Somewhere over the Caspian Sea - Midnight
It was dark and it was cold.
But he wasn't scared at all.
If anything, he felt a bit lonely.
He knew that he had lots of work to do.
It was already late December, after all.
He didn't want to go back though.
At least, not yet.
For once, he wanted to be alone.
Alone, he could dwell in his memories.
There had been a palace made of ice.
And a snowman that could move and talk.
And a queen who made both of these.
8 years ago
Frozen Lake, Burgess, Pennsylvania - Early Morning
It was well over a year since the Guardians defeated Pitch, and the world was relatively peaceful. They saw neither hide nor hair of any Nightmares either. Though they knew that Fear was always around waiting for the chance to strike, they hoped that its King would stay hidden away for a long time.
Outside of his duties, Jack spent many of his days visiting Jamie and his friends when they weren't at school. Sometimes, he would drop by the Warren to play a prank on Bunny, the Workshop to see what new toys North had, the Tooth Palace to chat with Toothiana or Baby Tooth, or the Island to simply check on Sandy.
Everything was going well for Jack Frost, all things considered. The Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun couldn't have been any more content of his non-life than he was then.
It was summer in Pennsylvania though. Temperatures were high and the sun was shining brightly. The surface of the lake he called home was melting but the depths remained frozen solid. In all the years he'd been around, he had never seen the whole lake fully melted, likely because of his constant presence.
Bored out of his mind, he'd been thinking to visit the Himalayas to see if the place could use a flurry or two. It didn't hurt to watch courageous adventurers conquer the peaks either. It was mostly adults who traversed the dangerous trails, especially those of Everest, but their smiles of victory gave Jack a glimpse of the children they had once been. These made him want to try and inject some fun into their lives too.
Having made up his mind, he'd been about to ask the Wind to take him to Nepal when it whispered in his ear. It said that it had an urgent message from Mother Nature. Well, that was something new since she rarely talked to him. Except for when she assigned him territories as she did with other ice spirits, she did not communicate with him that much.
Jack gathered from the message that Mother Nature sensed that something weird was happening over in Norway. Given that was under his jurisdiction, she wanted him to check it out. He was tempted to argue that it was supposed to be summer over there so it would be weird for him to go. He tended to drop temperatures and cause drafts wherever he went, after all. Then again, this was the Queen Mother of Nature he was talking to, so he just bit his tongue and headed out.
Somewhere over a fjord in Norway - Early Morning
The moment Jack arrived in Norway, he really did feel that something was off, though he couldn't put his finger on what it was. His stomach was roiling and his fingers were tingling from the strange energy all around. He found that the odd feeling was especially strong around the fjord he was flying over at the moment.
A cruise ship could be seen a good distance away but apart from that, there weren't any towns around the area. The cliffs looked pretty normal too, so he couldn't figure out what was up with all the weird vibes. It was a typical fjord, just like the many others found in Norway.
Flying down the rock face, he noticed a tiny flower growing from a crack. It looked white from afar but up close it was iridescent like the wings of a butterfly. He'd never seen that kind of flower before and wondered if it was a native species found only in that country. Out of curiosity, he gingerly touched a petal, which felt so soft and so fragile. It didn't freeze under his touch so he hoped it would be strong enough to live through the next winter.
"Ready the anchor!"
Jack swung around in surprise only to find a massive ship a few meters behind him.
His mind drew a blank before it finally settled on one question, "when did that happen?"
The vessel he was currently gaping at looked nothing like the cruise ship he had seen a few minutes earlier. Plus, that had been headed away from him and not towards him, making it impossible to have reached him within the short span of time that he hadn't been looking.
Taking a closer look at the ship sailing right past him, he realized that it had a wooden hull and was powered by the wind. It looked different from the welded steel ships he'd seen around the coasts of America and was closer in design to the pirate ships in Sophie's story books. Many sailors were running around the deck untying knots, pulling ropes, and basically shouting at each other in nautical terms Jack had no idea about. That made him lose interest in their conversations altogether.
Turning away from the unexpected ship, he saw that there were now several others on the bay. There were almost a dozen of them, and they all had these big sails. Most of them were way ahead of the ships passing by him now.
