Note: Hi guys, welcome to this fic! This is a Jelsa fanfiction, (I'm obsessed, not denying it) so this is a romance but with plenty of other stuff going on too! There's going to be swearing and more adult themes though, so if you're under fifteen you might want to be careful. Anyway, this takes place the December after Elsa has become Queen and Jack a Guardian (I'm not respecting the timeline at all) and I really hope you like it. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Alliance

Elsa looked out of the library window, and sighed. It was the start of December, which meant that Arendelle's landscape was covered in brilliant white snow. Even inside the library, with a roaring fire in the grate not far from the comfortable armchair she sat in, it was freezing.

But the cold had never bothered her, and the library was the only place in the whole castle empty of anyone. Everywhere else was a whirlwind of servants preparing for their guests.

She turned back to the book she was reading, and though her eyes skimmed over the letters, the words didn't wash over her as they usually did. She slammed the book shut, frustrated. Even her books couldn't distract her of the situation.

It had been a few months now since she'd come back to being queen alongside Anna, and she'd quickly understood that even without her powers, her reign would have been complicated. She had discovered that she was the only woman to reign Arendelle alone since… well, ever. Princesses had always been married off, so that a husband would reign for them. And the regents that had watched over the kingdom had a similar idea for Elsa's future. No matter how hard she tried to govern, they would always send her back to helping the preparations for Anna and Kristoff's wedding, or some other thing that wouldn't at all benefit the inhabitants of Arendelle. They never informed her of important decisions, and when she tried to make some, she was vetoed by the whole cabinet- though her ideas weren't so bad.

But the worst of it had been yesterday, when she'd stepped into the council room, doing a meeting that they had, again, "forgotten" to mention to her, and they'd all suddenly stopped talking.

"I'd like to know what's going on here." she'd said angrily, as the council members looked hesitantly towards one another. After a long and awkward pause, they'd finally admitted that they were forging an alliance- an alliance, without even talking to her about it beforehand- with the Southern Isles. She had gaped at them. The same Southern Isles that had sent Prince Hans over- who had tried to kill her sister and her. She hadn't had any other explanation than that; she had been ushered out of the room and ordered (yeah, ordered) to supervise the preparations. For the guests were arriving today, Prince Hans' brothers and their parents.

Great.

At least Hans wouldn't be there, having been banished and forbidden to ever step in her kingdom again, she thought grimly.

She stood up and started pacing. Her kingdom had slipped out of her grasp, only because she was a woman, considered too- she bristled as the words the Council had used to describe her- emotional and not capable of making rational decisions. The incident at her coronation had proved that.

What was worse was, she was completely alone. Anna and Kristoff had been gone for over a month now, traveling the world after Anna had been locked up in the castle for all these years.

Because of Elsa, she reminded herself.

The temperature of the room had dropped, and a hint of ice was spreading across the walls. She crossed her arms, shivering, just as a knock sounded on the door.

"Your Majesty?" said a timid, feminine voice. A young girl, with elbow length blonde hair and large blue eyes entered slowly. She was dressed in the servants' uniform.

"Yes?" she said, approaching the girl and trying to muster a kind smile.

"Your guests are here."

"Already?"

The girl didn't respond, merely ducking her head.

"Fine. I'm coming." Elsa muttered, and passed the girl still frozen in the door frame. She crossed the long corridor and reached the marble staircase. She saw- with horror- that the princes were already inside the castle, being greeted by the council members. She gritted her teeth.

Typical.

They'd sent the servant girl too late, and now she would seem like a disrespectful figurehead, a young queen not even capable of being diplomatic; let alone lead a kingdom.

Guards caught sight of her and bowed, trumpets sounding.

"Her Majesty, Queen Elsa of Arendelle." sounded a valet's voice as she descended the staircase in her most regal manner. She shot a murderous look at the councilmen, who didn't seem impressed.

"Queen Elsa." clucked the man in front of her. His hair was white and his face wrinkled. He wore a dark red coat and a golden crown sat on his head.

The King, then.

He sank into a bow and grabbed her hand, kissing it. She forced down the flinch that his touch provoked and tried to curtsy as graciously as she could.

"Such an honor to finally meet the famous queen. Let me personally apologize for the diplomatic incident last summer, and express my enthusiasm for this new alliance."

Diplomatic incident. That's one way to put it.

She forced a smile.

"The honor is mine, your Majesty. I trust you'll be comfortable during your stay here." Her gaze wandered behind the King. There was a small lady, who looked half the King's age and, she counted, twelve princes; all tall with a shock of red hair. She would have found them unbelievingly handsome if she hadn't been so wary of them. They nodded at her, and she smiled back. She didn't miss their hungry looks as their eyes wandered over her body, pausing at her hips and breasts.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer," she said, eager to part ways with them, for now at least. "You will be led to your rooms and properly settled down. I look forward to seeing you at dinner tonight."

