Elsa was young when she saw him for the first time. She remembered everything about that night: Anna waking her up, playing in the snow, accidentally striking her baby sister with her magic, and going to visit the trolls. Everything was engrained into her memory, every detail. As soon as the trolls had taken Anna's memory, Elsa had moved out of their shared room and into one of her own. Exhausted from traveling through the woods all night, she had fallen onto the unfamiliar bed and slipped into sleep almost immediately, tears freezing on her cheeks.
The next morning, she watched from her window as the majority of the staff made their ways from the castle, and the gates had been shut. Even as a child, Elsa had recognized the horrible significance of those gates closing for the first time in the history of Arendelle. She had done it. It was her fault that the maids, cooks, and other keepers of the castles had been dismissed so suddenly; it was her fault that the gates were being closed.
"I'm sorry," she'd whispered, her fingers brushing the windowpane. Ice spiraled out from her fingertips, frosting the glass, and Elsa pulled her hand back with a shudder.
Days went by, then weeks, and months, and Elsa never left her room. She was too afraid, paralyzed by guilt. Meals were delivered to her, left by the door when she didn't answer, which she never did. Anna kept trying when the remaining cooking staff gave up, asking her to play, but Elsa was too scared to answer the door. Anna didn't know that her big sister had almost killed her, leaving a pale streak in her otherwise vibrant hair, and hopefully she never would. But Elsa wasn't willing to take that chance, so she kept the door closed.
"Elsa?" her father called through the heavy door one day, breaking the solitude. "Darling, are you awake?"
"Yes, Papa," she'd replied.
"The staff is gone," he said, kneeling before her, but not too close. "You'll be safe here, but only if you stay hidden. You understand?" Elsa nodded, too sad and numb to do much else. "Your…gift is dangerous. To you, to everyone around you. You have to keep it contained. Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Papa."
"And remember, you cannot tell your sister about your powers. She can't know, lest her injury represent itself." Elsa nodded again, another horrible shudder travelling through her. "Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know."
"Well, he's a bundle of laughs, isn't he?" a voice said when her father had left – and locked the door behind him. Elsa had almost jumped out of her skin, her blue eyes going wide when she turned to see a figure hanging from the chandelier. A tall, thin, white-haired someone. Elsa clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming as the boy swung down and landed in front of her, a wide grin curving his lips. He was older than her, and considerably taller, holding a wooden staff. "Seriously, though. The way he's acting, you would think that you were a monster!"
"Who are you?" Elsa had demanded once she could speak again, her young voice high and shrill. The figure blinked, looked as startled as Elsa felt. Then he grinned again and snow began to fall from the ceiling.
"You can see me?" he asked, somehow swinging himself into the air and balancing precariously on the curved end of his staff. He peered down at her, his eyes wide and impossibly blue, like he couldn't believe it.
"Who are you?" Elsa had asked again, a little strength returning to her voice. "And what are you doing in my bedroom?"
"You can see me!"
"Of course I can see you!" Elsa burst out, anger outweighing fear. "Who are you?"
"My name's Jack," he said, leaping off of his staff and bending into a low bow. "Jack Frost, at your service, Princess Elsa."
"Jack Frost?" she'd parroted. "But that's just a fairy tale." Something her mother used to tell her, back when Elsa first learned that she could control ice and snow. Jack Frost is retired," she used to say, looks like he picked you to replace him. And Mama would pinch her nose, just like Jack Frost was said to, and Elsa would squeal with laughter until snowflakes rained from the ceiling.
Jack frowned at her words. "Well that's just rude. And as it so happens, I am much more than a fairy tale. But you can see me!" he said, happy again. "I wonder why that is?"
"Can't everyone see you?" Elsa asked, inching closer.
"No…" Jack said, sounding sad. "No one's seen me…for as long as I can remember."
"You've been all alone?" Elsa said softly. She'd only isolated herself for a little over a month, but already she could feel the weight of the loneliness, like a dark spot on her heart.
"Yeah," Jack said, shrugging a little. He played it off well, but even as a little girl, Elsa could see the hurt there. No one liked to be alone.
"I'm sorry," Elsa said softly. "It must be awful to be alone." Jack didn't say anything in reply, which was really all the answer that Elsa needed. "How are you doing that?" she asked, gesturing to the snowflakes spiraling down on them. A thin coating dusted the carpeted floor, but Elsa wasn't bothered, and neither was Jack. At the question, the quiet sadness fled and Jack smiled again, a big, toothy smile that made Elsa want to return it.
"Born this way," he said, spreading his arms wide and spinning in a circle. Snowflakes danced out from his fingers, filling the air. Elsa gasped in delight, and one of the snowflakes landed on her palm and remained. She inspected it closely before letting it go again. "You can do it too," Jack prompted kindly. Elsa shrank away, but the snow flurries only increased.
"Stop," she whispered to herself. "Stop it!" Jack looked distressed, and knelt next to her.
"You're not bad, Elsa," he said soothingly. "These powers, they don't make you dangerous, or evil. They're just a part of you." Elsa didn't believe him, and he didn't press it. But he didn't go away either.
Princess Elsa of Arendelle was seven when Jack Frost came to visit her the first time. She was alone, guilt-ridden, and terrified of her powers. Jack said that he was a guardian, that he watched over children, though she was the first person to ever see him. She was meant to be alone, originally, she had wanted to be alone, but she wasn't. She wasn't alone, even when she felt like no one in the world could understand her, or accept who she was, because even though no one else could see him, Elsa had Jack.