Flying high above to see where they came from or where they were going, what caught his eye was a town on the coast. High walls, turrets, towers-it looked like it just popped right out of a fairytale. Seriously, all it lacked was a dragon terrorizing the village and kidnapping a princess. It looked too fantastical, unlike the urban centers Jack had explored in recent years. Was it one of those impossibly well-preserved historic sites where tourists flocked to?
Whatever the case, it hadn't been there earlier when he was inspecting the fjord, he was pretty sure of that.
Before he could call himself crazy or an amnesiac, he zipped into the quaint town. From his perch atop the clock tower, he saw that it was full of people wearing traditional costumes. Even the street vendors were garbed in fancy folk garments, and as were the children. Perhaps they were celebrating a special tradition. Either way, they were excitedly heading into the castle built on the water.
Following the flow of the crowd, he floated into the palace courtyard. And it was there that his jaw promptly met the ground.
What the flurries was this?
A pair of fountains was frozen into giant ice sculptures of angels. Meanwhile, the whole breadth of the wide open space was decorated with icicles, sunflowers, and floating snowflakes glinting in the sunlight. And none of the great numbers of people gathered there were even surprised that this was happening in the middle of summer.
How was this even possible?
General Winter, Frau Holle, and minor ice spirits didn't have artistic skills of this caliber. Well, yeah, he could pull something like this off, but he swore he had nothing to do with it this time.
Suddenly, the bell tower rang and the crowd began to settle down. It seemed that, in his distraction, Jack hadn't noticed that all the ships on the bay had safely anchored and everyone on them had already shuffled into the courtyard when the bell rang.
A soft murmur passed across the crowd, and a little girl smiled up at Jack. He crouched down to her level and softly asked her what was going on.
"Princess Anna is getting married today!"
Wow, so he was gatecrashing a wedding. Good job, Jack. It didn't look like the couple would mind though, considering that it looked like everyone in town was there to celebrate.
He gave the little girl a soft pat on the head and stalked towards the castle building. Whoever created this icy masterpiece was likely inside and he just had to know who it was. That person was likely the source of the weird vibes he and Mother Nature felt in the air. The faster he could figure things out, the faster he could get back to visiting the Himalayas.
Finding an open window, he slowly floated inside. The ceremony was already well underway and he didn't want to let in a draft with his entrance. He slinked to a corner of the room to observe, though what he saw were mostly ladies in classy ball gowns and guys wearing shirts with tassels on their shoulders.
The groom was a blonde guy with broad shoulders, and the bride (or the Princess Anna he'd heard about) was a brunette with a charming smile. Seemed like a good match.
As the minister droned on and the couple exchanged their wedding vows, Jack caught a glimpse of a woman standing near the front. She had platinum blonde hair that looked almost white, but that wasn't what caught his attention. No, it was her dress. It was in the same shade of blue as his hoodie, and it was embedded with tiny ice crystals.
He could only see the back of her but he knew that this was the person he was looking for. She was the one who created the icicles and snowflakes outside, he was sure of it.
The crowd inside the building started clapping their hands and shouting their congratulations. The ceremony had finally ended, it seemed. The couple, with their wide smiles and blushing cheeks, thanked the attendees and everyone proceeded to walk outside.
Jack lost the woman in the crowd but found her again only moments later in the courtyard. From behind her, he could see that people were bowing to her which he thought was weird before he realized that there was a crown on her head.
"Queen Elsa!"
Everybody greeted her, which meant that everybody could see her. That took out the possibility that she was a spirit like him. Unless all of these people believed in her like how children believed in the Guardians and made them visible. Jack figured that he would find out soon enough when he got to talk to her.
When the people turned their attention to the newly wedded couple, Jack took the chance to circle the queen and approach her from the front. He didn't want to surprise her in case she was able to see him. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel provoked and prompt her to attack him. He really didn't want to get into a fight with another ice spirit right now, what with such a huge crowd around.
What he didn't expect, though, was getting his breath taken away when he finally saw her face.
Over the years, Jack had seen his fair share of beautiful women from many parts of the globe. But she...she...she...!
For the first time in centuries, Jack thought he felt a live heart beating inside his chest as the world suddenly seemed to move in slow motion.
Author's Note: I'm planning to make this into a multi-chapter story but I'm not sure if you guys like it. Should I go for it?