A/N: Well as promised here's the story Plunge. For those of you who don't follow Through The Storm and just stumbled upon this, this is a story that I decided to put out early as an apology gift to my readers of TTS for being unable to update in nearly a month and since this story is short, I was able to finish it in good time. Anyway, it's my first real attempt at writing anything with suspense, so please let me know how you like it. Thanks and like always, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own either Jack or Elsa. They are owned by DreamWorks and Disney respectively.
Plunge
Elsa stared down from her place at the edge of the bridge. Far below, a few hundred feet or so, she could see the water from a small river lapping around some medium sized rocks as the river flowed lazily across the land. The platinum-blonde young woman gulped nervously. She must be insane! She had no idea what she was doing here, atop a bridge, staring down into the precipice the bridge had been placed over. Actually, yes she did. Her boyfriend Jackson 'Jack' Overland Frost had talked her into this. Elsa sighed. He wasn't entirely to blame for her current predicament. Jack had already told her numerous times in no uncertain terms that she didn't have to go through with this. It was his choice to be here, and she didn't have to go along with him. But Elsa was stubborn.
Before Jack she had been a lonely isolated girl, never one to go out and socialize or make friends. She had never dated anyone and she hardly ever even spoke to her sister, Anna. All that changed when Jack succeeded in making her fall in love with him. The snow-white haired young man made her life fun. Everything was light and humorous with him. He had even managed to reconcile her and Anna. In short, Elsa concluded, Jack made her life worth living. So now, while she had grown used to being alone and on her own from all those years, the thought of living without Jack terrified her more than anything. Elsa deeply loved Jack with all her heart. In truth, she had always loved him. They had promised that they would do everything for each other. It was because of this love that Elsa now found herself standing at the edge of the bridge looking down into the river far below, contemplating what came next.
She looked behind her. There was a small audience gathered watching. Part of her hoped someone would come to their senses. That someone would call 911 so firefighters or cops could talk them down from there. But no, no one would. To them this was just a sideshow spectacle. She cast a sidelong glance at Jack and saw that he too was looking nervous. Jack noticed and looked over. Their Caribbean-sea-blue eyes met and gave her a reassuring smile.
"It's just a step off the bridge, followed by a quick plunge and then it's over." He said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself just as much as her. That made Elsa worried. She always looked to Jack to provide her with courage and comfort when she couldn't find it on her own. Elsa swallowed hard.
"That simple?" She asked, looking at him and trying to will her eyes not to look down again. Jack nodded.
"That fast and simple."
As Elsa once more glanced down at the river far below, she found her mind drifting to unwelcome thoughts of death. Her death. Who would take care of Anna? Sure she had Kristoff, but how would she take losing her sister? Would she cry for months on end? Would she silently mourn? Would there be a huge funeral, or a small private one? Elsa shook her head and focused on the young man beside her.
"Jack, I'm scared." She admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. Jack grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"You don't have to do this Elsa. I already told you, you can just step down." Elsa shook her head, squeezing Jack's hand back.
"And I already told you, whatever you do, I'll do. If you go, I go." Smiling slightly, Jack turned to Elsa and wrapped his arms around her waist. He tried to look as reassuring as possible. To let her know that despite everything, they'd be alright because they were together. And when they were together, nothing could possibly hurt them.
"Ready?" He asked. Elsa's eyes darted over the side again and she forced them back to Jack. Her lover. Her heart. Her strength. He gave her courage when it was impossible to be brave. She wrapped her arms around him, looking him straight in the eyes.
"As I'll ever be." Jack hugged her tighter.
"I love you." He whispered, smiling, never breaking eye contact.
"I love you too." Elsa returned with her own smile. As one, they took a step to the side, tipping over the edge. And then they were falling, still in each other's arms.