Before any of them could object, she turned around, her dress swishing at her feet.

...

Jack Frost yelled as the wind ushered him in every direction. You'd think that after a few centuries of flying on the wind's back- literally- he would be more in control, but the truth was, the winds at the Pole were so conflicted and violent, that he was sure that one day, North's yetis would scrape his body off an iceberg.

He could dimly see the northern lights as a torrent of snowflakes snapped around him. He sped forward towards the fortress, navigating through the infernal winds, snowflakes swishing away from him with a single thought. At last his naked feet sank into the cold snow, and he raised his fist to knock on the gigantic oak doors. They swung open, yetis behind.

"Hi Phil," Jack said, passing them. The yeti grunted, watching him menacingly as if to say don't try anything… or else. He chuckled, shaking his head.

As he walked towards the huge suspended globe, covered by the lights representing children, he could hear North and Bunny arguing. "Make it quick, North, I have to go back to the barren."

"Easter's been over for ages, Bunny come off it."

"So?! We have to practice painting the eggs."

"I wouldn't have summoned you all here, twenty days before Christmas if it wasn't important."

"You've had all year to prepare!" snapped Bunny.

"Hi guys." he muttered as he emerged into the room, but no one payed him any attention, except Sandy who waved brightly, before turning his attention back to the argument.

"I hope this isn't about your belly," smirked Bunny.

"Well-" North started, sheepishly as Bunny gaped at him.

"You can't be serious. Please be joking. I am begging you-"

"I'm going to side with the Kangaroo on that one," said Jack as they both turned to look at him, both with an intent to murder in their eyes. "Sorry," he said rolling his eyes. "Geez, can't a guy joke around here?"

"Not if the guy in question thinks calling me a Kangaroo is a good joke," snarled Bunny.

"So," a feminine voice wafted out of the air, as Tooth emerged from the corner where she had been giving orders to her fairies. "Why are we here?" North turned his back on Bunny, and faced Sandy, Tooth and Jack.

"Have any of you heard of a kingdom named the Southern Isles?"

"Vaguely." said Jack. All kingdoms that had the word 'South' in them weren't worth visiting, except to provoke an unexplainable blizzard. But since he'd become a Guardian, which was barely more than a few months ago, he hadn't had time to wreak havoc anywhere. Though he planned on changing that… sometime soon.

"Since the incident with Pitch-"

"Are you talking about the small, insignificant incident where Pitch nearly wiped out all of you?"

"I think he is." muttered Bunny. North didn't like to talk about how close they had been to lose to Pitch, which would have resulted in many broken childhoods.

"Anyway," North said loudly before Jack could continue, "since Pitch nearly killed us all, though putting it that way seems a little dramatic to me-"

"Sounds accurate to me," muttered Jack. North continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"-I've sent my elves around the globe to hide under children's bed, just to check that Pitch wouldn't try anything."

"You sent the elves?! I am so reassured for the children's safety now." Jack said disbelievingly, ignoring the insulted look a small red elf threw his way.

"Don't underestimate their talents as spies, Jack, and I couldn't spare anything better. So, as I was saying before being interrupted for the third time-" he shot a dark look towards Jack, "- the elves have been looking out for anything suspicious. And it seems that nightmares have increased in this area- children have been waking up crying and screaming, calling for their parents…"

"North, children have had nightmares since before Pitch, it happens." Bunny interjected.

"Listen, the increase of nightmare is just happening in that area, which is suspicious, no? And haven't you been listening; they've been waking up screaming. And I don't care what you say, but that's definitely not normal."

Bunny seemed skeptical, and Jack couldn't blame him. In the months following Pitch's defeat, North had become a bit paranoid; hiding elves in kids' rooms was only a start. He had enhanced the security around the fortress that was his workshop: training the yetis for battle (as if they needed it) and speculating where Pitch could- or would- strike next. Jack hadn't taking this too seriously- but even he had to admit that North's story was strange.

"It can't hurt to check," he said, cutting Bunny's retort. "If it is Pitch, then we'll be fixed about North's belly. If it isn't, then it'll be a false alarm, and a false alarm is better than Pitch coming back full force."

"Well said, Jack. So, who's going to go?" asked Tooth. Jack looked around the room. Tooth and Sandy, who worked every night were out of the question. It was no use asking North to go twenty days before Christmas, and anyway his sled wasn't exactly inconspicuous, and nobody dared ask Bunny to go.

"Fine," he sighed, resigned. "I'll go. But if this is a false alarm, I'm retiring."

"What happened to 'a false alarm is better than Pitch coming back full force'?" sneered Bunny. Jack didn't bother answering and only smiled deviously, as his feet took off from the ground.