet his.

"No, Jack. No!" she tried to explain to him frantically. Anna. Anna had his staff! "You don't understand."

"I just need a moment to catch my breath," he told her. "Relax."

Elsa looked lost for a moment, then her gaze sharpened as if she had just been reminded that she was the Queen of Arendelle. She blinked and turned away from Jack's hand, feeling utterly embarrassed that she had been caught in the embrace of panic.

Elsa took a deep breath and fell silent, but she still had her eyes on Jack whose eyes slipped close. He must have kept them shut a little longer than he had planned because when Elsa spoke again, he jumped.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again," she told him but she could not ignore the chilling way the edges of Jacks clothes began to fray at the seams. It was as if he was falling apart before her eyes. Her brows creased in concern.

It took Jack a moment for him to fully understand what Elsa was trying to say. "What?"

"When we were younger," Elsa continued, focusing only on keeping Jack awake now. She continued to talk to him if only to keep him from closing his eyes again. It would only be a matter of time before Anna came back for her. She had to. "Don't you remember all the games we used to play in the snow? Remember when..."

An odd smile pulled at his lips as Jack listened to Elsa recount the story of when the two of them had been ice skating together in the frozen foyer insider her family's castle back when her parents were still alive. So she did remember.

The bland smile Jack wore quickly disappeared. Another wave of nausea hit him and it was worse than the last.

The pain he felt was increasing and now he swore his hearing was going off kilter too. Elsa sounded very far away and Jack lurched forward, not wanting to be left alone. Suddenly his hand was surrounded gently by something warm and firm, and he glanced down to see Elsa's pale, elegant fingers wrapped around his.

"I won't be gone long," Elsa assured him, unable to continue watching Jack struggle to hold on like this. "But if you can just hang on a little while, I'll be right back. I have to find my sister."

There was little reaction from Jack, which worried her. His eyes were open but barely focused on her. She shuddered as she held onto his gaze, seeing the pain, exhaustion and underlying fear that laid behind them.

"Wait for me," Elsa told him and she wished her voice wasn't shaking so much but after a beat of silence, she rose to her feet and turned her gaze toward the castle, racing along the path leading to it. Her feet pounded against the ground, splashing mud on her dress.

Before turning the corner out of the orchard, she cast a quick glance back at Jack.

Her heart nearly stopped and she froze, refusing to take her eyes off the dark man that suddenly appeared.

Towering nearby and looming with sick fascination over a defenseless Jack was the Bogeyman.

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