The first thing Elsa became aware of was her stomach plummeting to her feet as if it wanted to get left behind. It was such a weird rushing sensation, like a cascade of water in her stomach area. The winds buffeted the two of them, making their eyes sting yet forcing their eyelids open, like it wanted them to witness every second of their plunge. Elsa probably wouldn't have been able to look away even if she could. Jack separated from Elsa, but remained joined to her where his right hand clasped her left. She glanced at him to see a wild look of both terror and excitement on his face, his white hair swept back by the force of the air rushing against them, his blue eyes wide. Glancing back down, she immediately regretted it as it seemed, at least to her eyes, that the world was blasting by at terminal velocity.
Elsa couldn't scream even if the rush of wind wouldn't steal away her voice. The river below was barreling towards them at breakneck speeds like a great angry runaway train.; the boulders looked like giant fists ready to leap up and smash them. At this point, both Jack and Elsa could clearly see all the stones lying at the bottom of the shallow river. They seemed to be so close now that Elsa imagined if she stretched out an arm, she could probably brush her fingertips along the surface of the water.
The next thing she knew, however, her stomach felt like it was rising to her mouth, the riverbed was rushing away from them as they were yanked back from the brink of disaster. They rose several feet up away from the ground, and Jack released her hand, allowing her to fall away from him to avoid injury. The dropped again, though not as far as last time before rising again. This repeated a couple of times in a few short seconds, as they oscillated up and down, gradually slowing to bobs in midair like lost basketballs bouncing away.
They finally stopped bouncing up and down and were left instead slowly swinging around like pendulums on a string. Jack managed to swing to Elsa, wrapping his arms protectively around her, grinning widely.
"You okay, Els?"
"I'm fine." She stuttered, a slight trace of fear in her voice. Jack noticed that she was breathing heavily and he hugged her closer, stroking her hair gently. As they were hauled back up to the bridge, Elsa was finally able to calm her nerves in Jack's arms.
Jack got out of his bungee harness then helped Elsa out of hers. He helped her down off the bridge, then turned to face her.
"So, how'd you like that?"
"I was terrified!" Elsa admitted. "I thought we were going to die!" Jack chuckled as he hugged and kissed her.
"Oh honey!" He said. "Then why did you do it?"
"Because, as I've told you a million times, I'm with you no matter what. I love you too much to be able to live if something were to happen to you; I need you Jack. If something goes wrong, then I'll go with you. If something goes wrong, at least we'll be together no matter what happens."
"I'm so sorry, babe." Jack said, kissing her again. Elsa shyly glanced up at him.
"I'll admit though it was… thrilling." Jack smiled and looked her in the face.
"Would you do it again?" He asked. Elsa smiled mischievously.
"I might… if you were there with me."
"I'll always be there with you. Always right there beside you, ready to hold your hand if need be."
"And I'll hold your hand when it comes your turn to be scared." Elsa retorted causing Jack to laugh. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as they walked back to their car. She lived vivaciously with Jack. With him, life was exciting; it was fun. They deeply loved each other and Elsa treasured and cherished their relationship as much as she did her sister.
Grinning from ear to ear, Jack looked at the young woman beside him, whom he loved so much and thoroughly enjoyed sharing his life with.
"Guess what I have planned for next week?" The blonde looked up at her boyfriend's twinkling eyes, remembering one of the trillions of reasons she loved him so much.
"What?" Elsa asked, both terrified and excited.
"We're going to ride those rides up on that Stratosphere building in Vegas!" Elsa giggled and grinned at her boyfriend, giving him a peck on the lips.
"Can't wait."
A/N2: Well that's that. I got the inspiration from a video one of my friends showed me of when he went on the SkyJump Las Vegas (coincidentally on the Stratosphere building mention in the story), though that is actually a controlled jump and I decided to make a straight up bungee jump. Also, a bit of inspiration came that while looking around the net, I've seen that a lot of people who are anti-JackxElsa say that their only connection is their powers, conveniently 'forgetting' that Jack can show Elsa how to have fun and just how much of a difference a little fun can make in someone's life. So here is a story with no powers, showing them having fun and recalling just how meeting Jack has changed Elsa's life for the better. So, hope you guys liked it.