Title: Innermost Reflection

Author: ChibiRaccoon

Pairing: JackxElsa

Genre: Romance/Drama/General

Status: Two-Shot

Notes: Short little musing. I love Jack. Hate Elsa. But I ADORE these two together.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians nor Frozen. They belong to Dreamworks and Disney respectively or whoever owns them.

Innermost Reflection

Jack watched her movements with a mixture of sadness and admiration. She moved with the sluggishness one always saw in people desperate for sleep. With a spin of her finger her hair came unbound. The queen lifted her arms and rearranged the spendid crystal gown she wore into a nightgown in icy blue with a sheer floor-length duster that matched the thin slippers on her feet. She padded silently to the corner of the expansive room where her vanity stood and she studied her reflection critically.

With lead in his toes he glided to her until he was only a single step behind her. He saw his own reflection in the mirror, his heart swelling painfully to see her continue to fritter over her appearence without a single glance in his direction.

She was flawlessly beautiful and not for the first time he thought that the two of them looked good together. He knew that as a guardian he was not to fall in love with any mortal. Such love would be doomed to the sad realities surrounding it. Yet he could not stop himself from being drawn to Arendale and the precious treasure kept there.

When he had first arrived in the small but lustrous country fourteen years ago he had been compelled by a strange pull in his chest. He had asked the wind to take him where his heart had yearned to go and it led him there, to the window on the fourth floor of a modest but large castle. Frost had gathered in the corners of the glass panes yet the temperature that night had been warm, a result of late spring weather. Jack had peered inside, not knowing what to expect beyond the window when he saw her. So small. With hair like pure snow, similar but somehow different than his own. Her large inquisitive eyes were the color of a clear frozen lake. He remembered thinking how cute she looked, a toddler obviously up past bedtime if her nightgown were any indication. Hands were stubbornly forming an imaginary ball in the air, a set pucker on the child's lips a sign of her determination. Jack watched her with the sort of interest people gave children although he wasn't sure why he was there. He ended up slipping from the window ledge when he witnessed a sparkle of magic and the resulting pile of snow that appeared at the child's feet. The Winter Spirit managed to catch himself, speeding back to the window to observe the excited peal of laughter and the accompaniment of clapping from small hands that didn't seem to be accustomed to the action. Jack found himself laughing with her, excited to see more of what he had just seen when the good cheer was spoiled by the girl's bedroom door opening and a man who could only be her father walked in. Jack watched the little girl's head turn down sharply, a child aware of being caught. Her father did not appear upset, rather he almost seemed amused before picking his daughter up and carrying her to bed.

"Now Elsa, I've told you. Little girls need to get their sleep."

Elsa. The small child had a name. Jack thought of his family then, only for an instant, wondering if his own mother had tucked him in like that when he had been young. Elsa giggled when her father gave her nose a tweak. Shortly after she yawned widely and she drifted to sleep. Her father chose then to leave the room, unaware of the figure sitting on the ledge outside watching his daughter sleep. Jack made himself a promise then to return the next night to speak to Elsa and to show her how fun her gift could be.

Jack watched the older, beautiful Elsa turn away from the vanity, feeling the familiar gasping hollowness he experienced when someone who did not believe passed through him. Bleak grief colored his eyes as he shifted around, watching her thin frame slip into bed. Gripping his staff to his side he sighed deeply, knowing she would be asleep in a matter of minutes. Elsa no longer lingered past bedtime, adopting the habit of exhausting herself before she retired for the night. It saddened him that she no longer stayed up past the tenth hour, their promised meeting time years ago. She had shut him out the same way she had shut everyone out after her parent's death's. He had been forced from her side, her rising fear and sadness driving her to stop believing in anything that could make her world bright again.

It was funny.

He was a powerful spirit, a guardian, with command over the Elements of Winter and yet he could be rendered useless by one simple act. After some time he had fled, unable to stomach the pain of losing Elsa in such a way. He knew now that had been a mistake. Jack should have stayed. Should have continued trying to do whatever he could to convince her he was real but he had been at the end of his rope. Using his powers only made her think that hers were going of out of control. He had gotten frustrated.

Jack only knew what happened after because of snippets he overheard among the staff and from eavesdropping on Anna, Elsa's younger sister. The girl was clearly instrumental in getting Elsa to embrace her powers but the redhead certainly loved to talk. It had taken several days to get the full story.

Like his initial visit to Arendale he wasn't sure what had called him back. Rather, it was highly possible that he simply did not want to admit to himself that his sole reason for returning had been because he had missed her face. Seeing the change that had come over her since their last meeting had left him ecstatic and proud. The thrill he felt when he saw the happiness glowing in her expression was enough to make him rush up to her to place a hand on her shoulder. The moment he felt the stripping ache as she walked right through him would forever haunt him in his loneliest moments as the worse it had ever felt to be unnoticed. Seeing her so happy and knowing that he had nothing to do with it... It felt like he had been gutted.

The Guardian of Fun stepped to the Queen of Arendale's bedside, gazing at a face lax in sleep, free of all the worries that pestered her in the waking hours. The frozen room, with it's soft cerulean glow and the touches of frost along each and every surface was a world all it's own, suited for the two of them. Even without her faith in him he still valued the moments when he could meet with her. He knew that the man in the moon, probably even Manny, were aware of his presence there but neither had chosen to comment on it. Jack took that to mean that they clearly had no qualms with him being there.

Smiling sadly Jack pulled the thin comforter up and over Elsa's shoulder, tucking the queen in. A sudden fierce longing, like a pierce from a shard of ice, gleamed in his eyes and he couldn't stop himself from leaning forward. It was faint, just a simple press of his lips against hers, but to Jack it meant the world. He lingered for only a few minutes before gifting himself with one last look at her lovely face and then he was gone, carried elsewhere by the power of a late winter storm.

If Jack had stayed for just a single moment longer he would have heard the murmur of his name from a woman deep in sleep.

Elsa awoke the next morning with a rare smile on her face. Her pale cheeks were lightly dusted, her fingertips brushing over her lips thoughtfully. She blinked her eyes several times, ridding them of the sandman's dust. The young queen gazed at her expansive windows, noticing the balcony doors hanging open and snow filtering in. Her thin brows drew down. She didn't remember opening them the night before. She felt herself jump slightly.

She had thought she saw, for only a split second, a figure hunched on the balcony railing. Something in her memory stirred and she found herself recalling a thin person, a hand cold to the touch but comforting, and an easy smile with perfect teeth. When she glanced back at the landing there was nothing there. Elsa gazed at the balcony for a long time, unsure why something in her found the spot to be so nostalgic, as if she were missing a vital part of herself.

Shaking her head she rose from the mattress, belatedly realizing that she was late to tend to several of her numerous morning duties. As she hurried to prepare for the day a single snowflake flew into her chambers, dancing until it fell and landed on her platinum hair without her notice.

-OWARI-

Part 2 will be up soon.